# Big Sea > Catch up on new digital marketing tools, tactics, and opinions in Big Sea's Fresh Ideas blog --- ## Pages - [SEO Strategy](https://bigsea.co/services/seo-services/): Big Sea’s SEO marketing experts specialize in SEO Content Strategy, Technical SEO, Information Architecture, and more. Consult with us today! - [Video Marketing Services](https://bigsea.co/services/video-marketing/): Strategic Video Marketing engages your audience, drives sales, improves lead generation, and levels up your paid media. Book a Big Sea consultation today! - [Nonprofit Marketing Agency](https://bigsea.co/industries/nonprofits/): Nonprofit marketing agency that leverages impactful storytelling to help raise funds, build community, and grow your organization. - [Email Marketing](https://bigsea.co/services/email-marketing/): Email marketing strategies drive decision making and engagement with your brand. Improve email automation and segmenting and meet your goals. - [Marketing Automation](https://bigsea.co/services/marketing-automation/): Transform your outreach and engagement efforts with HubSpot for nonprofits and Big Sea. - [Content Marketing Services](https://bigsea.co/services/content-marketing/): From content marketing strategy to creation to distribution, Big Sea offers content marketing services that get results. Interested? Let's chat! - [Branding and Messaging](https://bigsea.co/services/branding-messaging/): Clear & consistent Brand Messaging establishes a more meaningful relationship with your target audience. Book a Brand Strategy consultation with Big Sea today! - [Advertising Strategy & Execution](https://bigsea.co/services/advertising-strategy-execution/): Stop wasting your budget on bad advertising campaigns. With Big Sea managing your paid campaigns, you'll get more clicks, leads & ROI! - [Strategy & Consulting](https://bigsea.co/services/strategy-consulting/): It takes data & creativity to develop a great Digital Marketing Strategy. Big Sea offers high level Digital Marketing Consulting. Contact us today! - [Web Design & Development](https://bigsea.co/services/web-design-development/): Creative web design that not only elevates your brand, but also drives new traffic, leads, and conversions. Start working with Big Sea today! - [Digital Marketing Services](https://bigsea.co/services/digital-marketing/): Big Sea will embody & promote your brand with an Agile Digital Marketing Strategy. Explore our services such as Paid Media, Content Strategy, SEO, and much more! - [Interactive Industry Report: Museums and Aquariums](https://bigsea.co/interactive-industry-report-museums-aquariums/): We researched the top museums and aquariums in the U.S. to see how they stacked up when it comes to metrics like traffic, keywords, and more. - [Higher Education Marketing Agency](https://bigsea.co/industries/higher-education/): We specialize in content marketing, email, search, and paid media strategies for higher ed admissions marketing. - [Health & Wellness](https://bigsea.co/industries/health-and-wellness/): As experts in marketing for healthcare and cannabis brands, we leverage creative strategies and compelling messaging that converts. - [Industries](https://bigsea.co/industries/): Our areas of marketing expertise include higher ed, museums and cultural institutions, nonprofits, healthcare and cannabis brands. - [Attractions & Museums Marketing Agency](https://bigsea.co/industries/attractions-and-museums/): Smart museum and institution marketing to help you attract more visitors, build your membership, raise more funds, and expand your mission. - [Services](https://bigsea.co/services/): Working across traditional and digital media, Big Sea helps organizations meet the unspoken needs of the user to drive conversions. - [Privacy Policy](https://bigsea.co/privacy-policy/): This privacy policy has been compiled to serve those concerned with how their Personally Identifiable Information is being used online. - [10 Digital Marketing Tasks You Can’t Afford to Skip](https://bigsea.co/10-digital-marketing-tasks-cant-afford-skip/): We’ve broken down which digital marketing tasks you absolutely cannot skip, how often you need to do them, and how long you should spend on each. - [Marketing Copy Tips](https://bigsea.co/marketing-copy-tips/): Get marketing copy tips that help you clarify the way you talk about what you do and why you do it, so your prospects take the next step. - [Our Work](https://bigsea.co/work/): Explore our portfolio of groundbreaking digital campaigns and websites that blend artistry with strategy to deliver exceptional results. - [Contact Us](https://bigsea.co/contact/): We'd love to hear from you! Contact us for general inquiries, project initialization or consulting. Agile Digital Marketing Services located in St. Pete FL. - [About](https://bigsea.co/about/): We help purpose-driven organizations reach more people through standout marketing and strategic website design. - [Fresh Ideas](https://bigsea.co/ideas/): Catch up on new digital marketing tools, tactics, and opinions in Big Sea's Fresh Ideas blog - [Home](https://bigsea.co/): Our nonprofit and healthcare marketing experts provide fractional CMO, SEO, digital marketing, and web design for top brands nationwide. --- ## Posts - [Intersectional Pride Month Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/intersectionality-and-pride-month/): Learn about intersectional pride, how to celebrate it, and how your organization can be an ally during Pride Month & all year round. - [5 Ways Your Brand Can Be A True Ally this Pride Month](https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-ways-your-brand-can-be-a-true-ally-this-pride-month/): Explore our top five tips for brands celebrating Pride Month to have a positive impact & provide value to your customers & their communities. - [Should Your Brand Use a Pride Month Logo This Year?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/pride-month-logo-debate/): Should you use a Pride Month logo? Learn about Pride Month marketing, the history behind the rainbow flag & how businesses can show support. - [Choosing the Best Donor Database for Your Nonprofit: HubSpot vs. Classy](https://bigsea.co/ideas/donor-databases-for-nonprofits/): Discover the key features, benefits & challenges of choosing the right donor database for your nonprofit, with a detailed comparison of HubSpot & Classy. - [Donor Personas for Your Nonprofit](https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-guide-to-creating-marketing-personas-for-your-nonprofit/): Learn how to create & utilize donor personas to strengthen your nonprofit’s strategy, build meaningful connections & boost engagement. - [How to Choose a Great CRM for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/crm-for-nonprofits/): Finding a CRM for nonprofits can be challenging with so many options. Our list includes free & affordable CRMs. - [An Expert's Guide to Healthcare Marketing on Social Media](https://bigsea.co/ideas/social-media-and-healthcare-marketing/): Discover how healthcare providers can harness social media to engage patients, maintain compliance & build impactful strategies. - [5 Free Survey Tools for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/free-survey-tools-for-nonprofits/): Discover 5 free survey tools for nonprofits to engage donors, gather valuable feedback & drive impactful decision-making. - [SEO Content Optimization: 6 Quick & Dirty Tips](https://bigsea.co/ideas/optimize-content-seo-6-quick-dirty-tips/): We’ve rounded up the 6 best tips to for quick SEO content optimization so your page can get found in google search engine results. - [Mastering Nonprofit Marketing Strategy: From the Top to the Bottom of the Funnel](https://bigsea.co/ideas/mastering-nonprofit-marketing-strategy/): Discover key nonprofit marketing strategies, including budgeting, analytics & tools to boost engagement & drive donations. - [Tips for Better Museum Website Design](https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-website-design/): Discover expert tips for creating impactful museum website designs that captivate visitors & drive engagement. - [How to Build a Lapsed Donor Workflow in HubSpot (with Templates)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/lapsed-donors-hubspot-workflow/): Learn how to re-engage lapsed donors & boost donor retention with personalized workflows using HubSpot. - [How to Upload Videos to YouTube](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-upload-videos-to-youtube/): Learn how to upload videos to YouTube with this step-by-step guide. From uploading to optimizing, master video marketing strategies effortlessly! - [How to Create an SEO Content Strategy That Serves Users and Search Engines Alike](https://bigsea.co/ideas/creating-an-seo-content-strategy/): Discover actionable SEO content strategy tips & expert insights to optimize your website, boost search rankings, & drive higher ROI. - [Website Navigation Best Practices](https://bigsea.co/ideas/website-navigation-best-practices/): Discover the importance of effective website navigation, common mistakes to avoid & best practices to enhance user experience. - [How to Attract New Patients through Healthcare Content Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-content-marketing/): Learn effective healthcare content marketing strategies, including SEO, storytelling & compliance with HIPAA, to build trust, drive engagement & stay ahead of future trends. - [How to Raise Awareness for a Cause: A Nonprofit Marketer's Perspective](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-raise-awareness-for-a-cause/): Learn how nonprofits can boost awareness with impactful strategies, creative storytelling, & effective tools to drive engagement. - [10 Secrets to Maximizing the Google Ad Grants Program](https://bigsea.co/ideas/10-secrets-to-maximize-google-ad-grants/): Boost your nonprofit’s online presence with 10 expert tips on Google Ad Grants, bidding strategies, & campaign optimization for higher engagement & conversions. - [Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits: A How-To Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/social-media-marketing-for-nonprofits/): Social media marketing can transform your nonprofit. Learn the strategies to reach more people, raise more funds, and deepen your connections. - [6 Reasons You Should Be Using Canva Pro for Social Media Content](https://bigsea.co/ideas/canva-for-social-media/): Here are six reasons you should use Canva Pro to enhance your business’s social media posts plus suggestions for getting the greatest benefits. - [Get the Most Out of Your CRM: 7 Contact Management Strategies for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/7-contact-management-nonprofit-strategies/): Discover the best nonprofit CRM tools & strategies to boost donor engagement, streamline operations, & optimize fundraising efforts. - [3 Quick Wins to Improve Your Content Marketing & SEO Management](https://bigsea.co/ideas/3-quick-wins-seo-management/): Learn how implementing these 3 quick wins with SEO management can boost your rankings & improve your digital marketing efforts. - [Top Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends in 2025](https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-digital-marketing/): Discover the top healthcare digital marketing trends for 2025, including privacy-first marketing, AI-powered patient journeys & more - [7 Nonprofit Branding Examples (and What You Can Learn From Them)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/7-nonprofit-branding-examples/): Discover 7 nonprofit branding examples, from ChooseU to Cove Behavioral Health. Learn how a strong brand can amplify your mission & impact. - [Nonprofit Marketing Trends for 2025](https://bigsea.co/ideas/top-10-nonprofit-marketing-trends/): We've collected our top 10 nonprofit marketing trends for 2024 so you can use them to build your fundraising and content marketing strategies. - [8 Nonprofit Websites to Look to for Design Inspiration](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-web-design-inspiration/): Explore how great web design can help your nonprofit communicate its mission, attract donors & boost fundraising with these 10 nonprofit web designs for inspiration. - [7 Best Marketing Grants for Nonprofits [2025]](https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-grants-nonprofits/): Looking for marketing grants for nonprofits? Here are 5 great ones, so you can partner with experts and take your nonprofit marketing to the next level. - [Email Marketing for Nonprofits: Examples and Best Practices](https://bigsea.co/ideas/email-marketing-for-nonprofits/): Discover how email marketing can transform your nonprofit's engagement strategy. Explore best practices, successful examples, essential tools & growth tips. - [Website Design with SEO: Building a Site for Search Engines](https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-and-website-design-what-you-need-to-know/): Unlock the secret of high-performing websites! Drive traffic & increase your online presence with these powerful tips for SEO web design. - [Nonprofit Appeal Letters: 11 Easy Steps + Template](https://bigsea.co/ideas/craft-compelling-nonprofit-appeal-messaging/): Crafting a successful nonprofit appeal letter is crucial to gaining support for your organization. Let us guide you step-by-step. - [How to Measure and Track Your Content Strategy ROI: Key Metrics and Practical Tools](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-measure-and-track-content-strategy-roi/): Boost your performance with our insights on content strategy ROI. Discover essential metrics, practical tools & expert tips to optimize your marketing efforts. - [Google Ad Grants Explained: Eligibility, Requirements, and Optimization Tips for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/get-google-ad-grants-nonprofit/): Google Ad Grants for nonprofits adds $10,000 a month to your online advertising budget for free. Learn more about Google Ad Grant management. - [Nonprofit Web Design Guide 2024](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-web-design-guide-2024/): Nonprofit web design is essential because your website is the first stop for people to invest in your organization. - [From Awareness to Action: A Comprehensive Approach to Nonprofit Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/comprehensive-approach-to-nonprofit-marketing/): Learn essential strategies to attract, engage, and retain supporters while maximizing your organization’s reach and mission impact with this nonprofit marketing guide. - [Big Sea Welcomes New Team and Expands Services with Acquisition of JB Media Group](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-welcomes-new-team-and-expands-services-with-acquisition-of-jb-media-group/): Big Sea is thrilled to announce the acquisition of JB Media Group, bringing new talent and expanded services to better... - [Increase Visits with a Museum Content Marketing Strategy](https://bigsea.co/ideas/8-ways-to-use-content-marketing-to-grow-your-museums-online-audience/): How can museums use content marketing to grow their online audience and get more foot traffic, too? Here are some easy and effective content marketing ideas to grow your museum’s audience. - [The Importance of Accessibility in Digital Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/accessibility-digital-marketing/): Learn why accessibility in digital marketing is essential for broader reach, better UX, and compliance. Make your brand inclusive today! - [5 Best Holiday Giving Campaigns to Inspire Your Nonprofit](https://bigsea.co/ideas/best-nonprofit-holiday-giving-campaigns/): Looking for holiday fundraising ideas? These nonprofit campaigns will inspire your year-end giving strategy and help you connect with donors. - [How To Use HubSpot for Fundraising](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-for-fundraising/): Learn strategies and best practices for using HubSpot for fundraising to acquire new donors in this guide. - [How to Write a Mission Statement for a Nonprofit Mission (with Examples)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-write-a-mission-statement-for-a-nonprofit/): Learn how to write a mission statement for a nonprofit with step-by-step instructions and examples to help you define your organization's purpose and impact. - [How to Gather Stories at Your Nonprofit](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-storytelling-best-practices/): What are some nonprofit storytelling best practices your organization can adopt? Find out how you can share compelling firsthand accounts of the work you do. - [10 Nonprofit Fundraising Email Examples and Templates](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-fundraising-email/): Need inspiration for your next nonprofit fundraising email? Learn how to craft compelling subject lines, write persuasive copy, and increase donor engagement. - [Using HubSpot for Transactional Emails for Your Nonprofit](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-transactional-emails/): Discover how to leverage Hubspot transactional emails to enhance donor engagement and streamline operations for your nonprofit. - [Google SGE: How AI-Powered Search Is Shaping New Marketing Strategies](https://bigsea.co/ideas/google-sge/): How will Google SGE (Search Generative Experience) shape your SEO marketing strategies? Find out what you need to know in our blog. - [10 Creative Museum Marketing Ideas to Attract More Visitors](https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-marketing-tips/): Exceptional museum marketing isn't just advertising. It's an extension of your mission to engage visitors through fun and informative content. - [How to Manage Your Google Business Profile: A Guide for Beginners](https://bigsea.co/ideas/google-business-manager/): Learn how to utilize Google Business Manager (i.e. Google Business Profile) with this comprehensive beginner's guide. Learn how to claim, verify, optimize, and manage your profile. - [11 Best Museum Fundraising Ideas for 2024](https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-fundraising/): Discover creative and effective museum fundraising ideas, including engaging events, membership revamps, and online strategies to attract donors. - [Record a TikTok Like a Pro (On Your First Try)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/record-a-tiktok/): Dominate TikTok on your first take! Use this guide to learn how to record a TikTok, edit it, and share your videos like a pro. - [How to Start Using Canva for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/canva-for-nonprofits/): Learn how your nonprofit can benefit by using Canva for Nonprofits in this guide. - [10 Benefits of HubSpot for Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/benefits-of-hubspot/): Discover the benefits of HubSpot for marketing agencies, including how to use this all-in-one platform for SEO, social media, email marketing, and more. - [Instagram Story Size and Other IG Guidelines](https://bigsea.co/ideas/instagram-story-size/): Discover the perfect Instagram Story size and find out other tips and guidelines for maximum engagement. Learn about aspect ratios and design best practices. - [Facebook Video Downloads: How They Work](https://bigsea.co/ideas/facebook-video-download/): Do you want to download a video from Facebook? Use our guide on Facebook video downloads for help. - [How to Use the Facebook Debugger Tool for Shared Posts](https://bigsea.co/ideas/facebook-debugger/): The Facebook debugger tool is essential for diagnosing and repairing issues with your Facebook posts. Read on to learn how to use it. - [HubSpot Implementation: Step-by-Step](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-implementation/): HubSpot implementation doesn’t have to be difficult. Check out this step-by-step guide and checklist to get you started today! - [How to Design Stunning Nonprofit Annual Reports](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-annual-report/): Wondering how to make your nonprofit’s annual report standout? Explore our guide on how to design a stunning nonprofit annual report. - [Free Graphic Design Software for Beginners](https://bigsea.co/ideas/free-graphic-design-tools/): Unlock your creative potential with free graphic design software for beginners. Discover tools you can actually use without spending a dime. - [Healthcare Website Design: 10 Inspiring Examples (+ Tips)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-website-design/): Wondering if your healthcare website design needs an overhaul? Check out our examples and tips for creating an inspiring healthcare website design. - [Top 5 Priorities for a Small Nonprofit Marketing Budget](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-marketing-budget/): Get expert advice for creating priorities when you are working on a limited nonprofit marketing budget so you can make the most of your resources. - [How to Build a Donor Pipeline for HNWIs and Legacy Donors](https://bigsea.co/ideas/donor-pipeline/): A lot of nonprofits understand the urgency of building a donor pipeline for HNWIs and legacy donors, but how do you get started? Read on to find out. - [What Is a Legacy Donor?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/legacy-donor/): A legacy donor is someone who plans to leave a nonprofit a monetary gift after their death. Learn about legacy donors and setting up a legacy donor program. - [Facebook Fundraisers: A Complete Guide for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/a-guide-to-nonprofit-facebook-fundraising/): Check out our 2024 guide to creating a Facebook fundraiser and discover how to use the platform to attract donors and spread your message. - [6 AI Video Editors That We Love [2024]](https://bigsea.co/ideas/ai-video-editors/): Struggling with video editing? Explore 5 AI video editors we love that will simplify the process, save you time and effort, and elevate your content. - [Google Gemini for SEO: 5 Strategies That Work](https://bigsea.co/ideas/google-bard-seo/): Using Google Gemini for SEO can save you time, energy, and effort. Learn our agency’s top five strategies for making our lives easier with AI. - [Bing Image Creator for Designers and Marketers: A Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/bing-image-creator/): Discover how to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer with this easy guide, including expert tips for how to make the most out of the tool. - [Cannabis Marketing: Everything You Need to Know in 2024](https://bigsea.co/ideas/cannabis-marketing/): In this article, we'll unpack the unique challenges facing cannabis marketing and equip you with a map of innovative strategies to conquer them. - [Top 3 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Converting (And How To Fix It)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/3-reasons-your-website-isnt-converting/): Are you always asking "Why is my website not converting?" Find out the main causes of low conversions and the best solutions. - [Short-Term vs. Long-Term Marketing Strategy](https://bigsea.co/ideas/short-vs-long-term-digital-marketing-strategies/): Short-term marketing strategy produces quick business results, while long-term marketing strategy ensures future success. Explore when and how to use each. - [Announcing: Adriana Generallo, President!](https://bigsea.co/ideas/announcing-adriana-generallo-president/): We are delighted to announce Adriana Generallo as our new President, marking a significant milestone in our nearly 20-year journey.... - [Hiring a Healthcare SEO Agency](https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-seo-agency/): This page discusses the benefits of working with a healthcare SEO agency, as well as expert tips about how to hire one, including what questions to ask. - [24 Best Nonprofit Marketing Conferences [2024]](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-marketing-conferences/): Explore the 24 best nonprofit marketing conferences in 2024 so you can network with other experts and be up to date on the latest trends! - [What is Information Architecture? A Beginner's Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/information-architecture-101/): Learn the basics of information architecture needed to build a great website. Utilize IA for a better online experience that benefits your bottom line. - [Donor Retention: A Nonprofit Marketer's Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/donor-retention/): Donor retention describes how many donors give to your organization repeatedly. This page explains how to calculate and improve your donor retention rate. - [16 Best Museum Websites in 2024](https://bigsea.co/ideas/best-museum-websites/): Discover sixteen of the best museum websites in 2024 for design and marketing inspiration broken into popular types of museums. - [How SEO-Focused Content Strategy Grew Traffic 597% Year Over Year](https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-content-strategy-roi/): Content strategy grew a local medical practice exponentially year over year. By positioning as a resource, they attracted more patients. - [How to Respond to Negative Reviews: 8 Tips](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-respond-to-negative-online-reviews/): Negative reviews happen to everyone. Learn how to respond to negative reviews so you can turn a negative outcome into a positive one. - [8 Ways to Avoid Death by Committee](https://bigsea.co/ideas/8-ways-avoid-death-committee-champion-successful-digital-projects-inside/): "Death by committee" describes the slow death of an idea due to excessive bureaucratic attention. Learn more about how to avoid it in this guide. - [The Best Holiday Campaigns of the Last Century](https://bigsea.co/ideas/our-favorite-holiday-campaigns/): Holiday campaigns can be some of the most memorable and effective advertising there is. See the best holiday campaigns of the last 100 years! - [How to Submit a Bug Ticket (That Resolves Your Issue)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-submit-a-bug-ticket/): Learn how to submit a bug ticket that actually communicates what's wrong to your team so you can get on the road to repairing your website! - [Video Content Marketing: 9 Reasons You Need It Now](https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-your-marketing-strategy-should-include-video-content/): Video content marketing is not something any of us can afford to ignore anymore. Discover 9 reasons to start investing in video today. - [8 Admissions Yield Strategies That Work](https://bigsea.co/ideas/admissions-yield-strategies/): It's never too early to think about admissions yield. Get the inside scoop on admissions yield strategies that will help you convert admits. - [Content Refresh for SEO: What It Is + A Case Study Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/content-refresh-case-study/): Learn how to boost your SEO performance with strategic content refresh by discovering proven strategies for quick but lasting gains in traffic. - [7 Admissions Marketing Video Strategies that Work](https://bigsea.co/ideas/higher-ed-admissions-marketing-video-ideas/): Explore 7 admissions marketing strategies that use video to grab potential students' attention. Get tips for using video at every point in the admissions funnel. - [What Are Wireframes and Why Do I Need to See Them?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/understanding-website-wireframes/): Looking to learn more about website wireframes? Find out what they are, see some examples, and learn why they're a crucial component in any web project. - [Hiring an SEO Agency: Red Flags to Avoid](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hiring-an-seo-agency/): How can hiring an SEO agency go wrong? This expert guide tells you what to look for, and to look out for, too. - [11 Ways to Improve Website Page Speed](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-improve-website-page-speed/): Is your website page speed score not as green and shiny as you’d like it to be? Fear not - learn how to improve website page speed 11 ways. - [10 Ways to Boost Content Marketing Lead Generation](https://bigsea.co/ideas/content-marketing-lead-generation/): Discover expert tips for boosting content marketing lead generation and maximize your ROI while increasing visibility and brand trust. - [What is Marketing Data? + What Data to Collect](https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-data/): Marketing data doesn’t equal better marketing unless it’s the right data. Identify the real key performance indicators for better insights. - [11 Nerdy Pumpkin Carving Ideas to Try This Halloween](https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-nerdy-pumpkins-sitting-on-a-gate/): Happy Halloween! We love any reason to bring a little geek into our holiday decorating, and these nerdy pumpkin carving ideas do the trick. - [HARO Link Building: How to Get High Quality Links the Right Way](https://bigsea.co/ideas/haro-link-building/): Find out how to use HARO for link building and PR to get your message in front of more people and establish yourself as an expert. - [Donation Forms for Nonprofits: 5 Easy UX Tips](https://bigsea.co/ideas/donation-forms-for-nonprofits/): Discover the right elements to create powerful donation forms for nonprofits that drive revenue and help you fulfill your mission. - [How We Generated $6,000 With One Healthcare Email Newsletter](https://bigsea.co/ideas/successful-healthcare-newsletter/): By tweaking the newsletter strategy, our healthcare client averages $2,000 monthly, with some months generating over $6,000! Here's how we did it. - [Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency? Here Are 8 Must-Ask Questions](https://bigsea.co/ideas/questions-to-ask-digital-marketing-agency/): Hiring a digital marketing agency is about more than asking for a portfolio. Read on to discover expert questions you can ask agencies. - [How SEO for Museums Can Grow Attendance and Membership](https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-for-museums/): Learn how SEO for museums can help draw more visitors and engage new donor communities with this expert guide. - [5 Benefits of Emotional Intelligence at Work](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-emotional-intelligence-can-make-you-better-at-your-job/): Explore 5 benefits of emotional intelligence at work, learn how to raise your EQ, and discover Big Sea's emotionally intelligent core values. - [The Robots are Coming: A Guide to AI Content Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/a-guide-to-generative-ai-and-marketing/): AI content marketing is the future of digital marketing. Find out how it works and what are the best ways to use it smartly and ethically. - [15 Flaws in Your Lead Generation Website](https://bigsea.co/ideas/15-reasons-why-your-website-isnt-getting-you-leads/): Many lead generation websites fall short. Are you making any of these 15 mistakes that are keeping you from getting leads? - [How to Market to Gen Z](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-market-to-gen-z/): A force to be reckoned with, Gen Z-ers are bringing on a marketing revolution. Elevate your strategy by learning how to market to Gen Z. - [Growing Organically with HubSpot’s Content Strategy Tool](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-content-strategy-tool/): Learn how to better manage and integrate your content with our guide to HubSpot’s Content Strategy Tool. - [9 PPC Optimization Tips to Maximize ROI](https://bigsea.co/ideas/improve-ppc-performance-with-these-9-steps/): Master PPC optimization with these nine actionable tips that will improve the health of your account and generate more leads. - [How to Incorporate Personalization Into Your Higher Education Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-incorporate-personalization-into-your-higher-ed-marketing/): Higher education marketing is unique. Prospective students see brands improving their messaging, colleges and universities need to keep up. - [Your Customers Want to Chat. Don't Leave Them Hanging](https://bigsea.co/ideas/chatbot-and-livechat-for-marketing/): The longer a client has to wait for a response, the more likely they'll go elsewhere. Learn why chatbots for marketing are a fantastic tool! - [HubSpot for Museums: The Marketer's Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-for-museums/): HubSpot for Museums? Learn how HubSpot can take your museum marketing to the next level with this helpful guide. - [13 Best Nonprofit Fundraising Platforms](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-fundraising-tools/): Explore our 13 best nonprofit fundraising platforms to maximize your organization's potential. Compare features and discover the right solution for you. - [The Shipyard: Smooth-Sailing Websites Dock Here](https://bigsea.co/ideas/welcome-to-the-shipyard/): Big Sea has officially launched a brand new Maintenance/Support division called the Shipyard. - [3 Great Display Ad Examples (and 8 Tips for How to Write Them!)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/display-ad-copy-tips-examples/): Make your display copy shine. Understand your market, use display ad copy best practices, and test to build an enticing ad campaign. - [Think Marketing Won't Work In Your Industry? Try Product-Led Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-in-a-non-marketing-industry/): Product-led marketing can be super effective against common marketing hurdles! Learn how it brings sales and service teams together to drive more business. - [How to Create Instagram Ads for Higher Ed](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-create-instagram-ads-for-higher-ed/): Instagram ads for higher education are a great way to share engaging, unscripted content. Learn why it's a powerful place to advertise. - [Hiring a Museum Marketing Agency: 7 Tips](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hiring-museum-marketing-agency/): Trying to find the right marketing agency for your museum? Here are 7 tips for finding an agency that understands you and your audience. - [Nonprofit Content Marketing Advanced Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-content-marketing/): Find out what content marketing can do for your nonprofit. Learn what types of content work best for nonprofits and how to form a marketing plan. - [Nonprofit Apps: How to Know if You Need One](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-apps-how-to-know-if-you-need-one/): Nonprofit apps require some investment, but they have a variety of benefits including connecting more easily with volunteers, donors, and network supporters. - [The Complete Guide to HubSpot for Nonprofits](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-for-nonprofits/): Master HubSpot for nonprofits with our expert advice and insights. Boost fundraising, manage donor relations, improve engagement, and maximize your impact today! - [Museum Marketing Strategy](https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-marketing-strategy/): COVID-19 forced many to get creative with their museum marketing strategy, but that doesn't have to go away now that visitors are flowing back in. - [Threads for Nonprofits: How to Get Started](https://bigsea.co/ideas/threads-for-nonprofits/): Read this step by step guide to find out how your nonprofit can start using Threads to boost engagement and try out new social media strategies. - [A Quick Guide to Growth-Driven Design](https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-you-need-growth-driven-design/): Your website is one of your most important sales tools. That’s why you need a growth-driven design strategy to support your business. - [HubSpot Lead Scoring for Nonprofits: A Complete Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-lead-scoring-for-nonprofits/): Find out how HubSpot lead scoring works and how you can use it to optimize donor acquisition for your nonprofit. - [Why Client Engagement Is Like Dating](https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-client-engagement-is-like-dating/): Client engagement and dating are both about building strong, lasting relationships. Learn more about building enduring client connections. - [3 HubSpot for Nonprofit Case Studies](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-hubspot-case-studies/): Need ideas for how to use HubSpot for your nonprofit? Explore these three HubSpot for Nonprofit case studies to take your campaigns to the next level! - [Nonprofit Storytelling to Grow your Donor Community](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-better-nonprofit-storytelling-leads-to-more-donors/): Better nonprofit storytelling leads to more donations, more community engagement, and more eager volunteers. Let's get your organization's story straight. - [6 Landing Page Mistakes Killing Your Conversions](https://bigsea.co/ideas/6-landing-page-mistakes-that-are-killing-your-conversions/): Learn how to solve common landing page mistakes and digital marketing mistakes so you can start converting more visitors into leads on your website. - [Content SEO Strategy Yields A Massive Boost in Organic Traffic](https://bigsea.co/ideas/w3-content-strategy-case-study/): After just a couple months, the site more than doubled the number of pages ranked in the top 3 search results on Google and nearly tripled the number in the top 10. - [Automated Museum Email Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/automated-marketing-emails-for-museums/): At a time when inboxes are more crowded than ever, how do museums stand out? By created an automated museum email marketing strategy that converts. - [4 Types of Data Your Nonprofit Should Collect](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-data-collection/): Nonprofit data collection can be overwhelming. Learn about what other nonprofit organizations collect, why, and how. - [Legal Podcast Bolsters Law School Admissions Program](https://bigsea.co/ideas/legal-podcast-bolsters-law-school-admissions-program/): Big Sea has worked with Stetson’s admissions to draw more and better-qualified applicants. Through a smart digital marketing strategy, Stetson has seen boosts in prospective students. - [How to Build Natural Backlinks to Your Website](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-build-backlinks-the-right-way/): Build natural backlinks the right way and avoid spam penalties from Google with our top 9 tips for natural link building. - [How We Create High Quality Content For SEO](https://bigsea.co/ideas/create-high-quality-content-for-the-user-and-seo/): Want to make your high quality content for SEO and your audience? Explore step-by-step tips for content that users — and search engines — love. - [What is Programmatic Display Advertising?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-is-programmatic-advertising/): Get started with Programmatic Display Advertising! Learn what it is, how it works, and how to reap the benefits for your business. - [The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Nonprofit Marketing Agency](https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-ultimate-guide-to-hiring-a-nonprofit-marketing-agency/): Choosing the right nonprofit marketing agency can be daunting. Learn how to determine what services you need, find an agency, and ask the right questions. - [1 Million Impressions and Over $100K Raised in Just 2 Weeks](https://bigsea.co/ideas/100k-raised-in-just-2-weeks/): How we launched an urgent paid social media and programmatic advertising campaign for a nonprofit to raise emergency funds if Hurricane Ian made landfall. - [6 Reasons Your SEM Campaign is Broken (And How To Fix It)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/6-reasons-why-your-sem-campaign-is-broken/): Learn how to create SEM ad copy that’s engaging, effective, and drives revenue, and common mistakes you can avoid in your SEM campaign. - [3 Proven Strategies for Marketing in a Recession](https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-in-a-recession/): Explore proven strategies for marketing in a recession so that your business can thrive – not just survive – in an economic downturn. - [Multichannel paid social campaign for Fortune 500 SAAS client achieves 5x ROI](https://bigsea.co/ideas/saas-paid-social-campaign/): Discover how a comprehensive paid social campaign delivered a 5x ROI for a Fortune 500 SaaS client, revealing strategic insights for multichannel marketing. - [A History of LGBTQIA+ and Pride Month Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/history-of-pride-month-marketing/): Learn about the history of Pride Month Marketing in the context of broader LGTBQIA+ history of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. - [Master B2B Search Marketing in 2023](https://bigsea.co/ideas/b2b-search-marketing/): Follow our 5-step guide to B2B search marketing to optimize your campaigns for better ROI, attract high-quality leads, and improve your search visibility. - [Why Multicultural Marketing is Key to Your Brand’s Success](https://bigsea.co/ideas/multicultural-marketing-and-branding/): Multicultural marketing isn’t just the moment – it’s the entire future. Here’s what it is, why it’s important, and how your organization can build DEI-first marketing mixes that last. - [4 Tips for Digitizing Customer Experience in B2B](https://bigsea.co/ideas/digitizing-customer-experience/): Discover expert tips for B2B organizations seeking to digitize your customer experience. Personalized communication and seamless transactions await! - [Macro vs. Micro Thinkers and Why Your Company Needs Both](https://bigsea.co/ideas/micro-and-macro-thinkers/): Understanding macro vs. micro thinkers comes down to appreciating the distinct contributions they make to a team. Learn how you can encourage both approaches. - [5 Secrets of a Great B2B Buyer Persona](https://bigsea.co/ideas/b2b-buyer-persona/): Crafting a B2B buyer persona that reflects your ideal customer comes down to humanizing the B2B buyer so you can understand their journey. - [B2B Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation](https://bigsea.co/ideas/demand-gen-vs-lead-gen-the-b2b-marketing-guide/): Discover B2B demand generation, a strategy to create interest in your product or service by identifying, targeting and nurturing potential customers. - [10 Nonprofit Mission Statements that Drive Donations](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-mission-statement-examples/): Our Top 10 Nonprofit Mission Statement examples to help you craft a message that conveys your values and attracts a strong donor community. - [Top 7 Nonprofit Social Media Marketing Tips](https://bigsea.co/ideas/top-7-social-media-marketing-tips-for-nonprofits/): Boost your nonprofit social media marketing efforts with our top effective strategies to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and drive donations. - [Why Are Websites So Expensive?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-are-websites-so-expensive/): User expectations, design considerations, conversion optimization, and many other factors help explain why websites are so expensive today. - [How LinkedIn B2B Marketing Builds Communities](https://bigsea.co/ideas/linkedin-b2b-marketing/): From creating groups to LinkedIn stories and beyond, learn how LinkedIn B2B Marketing and community building can power your brand strategy. - [A B2B Guide to Customer Journey Management](https://bigsea.co/ideas/customer-journey-management/): Customer journey management uses software tools and behavior science to optimize the experience your B2B customer has moving through the sales funnel. - [10 Essential Tips for Nonprofit Branding in 2024](https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-brand-guide-2023/): Nonprofit branding is the creation of a distinct, memorable identity for your organization. Here’s our guide to industry-leading best practices and examples. - [A Comprehensive Guide to Nonprofit Email Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/guide-to-email-marketing-for-nonprofits/): A clear, strategic plan for nonprofit email marketing empowers you to connect with your audience often and authentically. - [Leveraging LinkedIn for Nonprofits and Museums](https://bigsea.co/ideas/leveraging-linkedin-for-nonprofits-and-museums/): LinkedIn for Nonprofits offers free and discounted tools for nonprofit organizations. Learn how to navigate the platform and connect with donors. - [LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-determine-your-social-selling-index-on-linkedin/): LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index (SSI) measures your effectiveness at using your professional brand on LinkedIn to attract leads and grow your network. - [Understanding B2B Inbound and Outbound Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/inbound-marketing-vs-outbound-marketing-for-b2b/): B2B Inbound marketing focuses on attracting, converting, and satisfying potential customers, while outbound marketing proactively reaches out to prospects. - [7 Innovative Strategies for Digital Fundraising](https://bigsea.co/ideas/7-innovative-fundraising-strategies-build-engagement-raise-more-money-online/): Digital strategy is vital for fundraising. Here are 7 ways you can boost your virtual game plan to drive engagement and increase donations. - [How to Advertise During a Recession in 2023](https://bigsea.co/ideas/advertising-during-recession-2023/): Learn ways to advertise your nonprofit during a recession. We know the 2023 inflation is impacting businesses and Big Sea is here to help. Schedule a consultation today. - [The Why and How of Rebranding Your Business](https://bigsea.co/ideas/business-rebranding/): Why would a business want to rebrand? Learn more about the how and why of rebranding your business in this blog from Big Sea. - [Video Marketing: A Primer](https://bigsea.co/ideas/video-marketing/): Learn more about video marketing with Big Sea Digital Marketing. - [Big Sea Stands in Solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ Community](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-stands-in-solidarity-with-the-lgbtqia-community/): Read about what’s happening, find organizations to support, and amplify the voices of LGBTQIA+ individuals. - [Big Sea Acquires Tampa-based Sparxoo Digital and Sparxoo Studios](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-acquires-tampa-based-sparxoo-digital-and-sparxoo-studios/): We're thrilled to announce that Big Sea has acquired Tampa-based digital agency, Sparxoo, and video production company, Sparxoo Studios. - [How to Create a Successful Marketing Campaign on TikTok](https://bigsea.co/ideas/create-successful-tiktok-campaigns/): Advertise and build your brand on the most downloaded app of 2021. - [A Quick Guide to Hulu’s New Advertising Beta Testing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/hulu-advertising-beta-testing/): What You Need to Know About Hulu’s Newest Ad Manager - [437% More New Donors and 140% More Online Donations: How We Did It](https://bigsea.co/ideas/new-donors-through-targeted-advertising-case-study/): Smart digital marketing delivers outstanding results for this incredible non-profit. Gain 9:1 on your ad spend; grow online donations. - [From 3:1 to 6:1: How PPC Optimization Drives Results](https://bigsea.co/ideas/ppc-optimization-case-study/): HealthWarehouse.com set big goals to expand their brand, reach more customers, and drive revenue growth — and Big Sea helped them deliver. - [How Your Higher Ed Email Marketing Can Thrive in a Post-Pandemic World](https://bigsea.co/ideas/effective-post-pandemic-higher-ed-email-marketing/): Embrace these higher ed email marketing best practices designed to optimize your results and turn your emails into a viable recruitment driver. - [What Does eCommerce Website Traffic Look Like This Year?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-does-website-traffic-look-like-this-year/): Travel and in-person shopping are picking up and web traffic is shrinking. How is this going to impact your e-commerce sales? - [How to Leverage Influencer Marketing for Higher Ed](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-leverage-influencer-marketing-for-higher-ed/): Want to go beyond admissions brochures and college fairs? Influencer marketing should be a part of your admissions higher ed marketing plan. - [The Importance of Emotional Connection in Higher-Ed Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-importance-of-emotional-connection-in-higher-ed-marketing/): The more your advertising emotionally connects with potential students, the more likely your institution is to be a top contender. - [5 Coaching Skills That Enhance Your Clients' Experience](https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-coaching-skills-that-enhance-your-clients-experience/): Invite your clients to react to ideas, questions and perspectives to take you closer to the truth. Use these five key skills to elevate their experience - [Enrollment Marketing Tips](https://bigsea.co/ideas/enrollment-marketing-tips/): Update your enrollment marketing strategy to include strategic, targeted video. Use these 11 tips to make the most of your budget. - [Building For a Post-COVID World: 5 Marketing Strategies Museums and Attractions Can Implement Now](https://bigsea.co/ideas/museums-and-attractions-post-covid-world-marketing-strategies/): Prepare for the future with these 5 marketing strategies that will bring much-needed revenue and foot traffic back through your physical space. - [Building your CBD Brand with Strong Positioning](https://bigsea.co/ideas/building-your-cbd-brand-with-strong-positioning/): The CBD market is growing and you don't want to be left in the dust. Stand out amongst competitors with strong branding that connects with consumers. - [End of Year Appeal Campaign Results in 115% Increase in Donations](https://bigsea.co/ideas/end-of-year-appeal-campaign-case-study/): Using compelling messaging and cross-platform marketing, our end-of-year appeal campaign resulted in a 115% increase in donations. - [B2B Digital Marketing: Your Trade Show Alternative](https://bigsea.co/ideas/digital-marketing-your-trade-show-alternative/): As trade show cancellations pile up, pressure mounts to attract buyers. Learn how to get the most out of your budget by transitioning to digital marketing. - [How a Targeted Ad Campaign Increased Conversions By 121%](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-a-targeted-ad-campaign-increased-conversions-by-121/): Learn how Big Sea utilized programmatic advertising with a solid strategy to increase W3 Marine Insurance's conversions by 121%. - [Big Sea Wins AMA Marketer of the Year – Again!](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-wins-ama-marketer-of-the-year-again/): All three of our submissions were selected as finalists. In the end, we took home two wins — for Market Research and Content Marketing. - [SEO Overhaul and Website Redesign Increase Leads by 250%](https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-overhaul-and-website-redesign-increase-leads-by-250/): Discover how Big Sea rebuilt a client's website and doubled down on a powerful SEO strategy to boost rankings and increase lead generation for them. - [Big Sea Acquisition Adds Focused Expertise in E-commerce](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-pineapple-development-acquisition/): Big Sea, one of the Tampa Bay area’s top marketing agencies, has acquired 70% ownership of Pineapple Development. - [The Ultimate CBD Email Marketing Campaign Guide](https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-ultimate-cbd-email-marketing-guide/): Email can be used in many ways for marketing your CBD company. Check out our ultimate CBD email marketing campaign best practices guide. - [Digital Marketing During a Recession: Build Your Strategy Today](https://bigsea.co/ideas/digital-marketing-during-a-recession/): Don't become paralyzed by the shock of this global crisis. Use digital marketing to mitigate a downward economic turn during this recession. - [CBD Marketing Ideas: Break Through the Noise With Content Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/cbd-marketing-ideas/): Use these CBD marketing ideas to reach a wider audience with targeted, helpful content. Content marketing gives you an advantage in a crowded space. - [Digital Advertising for Museums](https://bigsea.co/ideas/digital-advertising-for-museums/): Learn how to get more people in the door with this comphensive guide to digital advertising for museums. Build, launch, and measure ad campaigns that work. - [Common Marketing Myths](https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-marketing-myths-that-are-holding-you-back/): Stop letting these 5 marketing myths minimize your efforts. Uncover new ways of reaching your audience and improve your tactics. - [What to Expect After Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency](https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-to-expect-after-hiring-a-digital-marketing-agency/): Learn how to make the most of getting started with a digital marketing agency so you can establish a strong marketing partnership from the get-go. - [Here's Why People Can't Resist Video Content](https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-with-video-content/): There are two main reasons you need to be producing video content for your marketing and sales channels. New to you? Then you need to read this! - [27-hours of Creativity, Team-Building and Innovation: Ship It Day 2019](https://bigsea.co/ideas/27-hours-of-creativity-team-building-and-innovation-ship-it-day-2019/): Ship It Day 2019 was a 27-hour marathon of creativity, innovation, team-building, and yes, beer. You gotta see some of these amazing Big Sea projects! - [Compliance: The Missing Piece of Your Marketing Plan](https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-compliance/): With the rise of privacy and security scandals, it is becoming clear that there's one critical piece missing from many marketing plans: compliance. - [Big Sea is One of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces of 2019](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-is-one-of-inc-magazines-best-workplaces-of-2019/): Big Sea is one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces for creating an exceptional workplace with a vibrant culture, engaged employees, and great benefits. - [Your Guide to Ecommerce Email Workflow Automation](https://bigsea.co/ideas/ecommerce-email-automation-guide/): Email workflows are triggered by customer behavior and can run without your constant supervision. Because let’s be honest, you already have enough to do. - [Use Smart(er) Content to Nurture More Leads Into Customers](https://bigsea.co/ideas/smart-content-personalization-ideas/): Did you know that you can use smart content to nurture potential leads by showing that you understand where they're at and how they relate to you? - [Big Sea Wins Marketer of the Year in Both Content & Digital Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-wins-marketer-of-the-year-in-content-marketing-and-digital-marketing/): Big Sea was recognized for oustanding marketing in the AMA Tampa Bay Marketer of the Year Awards with wins in Digital Marketing and Content Marketing. - [Why We Don’t Buy Links (and Neither Should You)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-we-dont-buy-links-and-neither-should-you/): Building good backlinks takes time and effort. Here are 7 reasons why buying backlinks is a risky and reckless digital marketing tactic. - [Brand Voice Matters. Do You Know Who You Are?](https://bigsea.co/ideas/building-a-brand-voice/): Personality is crucial. It’s how we judge pets and people. Your business also has a personality in the form of its brand voice. Do you know what it is? - [How to Grow Your Business With Better Local Listings](https://bigsea.co/ideas/improve-your-local-listings/): How can business owners improve their appearance in local search? Learn more about local search and how to improve your local listings. - [Developing a Brand Narrative](https://bigsea.co/ideas/case-study-brand-narrative/): Journey inside the Big Sea Wayfinding Workshop to see how we created an internal guide for brand consistency and direction in 5 steps. - [What Mario Kart Taught Us About Digital Marketing](https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-mario-kart-taught-us-about-digital-marketing/): Some of the best digital marketing lessons come from unexpected sources. Here's what we learned about marketing from playing Mario Kart. - [5 Lessons Learned From One Unforgettable Client Engagement](https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-lessons-learned-from-one-unforgettable-client-engagement/): Five valuable collaboration and project management lessons we learned when we partnered with Heart of Agile to design their new site. - [Need More Online Reviews for Your Healthcare Practice? Start Here](https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-practice-online-reviews/): Get better quality online reviews for your healthcare practice by following these steps to make it easier for patients to rate their experience with you. - [How to Tell if You Need a Website Redesign (or Not)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-tell-if-you-need-a-website-redesign-or-not/): If your website has been sporting the same design for several years, it may be time for a change. Let's see if your business needs a website redesign. - [7 Reasons Not to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency](https://bigsea.co/ideas/reasons-not-to-hire-a-digital-marketing-agency/): Before you make a significant investment, take a moment to read these reasons why you should not hire a digital marketing agency. - [The Foundations of a Successful Web Design Project](https://bigsea.co/ideas/planning-and-scheming-how-we-start-a-web-design-project/): We've been involved in many web design projects, and no matter the size or scope, we always have a few elements that are common across every project. - [Big Sea Heads West! Announcing Our New Location in Colorado Springs](https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-heads-west-announcing-new-location-colorado-springs/): Big Sea has opened a second location in downtown Colorado Springs. Colorado businesses now have a new digital marketing agency to work with. - [Crisis Management: Firefighting With the Right People](https://bigsea.co/ideas/crisis-management-firefighting-right-people/): A client's website disappeared overnight. What we did next is a powerful lesson in crisis management and the importance of trusting your team. - [Your Content Marketing Isn’t Working. Here’s Why.](https://bigsea.co/ideas/content-marketing-isnt-working-heres/): Your posts are unread, your Instagram is a graveyard, and your white paper offer isn't generating leads. Here's why your content marketing isn't working. - [Get Good Reviews From Your Patients (the Right Way)](https://bigsea.co/ideas/get-good-reviews-patients-right-way/): Don't be tempted to do shady things to get good reviews from your patients. Stick to these above-board tactica that really work. - [Plugin Update: HubSpot for Gravity Forms and GDPR](https://bigsea.co/ideas/plugin-update-hubspot-for-gravity-forms/): Update your HubSpot for Gravity Forms plugin for GDPR compliance. We'll walk you through how to get it set up for a better user experience. --- # # Detailed Content ## Pages ### SEO Strategy > Big Sea’s SEO marketing experts specialize in SEO Content Strategy, Technical SEO, Information Architecture, and more. Consult with us today! - Published: 2023-06-01 - Modified: 2023-08-08 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/seo-services/ SEO Marketing Experts We don’t take a cookie cutter approach to SEO. Instead, we work closely with our clients to understand their business, their brand and their ideal target audience. From there, our search marketing strategists are able to develop comprehensive, content-forward SEO strategies that are tailored to meet their needs and help their website succeed. Schedule an SEO Consultation --- ### Video Marketing Services > Strategic Video Marketing engages your audience, drives sales, improves lead generation, and levels up your paid media. Book a Big Sea consultation today! - Published: 2020-11-30 - Modified: 2022-11-17 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/video-marketing/ Video marketing that engages and converts Video is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s essential for meaningful outreach with today's mobile-first audience. We produce video content tailored to your marketing needs. Whether you’re looking to promote your brand with testimonials or create animated video ads, we are your strategic partner in video marketing and production. Schedule a Video Marketing Consultation --- ### Nonprofit Marketing Agency > Nonprofit marketing agency that leverages impactful storytelling to help raise funds, build community, and grow your organization. - Published: 2020-11-16 - Modified: 2023-02-07 - URL: https://bigsea.co/industries/nonprofits/ Mission-based marketing. We help you leverage impactful storytelling to amplify your mission, encourage donations, attract volunteers, and help your organization grow into the future. Our marketing strategists integrate your fundraising and martech tools to build a compelling donor journey that supports your nonprofit in every way. Let's Get Started --- ### Email Marketing > Email marketing strategies drive decision making and engagement with your brand. Improve email automation and segmenting and meet your goals. - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2022-11-17 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/email-marketing/ Finally, email marketing that doesn't feel spammy. Email isn't dead. In fact, it remains one of the best ways to reach your audience and convert followers into customers, and customers into brand evangelists. We take a fresh approach to email marketing, using strategic segmentation to make sure every email feels useful and not like one more annoying unread message. Let's Chat About Email Marketing --- ### Marketing Automation > Transform your outreach and engagement efforts with HubSpot for nonprofits and Big Sea. - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2024-09-11 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/marketing-automation/ Use HubSpot to form authentic connections. Transform your outreach and engagement efforts with HubSpot. Cultivate deeper connections with your supporters through personalized email journeys. Seamlessly track donor interactions, from their first website visit to their generous contribution. Automate time-consuming tasks, freeing your team to focus on your mission. Schedule a Discovery Call --- ### Content Marketing Services > From content marketing strategy to creation to distribution, Big Sea offers content marketing services that get results. Interested? Let's chat! - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2023-06-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/content-marketing/ Content marketing services for branding and engagement Engaging, high-quality content provides value for your readers. It encourages repeat sales, and you establish powerful brand advocates. Content marketing strengthens your brand’s personality and voice and creates a connection with your audience while focusing on topics that are relevant to their needs. Big Sea's award-winning content marketing strategies build long-term wins for your organization. Let's Chat About Content Marketing --- ### Branding and Messaging > Clear & consistent Brand Messaging establishes a more meaningful relationship with your target audience. Book a Brand Strategy consultation with Big Sea today! - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2024-11-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/branding-messaging/ Branding and Messaging Identify who you really are so you can speak confidently to your audience. Clear branding and messaging helps people develop a relationship with you that drives trust and action. This is more than a fluffy mission statement, it's about embodying your brand's truths at every touchpoint. Schedule a Brand Strategy Consultation --- ### Advertising Strategy & Execution > Stop wasting your budget on bad advertising campaigns. With Big Sea managing your paid campaigns, you'll get more clicks, leads & ROI! - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2023-08-01 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/advertising-strategy-execution/ Targeted digital advertising that gets results. Digital Advertising is the most rapidly evolving space in today’s marketing. Every week there are new algorithms, new channels to reach your audience, and hundreds of tools that promise better results. To keep pace with the speed of change, you need a team of experts that can cut through the noise and ensure that you are reaching your ideal audience. Schedule an Advertising Consultation --- ### Strategy & Consulting > It takes data & creativity to develop a great Digital Marketing Strategy. Big Sea offers high level Digital Marketing Consulting. Contact us today! - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2023-10-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/strategy-consulting/ Award-winning Digital Marketing Strategy Marketing needs to be more than just slick and trendy. It needs to WORK. More leads, better leads, and all at a lower cost of acquisition. That takes research and a deep understanding of the problems we're trying to solve. Our Fractional CMO services lead with research to deliver insights that drive growth. Schedule a Chat --- ### Web Design & Development > Creative web design that not only elevates your brand, but also drives new traffic, leads, and conversions. Start working with Big Sea today! - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2023-06-22 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/web-design-development/ Creative Web Design and Development Your website is an extension of your brand — and your sales team. It should function as a digital marketing machine that boosts traffic, conversions, and revenue. That's why our cross-functional web design and development teams take a research-based, content-forward approach to building you a site that's functional, engaging, and gorgeous. Let us design your dream website --- ### Digital Marketing Services > Big Sea will embody & promote your brand with an Agile Digital Marketing Strategy. Explore our services such as Paid Media, Content Strategy, SEO, and much more! - Published: 2020-11-07 - Modified: 2023-06-05 - URL: https://bigsea.co/services/digital-marketing/ Agile Digital Marketing Your customers conduct research and make decisions online every day. That’s why you need a holistic digital marketing strategy that promotes your brand, helps your audience to easily find you, and offers real value in the decision phase. A meaningful digital strategy not only grows your customer base — it creates raving fans. Let's Talk About Your Marketing Goals --- ### Interactive Industry Report: Museums and Aquariums > We researched the top museums and aquariums in the U.S. to see how they stacked up when it comes to metrics like traffic, keywords, and more. - Published: 2019-04-16 - Modified: 2021-11-10 - URL: https://bigsea.co/interactive-industry-report-museums-aquariums/ --- ### Higher Education Marketing Agency > We specialize in content marketing, email, search, and paid media strategies for higher ed admissions marketing. - Published: 2018-08-27 - Modified: 2023-03-02 - URL: https://bigsea.co/industries/higher-education/ Data-driven digital strategies for tomorrow’s tech-savvy students. From research to application to deposit, our digital marketing strategies encompass the entire prospect journey in your degree program. We specialize in content marketing, email, search and paid media strategies that meet your prospects where they’re at, with targeted messaging that inspires action. Download Your Digital Strategies for Higher Ed eBook --- ### Health & Wellness > As experts in marketing for healthcare and cannabis brands, we leverage creative strategies and compelling messaging that converts. - Published: 2018-08-16 - Modified: 2023-11-01 - URL: https://bigsea.co/industries/health-and-wellness/ Elevate Your Health & Wellness Mission with Expert Marketing We specialize in crafting tailored marketing strategies for healthcare practices and natural wellness providers, including leading cannabis brands. Leveraging our deep industry insights, cutting-edge tools, and a passion for holistic well-being, we empower organizations like yours to flourish, thrive, and make a transformative impact. Get Started --- ### Industries > Our areas of marketing expertise include higher ed, museums and cultural institutions, nonprofits, healthcare and cannabis brands. - Published: 2018-06-29 - Modified: 2024-11-05 - URL: https://bigsea.co/industries/ We understand your business. 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Discover how we've transformed brands for over 20 years through data-driven insights, bold ideas, and a commitment to constant improvement. --- ### Contact Us > We'd love to hear from you! Contact us for general inquiries, project initialization or consulting. Agile Digital Marketing Services located in St. Pete FL. - Published: 2017-05-17 - Modified: 2024-03-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/contact/ Start your project. --- ### About > We help purpose-driven organizations reach more people through standout marketing and strategic website design. - Published: 2017-05-03 - Modified: 2025-03-11 - URL: https://bigsea.co/about/ We're a catalyst for those committed to making a difference. We believe in the transformative power of communication to move hearts and minds, and we dedicate ourselves to magnifying our clients' efforts, enabling them to achieve their purpose. Since 2005, our fully-distributed team of experts have partnered with successful purpose-driven organizations to reach more people through standout marketing and strategic website design. --- ### Fresh Ideas > Catch up on new digital marketing tools, tactics, and opinions in Big Sea's Fresh Ideas blog - Published: 2017-05-01 - Modified: 2020-12-16 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/ --- ### Home > Our nonprofit and healthcare marketing experts provide fractional CMO, SEO, digital marketing, and web design for top brands nationwide. - Published: 2016-11-03 - Modified: 2024-05-23 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ We create smart growth strategies for nonprofits, higher ed, healthcare, museums, and cultural institutions. We build audiences and create engagement so you can drive change. --- --- ## Posts ### Intersectional Pride Month Marketing > Learn about intersectional pride, how to celebrate it, and how your organization can be an ally during Pride Month & all year round. - Published: 2025-05-28 - Modified: 2025-05-28 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/intersectionality-and-pride-month/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Messaging Our identities intersect. Can marketing tactics ever address them respectfully and ethically? Everyone has an identity—that’s a given. But sometimes, we have many. Race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, socioeconomic status; these are a few of the multitude of identities that shape how we view and interact with the world around us. And when these multiple identities overlap, they create unique experiences that vary from person to person. We’ve already discussed year-round allyship and how every person—lesbian, gay, trans, non-binary, allies, and everyone in between—has varying opinions about Pride Month marketing and rainbow products. Now, we want to highlight the relationship between marketing and intersectionality—the notion that our unique, individual experiences of discrimination and oppression shape our livelihoods, mindsets, and worldviews. Intersectionality encompasses a wide range of factors, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, socioeconomic status, and education. Here’s the big question: how can we, as marketers, ethically address intersectionality in our Pride Month campaigning? Let’s dive in. What is Intersectionality? Source: YW Boston Intersectionality was coined by law professor, social theorist, and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw in her famous 1989 essay, which debunked the long-held belief that race and gender were mutually exclusive categories of experience and analysis. In her essay, Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” to describe erasure, violence, and bias against Black women, especially in feminist theory, politics, and practice. This confluence of two states of identity—being Black and being a woman—falls under two marginal and oppressed communities, resulting in an experience that will widely differ from, say, a white woman’s. Crenshaw’s framework is widely used now in global conversations about racial justice, policing, LGBTQIA+ liberation, and identity politics. As The Center for Intersectional Justice aptly puts it, “intersectionality is about fighting discrimination within discrimination, tackling inequalities within inequalities, and protecting minorities within minorities. ” What Does Intersectional Pride Marketing Look Like? Converse continues to showcase its allyship with the launch of its 10th annual Pride Collection campaign, “Proud to Be. ” The campaign features a vibrant range of shoes designed by Converse’s LGBTQ+ employees and allies. The shoes themselves feature trendy Western details, joyful pops of color, and a customizable sneaker option with numerous ways to create your own unique pair. The active involvement of LGBTQ+ employees and allies in the design process lends authenticity and personal significance to the collection. By tapping into the creativity and experiences of individuals within the community, Converse ensures that its designs authentically reflect a diverse range of LGBTQ+ identities. The incorporation of Pride design elements, including nods to the transgender flag and vibrant colors, celebrates diversity and inclusivity. This allows customers to express their pride and identity through their footwear, fostering a sense of empowerment and belonging. Beyond the designs of its shoes, Converse has pledged and donated nearly $3. 4 million to local, national, and international organizations since the launch of its first Pride collection in 2015. This demonstrates the brand’s ongoing commitment to supporting the LGBTQ+ community and solidifies its place as a leader in intersectional Pride marketing efforts. What Does Intersectional Pride Marketing Not Look Like? Target was a beacon of intersectional queer allyship until they made the controversial decision to remove or relocate their Pride collection because of threats from violent extremists. Many have questioned Target’s decision to bend to anti-LGBTQIA+ pressure, rather than increasing measures that protect their employees and products. It’s an important lesson in how even a superbly crafted campaign can falter when you cave to extremist pressure. What is the Story Behind the Intersectional Pride Flag? In 2018, non-binary artist Daniel Quasar created the Progress Pride Flag, which features black and brown stripes added to the traditional 6-color design. These additions highlight the often overlooked BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) queer community that ignited the entire Pride movement with the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Progress Pride Flag by Daniel Quasar, from progress. gay The pink and light blue of the transgender flag are also included, uniting with the black and brown stripes to form a triangle, suggesting a forward-moving arrow. This brings intersectionality into the Pride conversation and is a strong reminder that there are plenty of identities beyond white, cisgender English-speakers who fall under the L, the G,... --- ### 5 Ways Your Brand Can Be A True Ally this Pride Month > Explore our top five tips for brands celebrating Pride Month to have a positive impact & provide value to your customers & their communities. - Published: 2025-05-27 - Modified: 2025-05-28 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-ways-your-brand-can-be-a-true-ally-this-pride-month/ - Categories: News & Culture While Pride Month should be about community, recognition, and honoring the millions of people who left us all too soon, it’s unfortunately become a money-making machine for many organizations that tend to drop off the face of the earth when July 1 rolls around. Here are five considerations to help your brand avoid the performative pandering and be a true ally to the LGBTQ+ community — all Pride Month and beyond. Ahh, Pride Month. From the first of June through the 30th, the LGBTQIA+ community and our allies convene to celebrate the many accomplishments and strides made by those who came before us in the past 50-odd years. And in the last five years alone, brands have latched onto us, for better or worse. The LGBTQIA+ community has a long-standing history of struggle and marginalization—one that's proven how society has come a long way, but still has even further to go. Yet, a beautiful community has risen up proud, self-determined, and unafraid to take on the world as we know it. While Pride Month 2025 should be about community, recognition, and honoring the millions who left us all too soon, it's unfortunately become a money-making machine for many organizations that tend to drop off the face of the earth when July 1 rolls around. Here are five considerations to help your brand avoid the performative pandering and be a faithful ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, all Pride Month and beyond. 1. Consider who your brand is to the LGBTQIA+ community. This is your starting point and the bare minimum when considering how to approach Pride Month from a business and marketing perspective. From tons of commercials, ad campaigns, and more that remind us that we're seen and valid (were we not before? ), Pride Month has become an opportunistic cash grab for many organizations. From rainbow caps to bowls and flair that do anything but give back to the community, whose profits are actually pocketed by companies that support anti-queer action and more, our community has grown weary and tired. We want brands to do better, and some simple thinking before speaking is a nice start. For example, the term “gay” is not a blanket noun for the entire LGBTQIA+ community. When you write for Pride Month campaigns, products, or services, use LGBTQIA+ or a variation of the acronym (i. e. , LGBT or LGBTQIA). Also avoid using the term “queer,” unless you’re an explicitly queer organization, as it is a slur that’s been reclaimed by the LGBTQIA+ community (some members of the community don’t use the word at all). Intention also plays a significant role here. What is the goal of your Pride Month campaign? To uplift the community or boost your Q2 sales? What did your brand do outside of producing some print ads and out-of-homes about what a great month this is? Be genuine, and don’t forget that people can tell the difference. And be prepared to weather the storm when, not if, the haters start to hate. 2. Speak up and put your money where your mouth is. Just because you slap a rainbow on your products or offer a Pride Month discount doesn’t mean you’re empowering the very disenfranchised LGBTQIA+ community. With so many brands doing this, we wonder what else could be done instead. So, consider: what are you doing to give back? Products from Barbie to Pop-Tarts to Nike have been doing work that benefits organizations that work to serve the community directly. If your campaign has all the right intentions and looks to provide something equitable and long-lasting for the community, that heart will shine through. Brands from Levi's to Fenty to Apple have been doing meaningful work that benefits organizations serving the community directly in 2024. If your campaign has all the right intentions and looks to provide something equitable and long-lasting for the community, that heart will shine through. The landscape has shifted dramatically even in the last few years. In the wake of increasing legislation targeting LGBTQIA+ rights in various states, many brands that previously championed Pride have had to decide whether they truly stand with the community when faced with boycott threats. Those who've maintained their support despite pressure, like Ben & Jerry's consistent advocacy, have earned authentic credibility with the community. 3. Stay informed about LGBTQIA+ issues and statistics. Until the mid-1950s, LGBTQIA-identifying people were often the source of unfair targeting, harassment, assault, and even murder by police and everyday individuals. To this day, transgender folks experience grossly disproportionate rates of murder and hate crime-related injuries. According to 2024 data, LGBTQIA+ youth are nearly three times more likely... --- ### Should Your Brand Use a Pride Month Logo This Year? > Should you use a Pride Month logo? Learn about Pride Month marketing, the history behind the rainbow flag & how businesses can show support. - Published: 2025-05-20 - Modified: 2025-05-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/pride-month-logo-debate/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: Branding Should you use a pride month logo as part of your marketing strategy? Well, the answer is sort of complicated. Plenty of small and mid-sized businesses fly the Pride flag year-round to say either, 1) this is a queer-operated establishment, or 2) we are allies—this is a safe place to hang out and be gay all day. But what about brands that only mention Pride during June? What does that signal to customers and other businesses? We will answer that question and explore whether using a rainbow logo during June is a good idea. So let’s get down to business. Should you use a Pride Month logo as part of your marketing strategy? Well, the answer is sort of complicated. Why Do Businesses Rebrand for Pride? First, a quick note on vocabulary. In this blog, you’re going to see the word queer. While generations of people have weaponized it as a slur, some of us, including me, have chosen to reclaim it as an all-encompassing term for members of the LGBTQIAP2S+ community. Others have not. Neither group is wrong. To the question at hand: If a business “brands” its property, web content, or products with the Pride flag only during June, the reason is almost always to make more money from queer people and our allies. This doesn’t mean the business isn’t an ally. Plenty of businesses are strong allies—putting their money behind queer causes, employing (and listening to the voices of) queer employees, and speaking out against anti-gay and anti-trans activity. But if your support isn’t extended to the queer community in the other 11 months of the year, your Pride rebranding might come across as disingenuous. The same can be said about Black History Month, Breast Cancer Awareness, and countless other examples. Rebranding responsibly starts with a year-long commitment to queer allyship, and also a familiarity with crucial moments in queer history. What Does the Rainbow Flag Represent? In 1978, when the late activist Harvey Milk (the first openly gay man elected to public office in California) wanted to adopt a symbol of pride for the gay community. He knew a “brand” would unify the activists. He turned to designer and U. S. Army veteran Gilbert Baker. Along with a small group of other troublemakers, Baker used the most iconic representation of pride—a flag. For inspiration, he looked to the skies. Favoring a rainbow pattern (it’s pretty, identifiable, and reflects diversity), Baker chose eight stripes: the standard seven natural colors, plus a touch of hot pink. After Harvey Milk’s assassination later that year, retail demand for the flag exploded in San Francisco and, eventually, across the nation. The pink stripe was ultimately dropped as the fabric was hard to find. To even out the number of stripes (which is better for design), Baker combined the turquoise and indigo stripes to form a single blue one. And thus, the ubiquitous six-color flag was born *throws glitter*. Since then, it’s been found everywhere from face tattoos to cereal boxes to the front of the Obama White House. More than 50 variations currently exist—each representing a different queer identity or location (lesbian, asexual, bisexual, non-binary, etc. ), including the increasingly popular transgender flag, created by Monica Helms—another military veteran—in 1999. Image by Nito / © Adobe Stock The first Pride “parade” was a literal riot that was led primarily by Black trans women as they fought back against the abusive NYPD outside the Stonewall Inn for three entire days in 1969. In 2018, non-binary American artist Daniel Quasar developed the (sometimes controversial) Progress Pride Flag, which includes black and brown stripes highlighting the often overlooked BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) queer community that planted the seeds of Pride back in 1969. With the trans flag, these form an arrow—a much stronger representation of queer intersectionality. When Is It a Good Idea to Use a Pride Month Logo? While the best time to use a Pride flag to represent your organization’s values is every single day, there are plenty of queer folks who, understandably, believe that any pro-queer visibility is helpful. But many others, with equal justification, look at the one-month Pride cycle with skepticism (to say the least). Where were these organizations before gay marriage was legalized? Before allyship became trendy, and largely without risk. Before Will & Grace... --- ### Choosing the Best Donor Database for Your Nonprofit: HubSpot vs. Classy > Discover the key features, benefits & challenges of choosing the right donor database for your nonprofit, with a detailed comparison of HubSpot & Classy. - Published: 2025-05-14 - Modified: 2025-05-13 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/donor-databases-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Fundraising - Tags: classy, donor database, fundraising, HubSpot Ninety percent of nonprofits collect donor data, but only 5% actually use that data to guide their decisions. That gap represents an enormous missed opportunity, especially when the pressure is on to do more with less. A donor database—when it’s working for you—can help bridge that gap and transform your data into results. That’s because the right donor management system doesn’t just hold names and numbers. It helps you understand who your donors are, how they give, and what messages move them. In this blog, we’ll compare two powerhouse systems head-to-head to help you choose the one that will make the most of your data—and your team’s time. Ninety percent of nonprofits collect donor data, but only 5% actually use that data to guide their decisions. That gap represents an enormous missed opportunity, especially when the pressure is on to do more with less. You’ve got donors to retain, new supporters to win over, and a team juggling a dozen priorities, often on a shoestring budget. A donor database—when it’s working for you—can help bridge that gap and transform your data into results. That’s because the right donor management system doesn’t just hold names and numbers. It helps you understand who your donors are, how they give, and what messages move them. It automates your thank-you emails and follow-ups. It surfaces insights you might have missed. And it frees up your staff (or, let’s be real, sometimes your two-person fundraising team) to spend more time building relationships and less time cleaning spreadsheets. Why are donor databases so useful? Because strategically segmented email lists and thoughtful automated follow-ups pay off. Data shows that 84% of donors are more likely to give again when they’re kept in the loop with impact updates, and marketers that use CRM data for segmentation and personalization see vastly more revenue from their email campaigns (as much as 760% more, according to one study, which is a shocker of a figure). However, not all donor databases are created equal, and choosing the right one isn’t always straightforward. You’re weighing cost, usability, integrations, and how well it fits your team’s needs. Two platforms many nonprofits consider are HubSpot and Classy (now called GoFundMe Pro). Both have strong reputations and nonprofit-friendly features, but they’re built with different priorities in mind. In this blog, we’ll compare them head-to-head to help you choose the one that will make the most of your data—and your team’s time. What Is a Donor Database and Why Do Nonprofits Need One? A donor database is the central hub where all your donor information lives. Think of it as your nonprofit’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system tailored specifically to fundraising and relationship-building. It’s where you track who gave what, when they gave it, how often they engage with your content, and whether they’re due for a thank-you note (or a gentle nudge, as the case may be). At its core, a donor database supports your broader fundraising strategy by organizing data in a way that helps you make smarter decisions, personalize outreach, and deepen relationships with supporters. Here are the benefits. Centralized donor information: No more hunting through spreadsheets, emails, and sticky notes. A donor database keeps contact info, giving history, event attendance, and engagement data all in one place. Streamlined donor communications and outreach: From welcome emails to renewal reminders, automation tools let you stay in touch without burning out your staff. Personalization features help you speak to each new donor like a human, not a line on a spreadsheet. Improved donor engagement and retention strategies: With the right data at your fingertips, you can spot patterns, identify lapsed donors, and craft campaigns that keep supporters coming back. (Remember that statistic from earlier? Eighty-four percent of donors are more likely to give again when they feel connected to your work. ) Enhanced reporting, metrics, and insights: Donor databases help you track KPIs like donor retention rate, average gift size, and donor lifetime value. These insights make your campaigns more strategic and more successful. Whether running a year-end giving campaign or planning a gala, your database should be where you turn to first. Key Features to Look for in a Donor Database Every database is different. Some are built for scrappy small nonprofits, others for enterprise-level operations, and a few try to be everything to everyone (with varying degrees of success). Regardless of your size or structure, there are a few non-negotiables you should look for when choosing a system that will support your fundraising and donor stewardship goals. Here’s what a great donor database should include. Donor profiles with detailed contact information: At the very least, you’ll need a central record for each donor that includes their name, email, giving history, event attendance, and personal notes. The more context you have, the better you can tailor your outreach. Segmentation for targeted donor outreach:... --- ### Donor Personas for Your Nonprofit > Learn how to create & utilize donor personas to strengthen your nonprofit’s strategy, build meaningful connections & boost engagement. - Published: 2025-05-13 - Modified: 2025-05-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-guide-to-creating-marketing-personas-for-your-nonprofit/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: buyer persona, nonprofit marketing If you’re new to nonprofit marketing, there’s a chance you’ve had to create some buyer personas. But what are “buyer” personas doing in a nonprofit marketing model and, more importantly, why should you prioritize them? Personas are essentially a representation of a group of consumers who have similar goals, buyer habits, and personal profiles. Personas help organizations narrow down their target audience and delve deeper into their needs. You can fine-tune your marketing strategies by anchoring them to your audience’s real, living needs or desires, rather than throwing out messaging that’s too vague, too robotic, or that simply misses the mark. What Are Donor Personas? Donor personas are traditional marketing personas that describe your present, future, and/or ideal donors. They encapsulate demographic factors such as gender, age, income, and profession while putting a human face to your donor strategy. Well-written personas should remind you of donors you currently have and people you’ve met that you want to attract as donors. What is the Ideal Donor Profile? Your ideal donor is someone who is deeply aligned with your mission and has the capacity and willingness to contribute financially, through advocacy, or by volunteering. They often resonate with your organization’s values and want to see tangible social impact from your work. What’s the best donor type? The best donor type is someone deeply passionate about your cause and who prefers long-term engagement. These donors often prioritize consistent contributions over erratic, one-time support. For instance, monthly donors who sign up for sustained giving programs or corporate donors who align with your nonprofit's goals often fit the profile of the best donor type. What is the ideal donor age? This depends on your nonprofit's mission and audience, but certain age groups fit differing roles. For instance: Baby Boomers and Gen X (45-75 years): These donors often have more disposable income and may be legacy-focused. They’re ideal for planned giving campaigns or large one-time donations. Millennials and Gen Z (20-44 years): Typically tech-savvy and active on social media, younger donors prefer engaging causes and transparency. They’re excellent for crowdfunding campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising, and spreading awareness digitally. Knowing who connects most to your mission will help you identify and cultivate an ideal mix of donors across different ages and types. Why Are Donor Personas Important to Nonprofits? In nonprofits, growth metrics are often tied to engagement, membership, and donations. And, let’s face it, you can’t always get everything done with wide-net fundraisers. The most successful nonprofits have a well-curated group of donors who have cultivated and retained long-term relationships. In other words, a smaller net with maximized returns. Understanding your donor personas empowers you to achieve this balance and confidently steer your organization toward success. To strike the right balance between seeing your stakeholders as partners and recognizing them as consumers, you should first understand which audience aligns most with your mission and who will push your organization to succeed. They believe your values can change the world and are willing to help, but first, they must trust you. Creating buyer personas is one step in cultivating an intentional community where everyone feels connected and part of a larger mission. How to Create Donor Personas Creating great donor personas starts with honest conversations. It's important to consult with all your stakeholders, not just those actively and frequently giving, but with all the folks helping you be good stewards of these donations. This includes volunteers and members (past and present), staff, and clients. Don't forget about lapsed donors: what’s changed for them and what’ll it take to re-engage? Here are some steps you can take to start crafting outstanding donor personas. 1. Survey your stakeholders. Ask them what they need rather than assume you already have what they seek when engaging with a nonprofit. Identify key members of your target audience, speak to them, and allow their answers to be your guide. These conversations will ensure your message and values are aligned and impactful to those seeking your service. Create a community database and post questions like: Who are your most frequent (active) donors? Who only gives every so often? Do any companies donate to your cause? If so, what kinds? When and why? Have you noticed... --- ### How to Choose a Great CRM for Nonprofits > Finding a CRM for nonprofits can be challenging with so many options. Our list includes free & affordable CRMs. - Published: 2025-05-08 - Modified: 2025-05-08 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/crm-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: CRM, Nonprofit Too many CRM options can be as tricky as having too few. But you’ve got limited time and resources for determining which will work best at spreading your message and advancing your goals. We’ll show you which free options are best for your type of organization. Nonprofits know how to do more with less. Money’s always tight, and running your organization means figuring out how to stretch donor dollars as far as possible. That means finding the right tools. And better yet, figuring out which tools you can access for an affordable price. Fortunately, as a 501(c)(3), special resources are available for your organization, such as Google Ad Grants, which are free to access if you meet the requirements. One option many nonprofits overlook is constituent relationship management (CRM) software. A good CRM will help you stay better engaged with your donors, members, volunteers, and other current or potential supporters. It’ll help you record your points of contact and manage your communications so that it’s easier to develop a strategy for the future. This guide explores the key features to look for in a nonprofit CRM, affordable CRM solutions, and how the right CRM can transform your operations. Does a Nonprofit Need a CRM? Though many organizations have missed out on the opportunity, CRM software can help nonprofits reduce their overhead costs and streamline internal management processes so that less money goes toward running things, and more contributes to your cause. And better yet, since there are many affordable CRM options for nonprofits, there are ways to start testing your options before making a significant investment. How Does a Nonprofit CRM Help with Fundraising? Imagine this—you run a small nonprofit, and a donor makes a generous contribution at your latest fundraiser. Weeks later, they receive a generic thank-you email and nothing more, causing them to disengage. This is where CRM tools can make a difference in terms of fundraising. A nonprofit CRM solution enables organizations to build better donor relationships by organizing donor data in one centralized platform. Using features like donor profiles, customizable templates, and automated email campaigns, nonprofits can personalize donor communications, making supporters feel valued. Crucially, these tools also help with tracking fundraising campaigns. From peer fundraising efforts to large fundraising events, CRMs offer insights through dashboards and custom reports, showing which initiatives drive the best results. Some systems even include payment processing and donation forms to make online fundraising easier. By automating repetitive tasks like thank-you notes, donation acknowledgment emails, and importing donor data, nonprofits can save time and focus on what matters—making a change. How to Pick the Right Nonprofit CRM Software What makes the best nonprofit CRM? Before you choose a CRM provider, you should answer a few questions. What are your goals? First, be clear about what you want in a new CRM. Are you looking to segment your audiences and automate email communications so you can tailor your messaging? Are you looking to re-activate previous donors or establish greater connectivity between different departments within your organization? How will you implement the CRM? Figure out what it’ll take—and how long it’ll take—to get the new system in place and train your team on it. New software takes some adjustment. You want something simple enough that board members and volunteers without training can easily use it. How will your team members access it? What devices does the CRM need to work on? Does it need to be accessible via mobile or laptop? The more adaptable the software, the more new and unexpected uses you may find. Is the software you’re considering flexible enough to grow with you? Is the CRM suited to the way you structure your internal processes? Are any of those structures likely to change? You want to make sure that the software doesn’t just meet your current needs; you want it to be adaptable enough that it won’t hinder if those needs grow or change. Is the CRM compatible with your current tech? Make sure the CRM is compatible with the tech you’re already using. What are its reporting capabilities? What sort of analytics will you get from the new software? A good CRM won’t just facilitate internal processes within your organization; it should also provide data about your operations. What CRM Features Should I Look for? With so many nonprofit CRM platforms available, identifying the right mix of features is essential. Here’s a checklist of must-have functionality for the best nonprofit CRM tools. 1. Donor Management... --- ### An Expert's Guide to Healthcare Marketing on Social Media > Discover how healthcare providers can harness social media to engage patients, maintain compliance & build impactful strategies. - Published: 2025-04-29 - Modified: 2025-04-28 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/social-media-and-healthcare-marketing/ - Categories: Health & Wellness - Tags: healthcare marketing, Social Media We’ll admit that healthcare marketing isn’t exactly known for its viral dance challenges or meme-worthy moments. But social media is exactly where healthcare providers need to be. Why? Because your patients are already there. In 2025, social media isn’t just a cherry on top for your healthcare organization—it’s a lifeline for building trust, educating communities, and ultimately filling appointment slots. But how do you balance HIPAA compliance with cheeky TikTok trends? We’re diving into the how, why, and “OMG, why didn’t we think of that?” of healthcare social media marketing. We’ll admit that healthcare marketing isn’t exactly known for its viral dance challenges or meme-worthy moments. But social media is exactly where healthcare providers need to be. Why? Because your patients are already there. They’re scrolling, liking, sharing—and looking you up online—long before they ever step into your waiting room. In 2025, social media isn’t just a cherry on top for your healthcare organization—it’s a lifeline for building trust, educating communities, and ultimately filling appointment slots. But how do you balance HIPAA compliance with cheeky TikTok trends? Buckle up. We’re diving into the how, why, and “OMG, why didn’t we think of that? ” of healthcare social media marketing. Understanding Your Audience Gone are the days when billboards and brochures defined healthcare marketing strategies and budgets. Today, over 72% of adults use social media, and 60% say they use content on these platforms to research and choose healthcare providers. Your practice needs a seat at the digital table to: Reach new, younger patients. Social platforms connect you to people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who prioritize convenience and transparency (we’re looking at you, Gen Z and Millennials). Share credible health info. Social media is a vehicle to build trust and combat misinformation with evidence-based content—think flu-shot reminders and myth-busting infographics. Humanize your brand. Showcasing your humanity with glimpses of your team and patient success stories will build emotional connections that last. Who’s Scrolling, and What Do They Want? Your patients are unique, and so are their social media habits. For example, a pediatric clinic’s audience is most likely on Instagram and drawn to parenting ideas such as helpful and inventive Band-Aid hacks, while a cardiology practice might connect with older professionals on LinkedIn through informative articles. Here’s how to tailor your approach: Demographics Matter! Gen Z & Millennials prefer Instagram Reels and TikTok for quick, relatable content. Parents often frequent Facebook groups and Pinterest in search of family health tips. Healthcare professionals commonly browse LinkedIn and Twitter (X) for industry news and peer networking. Speak Their Language Tailor your tone to your audience. A post about seasonal allergies could be: For parents: “Psst... Pollen’s back. Here’s how to keep your kiddo’s sneezes in check ” For seniors: “Spring allergies? 3 proven ways to enjoy the outdoors without the sniffles. ” Choosing the Right Platforms You don’t have to be everywhere. In fact, spreading yourself thin across 10 platforms is a recipe for burnout. Focus on channels where your audience actually hangs out: LinkedIn: Ideal for older, established patients, B2B networking, recruiting, and sharing white papers. Instagram & TikTok: Perfect for visual storytelling (think vaccine FAQs, patient testimonials, or “Day in the Life” reels from your staff). Facebook: Still reigns for community-building and event promotions (e. g. , free health screenings). Start building your social presence on one or two platforms. Aim to post 3-5 times a week with a balanced mix of educational posts, patient stories, and relatively lighthearted content (yes, healthcare can have some humor). Compliance and Regulations Ah, HIPAA—the five-letter acronym and four-letter word of healthcare marketing. One misstep (like sharing a patient photo without consent) can lead to hefty fines. Here’s how to stay safe: Train your team. Ensure everyone knows your social media policy. Role-play scenarios like, “What if a patient tags us in a post? ” Never share Protected Health Information (PHI), even in DMs. Use disclaimers, such as “Opinions are my own” on staff accounts and “Results may vary” on patient testimonials. Creating a Winning Social Media Strategy The best way to generate a following and convert likes into patients is to publish content that connects on both an emotional and an intellectual level. Create a dynamic social presence with a variety of formats and media. Post educational content, which is great for breaking down complex topics (e. g. , “What’s a lipid panel? Let’s demystify your bloodwork. ”). Feature user-generated content (UGC). Share patient testimonials (with consent! ) or repost community shoutouts. Swim upstream with trending conversations. Tap into hashtags like #HealthyEatingWeek or #MentalHealthAwareness to find active conversations online—but keep it relevant. Balance is the key to great brand messaging on social platforms. Mix evergreen content (e. g. , “5 Signs You... --- ### 5 Free Survey Tools for Nonprofits > Discover 5 free survey tools for nonprofits to engage donors, gather valuable feedback & drive impactful decision-making. - Published: 2025-04-25 - Modified: 2025-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/free-survey-tools-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: nonprofit marketing, surveys As nonprofit marketers, we’re always trying to understand our audiences better—what makes them tick, donate, volunteer, and stick around. But here's a little secret: your audience actually wants you to get to know them. They want to feel seen, heard, and appreciated. When you design surveys that feel engaging and interactive rather than dry and robotic, your supporters become more eager participants, genuinely excited to share their thoughts. That’s why in this post we’ll introduce you to five of the best free survey tools for nonprofits, along with tips on designing effective surveys and implementing the results to maximize their impact. Taking surveys can be fun. When it’s done right, a survey can feel like a mini-game or a chance to discover something cool about yourself. It can even feel like a little distinction. (“Oh really, Instagram? You want to know what I think of the ads I’ve seen lately? This app must know I have good taste! ”) After all, being asked your opinion feels good. It means your ideas matter, your voice counts—someone out there wants to hear from you! Suddenly you’re a little invested—not just because it’s fun, but because someone cares what you think. As nonprofit marketers, we’re always trying to understand our audiences better—what makes them tick, donate, volunteer, and stick around. But here's a little secret: your audience actually wants you to get to know them. They want to feel seen, heard, and appreciated. When you design surveys that feel engaging and interactive rather than dry and robotic, your supporters become more eager participants, genuinely excited to share their thoughts. That’s why in this post we’ll introduce you to five of the best free survey tools for nonprofits, along with tips on designing effective surveys and implementing the results to maximize their impact. Ready to ask questions people actually want to answer? Let's go. Why Surveys Are Crucial for Nonprofits Surveys can be game changers for nonprofit organizations, especially when it comes to: Understanding Donor Needs: Surveys can explain your donors’ motivations and show you what it takes to keep them invested. Use the results to boost donor retention. Improving Program Effectiveness: You can evaluate program performance through feedback surveys to make strategic adjustments to campaigns that are still ongoing. Justifying Your Impact: Collecting metrics lets you showcase your success in grant applications and stakeholder reports. Streamlining Fundraising Strategies: Whether it’s for online giving or in-person events, gathering insights into donor preferences helps you fine-tune your approach. Surveys don’t just gather data, they help you build relationships. They let you make better decisions, create stronger connections, and keep supporters coming back feeling heard, valued, and understood. And for nonprofits on a budget (which is all of them), free survey tools offer a perfect way to collect data without depleting your resources. But which survey software is right for your nonprofit? 5 Best Free Survey Tools Here are our five top pics for free online survey tools. Each one is packed with the features and functionality your nonprofit needs to collect and analyze valuable feedback. (Scroll down to the bottom for a quick side-by-side comparison of their features. ) #1: HubSpot Link: Hubspot Customer Feedback Software Features: Intuitive survey design and survey templates Integration with HubSpot CRM for streamlined donor management Real-time reporting dashboards to track survey responses Benefits: Perfect for donor surveys or event feedback, thanks to real-time data collection and seamless analysis The free plan includes enough for most nonprofits to get started Cons: Access to advanced features, such as segmentation or survey logic, requires an upgrade Use Case: HubSpot is ideal for nonprofits that aim to collect contextual donor feedback and track retention metrics. Looking to switch to the pro version for more tools? You may be eligible for a discount through HubSpot for Nonprofits. #2: Google Forms Link: Google Forms Features: Beginner-friendly interface to create unlimited surveys and collect data for free Offers diverse question types, such as text, multiple-choice, or drop-down options Real-time collaboration and integration with Google Sheets for data export Benefits: 100% free for nonprofits, with no restrictions on the number of responses or questions Customizable with colors, fonts, or even images for better survey design Cons: Limited design options; lacks advanced features like multilingual functionality or skip logic Use Case: Google Forms is ideal for quick surveys, such as employee engagement, volunteer feedback, or event registration Tool 3: SurveyMonkey Link: SurveyMonkey Features: A wide range of question types, like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and multiple-choice with logic jumps Ability to conduct multilingual surveys for diverse audiences Mobile-optimized design for a better user experience Benefits: Easy setup and robust design capabilities for feedback surveys or NPS surveys Flexible templates tailored to employee experience or market research Cons: The free plan has a cap of 10 questions and 40 responses... --- ### SEO Content Optimization: 6 Quick & Dirty Tips > We’ve rounded up the 6 best tips to for quick SEO content optimization so your page can get found in google search engine results. - Published: 2025-04-15 - Modified: 2025-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/optimize-content-seo-6-quick-dirty-tips/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO Regardless of your business goals, your website is nothing without visitors. Every piece of content, every image, every video and every update needs and audience. So how do you make sure you’re right there in the rankings when people are searching for you? It all comes down to optimizing your content for SEO. Use these tips on your old content to push it up in the rankings, and remember to use it on future blogs and webpages to kick them off from the start! Regardless of your business goals, your website is nothing without visitors. Every piece of content, every image, every video, and every update needs an audience. So, how do you ensure you’re right there in the rankings when people search for you? It all comes down to optimizing your content for search engine optimization (SEO). While the concept is simple, the execution takes a little more work. We are sharing the six best tips to quickly optimize your content to be found in Google search engine results pages (SERPs)—because search is the top of your conversion funnel and where most users learn about you for the first time. Use these tips on your old content to push it up in the rankings, and remember to use them on future blogs and webpages to kick their website traffic off from the start! 1. Front-load keywords in the title. The first thing I look at when optimizing a page is the title. Search engines will organically rank websites and pages with titles that start with the primary keyword users are searching for to bring relevant content to users. For example, instead of titling this guide “6 Quick & Dirty Tips to Optimize Content for SEO,” we went with “SEO Content Optimization: 6 Quick & Dirty Tips. ” You can also update old blog titles to align with high search volume keywords found via Google Search Console or tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. If it doesn’t make sense to put your keyword at the beginning, just be sure it’s as close to the beginning as possible. At a minimum, your keyword should be somewhere in the title. 2. Use H1 tags effectively. The H1 or headline tag emphasizes parts of your text and tells search engines what your page is about. Most WordPress themes automatically provide a space for this tag, but ensure you know where it is! It’s helpful if your H1 differs slightly from the title, while still including your primary keyword target and giving the reader a general sense of what the page is about. Always be mindful of H1 placement, especially if you’re working on web content that isn’t a blog or article, and make creative use of them to reinforce the alignment of your content with the keyword and search intent. Ensure your page has only one H1 tag to reinforce its alignment with search intent. Multiple H1 tags can confuse search engines about the primary focus of the content. By front-loading your title using the H1 tag, you’ve already upped your chances of ranking. 3. Use visuals Reading a 700-word blog post may be fun for some, but research shows that people are 80% more likely to read content that includes colored visuals. Consider this: would you be drawn to a website with visuals like photos, infographics, memes, videos, and more, or a website with only text? If people are bored, they’ll move on to a website that excites them. Adding visuals is a great way to keep users engaged, but how can your visuals work to attract users? By optimizing them! If you have images with alt tags like ‘Tampa Bay,’ ‘sports T-shirts,’ ‘St. Pete-themed T-shirts,’ and ‘yoga T-shirts,’ search engines will know your website is about T-shirts. When someone starts searching for shirts, your website will rank higher than if you had left out those alt tags. Steps to optimize visuals for SEO: Compress images to enhance page speed (use tools like TinyPNG). Add alt tags that use keywords to describe the content. Use structured filenames (e. g. , seo-tips-keyword-research. png instead of image123. png). Visually enrich your content by embedding how-to videos or interactive infographics. Use schema markup to help search engines display visual content in SERPs. 4. Get a featured snippet or AI overview. Featured snippets used to sit in “position zero” on Google SERPs. However, in May 2024, Google launched AI overviews. While Google still displays featured snippets, it now also displays an AI-generated answer to many search queries at the top of your SERP. Here’s an example of a featured snippet: The featured snippet or AI overview spot is an excellent grab for keywords highly relevant to your business or areas of... --- ### Mastering Nonprofit Marketing Strategy: From the Top to the Bottom of the Funnel > Discover key nonprofit marketing strategies, including budgeting, analytics & tools to boost engagement & drive donations. - Published: 2025-04-04 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/mastering-nonprofit-marketing-strategy/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: marketing funnel, nonprofit marketing Marketing isn’t just nice to have for nonprofits anymore—it’s foundational. It’s how you find the people who care about what you do, want to get involved, give generously, and stick around for the long haul. It’s how you build a movement, not just a mailing list. In this marketing guide, we’ll walk through what a marketing funnel is from top to bottom—from awareness to engagement to conversion to retention—so you can build a strategy that works for your nonprofit. Ready to funnel some love toward your mission? Let’s go! Marketing isn’t just nice to have for nonprofits anymore—it’s foundational. It’s how you find the people who care about what you do, want to get involved, give generously, and stick around for the long haul. It’s how you build a movement, not just a mailing list. At the heart of every successful nonprofit marketing strategy are three deceptively simple imperatives: Attract, Engage, and Retain. You want to bring new supporters into your orbit, build meaningful relationships with them, and inspire them to keep showing up—whether that means donations, volunteers, advocacy, or just spreading the word. That’s where the marketing funnel comes in. A funnel helps you visualize the journey people take from first hearing about your organization to becoming active, loyal supporters. At the top, it’s all about casting a wide net—building basic brand awareness and recognition so people learn who you are and what you do. In the middle, you nurture interest and build relationships. And at the bottom, you inspire action—donations, sign-ups, and long-term engagement. Each stage narrows the field while deepening the connection. In this marketing guide, we’ll walk through the funnel from top to bottom—from awareness to engagement to conversion to retention—so you can build a strategy that works for your nonprofit. Ready to funnel some love toward your mission? Let’s go! What Is Nonprofit Marketing? Nonprofit marketing is the strategic use of traditional types of marketing techniques by nonprofit organizations to promote their missions and engage supporters. Nonprofit marketing raises awareness, builds relationships, and mobilizes resources for your cause through a blend of storytelling, mission-driven messaging, and community outreach. Your goal is to spark action. Sometimes that action is a donation. Sometimes it’s a signature on a petition. Other times, it’s just planting a seed of awareness in someone’s mind so when they’re ready to act, your organization is the one they turn to. Why Is Nonprofit Marketing Important? Marketing gets a bad rap in nonprofit circles. Every dollar that gets spent on promoting a program is a dollar that could have gone toward services. But the simple fact is your work can’t thrive if people don’t know about it. Marketing is how you raise awareness, build trust, and secure the donations and support that make your work possible. It’s about creating meaningful touchpoints through your marketing activities that help people see you, know you, and believe in your actions. Key Benefits of a Nonprofit Marketing Strategy With a strong marketing strategy, your outreach isn’t scattered across a dozen uncoordinated marketing channels. It’s streamlined, meaning your message lands more clearly, more often, and in the right places. A nonprofit marketing strategy helps you build stronger engagement with your existing stakeholders. New donors become recurring donors. Volunteers bring their friends. People start to feel like they’re part of something bigger—and they are. And visibility? That’s the cherry on top. A good digital marketing strategy puts you on the radar of potential donors, grantmakers, community partners, and media outlets. Suddenly, it’s not just you telling your story, it’s other people sharing it too. In short, good marketing doesn’t just amplify your message; it amplifies your mission. Top-of-Funnel Strategies: Raising Awareness The top of the funnel is where your marketing efforts begin. At this stage, your goal is to introduce your organization to new audiences and build initial awareness of your mission. You’re not asking for a donation or a deep commitment yet—you’re simply helping people discover who you are and why your work matters. These early touchpoints lay the foundation for future engagement by sparking curiosity and planting the seeds of connection. Here are some ways to do it. Content Marketing If marketing is a conversation, content is what gets it started. Blogs, infographics, guides, and videos are your openers, icebreakers, and first impression on the internet. But not just any content. You want high-quality, mission-driven storytelling that shows what you stand for and why it matters. That can take any number of forms, including: Impact stories about people your organization has helped Educational content about the work you do or challenges you face Videos from team members and volunteers who contribute to your cause Downloadable e-books and other resources that address topics relevant to your audience... --- ### Tips for Better Museum Website Design > Discover expert tips for creating impactful museum website designs that captivate visitors & drive engagement. - Published: 2025-04-03 - Modified: 2025-04-03 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-website-design/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: museum digital marketing, website design When executed effectively, a museum website can be a powerful tool. Like its physical counterpart, it should engage the senses, foster community, and showcase what makes the museum special. This blog offers tips for crafting a better website, including best practices for impactful design and a list of must-haves for your online content. Museums offer unique opportunities for learning, community, and connection. While nothing can replace the experience of visiting a museum in person, in today’s online world, institutions must also translate that magic to a digital platform. When executed effectively, a museum website can be a powerful tool. Like its physical counterpart, it should engage the senses, foster community, and showcase what makes the museum unique. This blog offers tips for crafting a better website, including best practices for impactful design and a list of must-haves for your online content. Why is It Important to Have a Captivating Museum Website Design? A well-designed museum website is more than a digital brochure for your institution – it’s an immersive experience that reflects your mission and inspires visitors to check out your next event or exhibit in person. With many institutions facing declining funds and donations, it’s more important than ever for museums to build a compelling digital presence. A standout museum website can drive membership, in-person visits, and donations. What Makes a Museum Website Design Good? Think of your museum website as a digital extension of your physical experience. The website should immerse visitors in your world, as if they were stepping into a contemporary art gallery or science museum. Whether you showcase modern art, natural history, or African American culture, a great website evokes the exploration and inspiration your museum offers in person. A successful museum website can be the launch pad for your institution’s events, exhibits, fundraising efforts, creative campaigns, and more. Best Practices for Designing an Impactful Museum Website To effectively bridge the gap between your physical and digital presence, keep the following best practices in mind as you evaluate your website for a potential redesign. Custom Design and Branding Custom website design and branding are essential for museums because they help to create a unique and memorable experience for visitors. People expect a certain level of class and finesse from cultural institutions such as museums—don’t let unprofessional web design take away from your museum’s reputation! A distinctive color palette, cohesive typography and fonts, and polished visuals build trust and credibility as a cultural institution. It also helps create a professional and polished image for your museum, allowing you to communicate your mission and impact clearly and effectively. User Experience Design User experience (UX) design is crucial for museum websites because it directly impacts how visitors perceive your institution. A well-designed website fosters a positive and interactive experience, encouraging visitors to explore further and return in the future. UX design helps present your website content in a visually appealing way that is easy to understand and interesting to explore. Part of UX is creating a clear and intuitive navigation structure to help visitors find the information they’re looking for quickly and easily. By prioritizing UX design, museums can create informative, enjoyable, and engaging websites for visitors. Accessibility A well-designed website should be accessible to all visitors, including those with disabilities. Adhere to the internationally recognized standards of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) to ensure your website is user-friendly and everyone can enjoy your museum’s offerings. Mobile Optimization Remember that most web visitors will view your website on a mobile device. Mobile optimization can be tricky, especially for older sites. One key is ensuring the most-used options are easy to find and click. Remember to prioritize hours and location information on mobile! CTA Buttons To encourage visitors to take the next step, such as contacting your museum or planning a visit, you need clear and compelling CTAs (i. e. , “calls-to-action”). Compelling CTA buttons are essential for driving engagement on your museum’s website. Choose a CTA color that pops. The color should contrast with the other colors on your site to create a visual hierarchy. This helps your CTA buttons stand out and encourages visitors to click. Remember, CTA buttons should provide a direct path for visitors to take action on your site, whether it’s subscribing to your newsletter, requesting more information, or even donating. However, providing too many options at once can confuse or overwhelm visitors and prevent them from clicking. Limit your CTA buttons to the one or two most relevant to the place where they appear. Engaging Content... --- ### How to Build a Lapsed Donor Workflow in HubSpot (with Templates) > Learn how to re-engage lapsed donors & boost donor retention with personalized workflows using HubSpot. - Published: 2025-03-20 - Modified: 2025-03-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/lapsed-donors-hubspot-workflow/ - Categories: Fundraising - Tags: donor, HubSpot, lapsed donors Donor retention is the backbone of a financially stable nonprofit. While acquiring new donors is exciting, it’s also expensive—costing up to five times more than retaining an existing one. That’s why re-engaging lapsed donors should be a priority in your fundraising strategy. In this blog, you’ll learn how to build an effective lapsed donor workflow in HubSpot—plus we’ve thrown in some example templates to streamline the process. Donor retention is the backbone of a financially stable nonprofit. While acquiring new donors is exciting, it’s also expensive—costing up to five times more than retaining an existing one. That’s why re-engaging lapsed donors should be a priority in your fundraising strategy. These individuals have already demonstrated interest in your mission, making them far more likely to give again—if you approach them the right way. Donors lapse for various reasons: some simply forget to renew their support, while others may have felt disconnected from your organization. Regardless of the cause, re-engagement is possible with the right strategy, and that’s where HubSpot comes in. As a powerful marketing automation platform, HubSpot allows you to create personalized, data-driven workflows that can rekindle donor relationships and improve your retention strategy. In this blog, you’ll learn how to build an effective lapsed donor workflow in HubSpot—plus we’ve thrown in some example templates to streamline the process. Whether you’re looking to bring back major donors, monthly contributors, or one-time givers, this blog will help you turn past supporters into long-term advocates for your cause. Understanding Lapsed Donors Before you can develop an effective re-engagement strategy, you need to understand your lapsed donors and why they stopped giving in the first place. A lapsed donor is someone who previously contributed to your nonprofit organization but hasn’t donated within a specific period of time, typically 12 to 24 months. The exact timeframe can vary depending on your organization’s donor engagement cycles, but the core idea remains the same: these donors haven’t severed their relationship with you entirely, but they’re no longer actively supporting your mission. Why Do Donors Lapse? Donors stop giving for various reasons—some within your control, others not. Understanding these reasons helps you craft a re-engagement strategy that addresses their concerns. Some past donors experience shifts in their financial situation, making it difficult to continue giving. Some lose interest due to a lack of personalized updates or follow-ups. Conversely, some get fatigued from too many solicitations without any meaningful engagement. Often, the issue of donor attrition comes down to a lack of connection—97% of donors are motivated by the perceived impact of their contributions. Donors who don’t see that impact may not feel compelled to give again. So, let’s show them that impact! But first, we have to find them. How to Identify Lapsed Donors Your donor management software and CRM, particularly a tool like HubSpot, are crucial in identifying lapsed donors. Start by analyzing giving history and setting clear criteria in your donor database for what qualifies as “lapsed” within your organization. A few key indicators could include: Time Since Last Gift: Filter donors who haven’t given in 12+ months. Declined or Expired Recurring Donations: Identify donors whose automatic contributions stopped. Event or Campaign Engagement: Look at past event attendees or campaign donors who haven’t engaged recently. Email Open & Click Rates: Track donors who no longer open or click through your emails, which could signal disengagement. By leveraging HubSpot’s CRM features, you can create custom donor lists and automation triggers that segment donors based on these criteria, making it easier to tailor your outreach. Why You Should Use HubSpot to Reengage Lapsed Donors Effectively bringing donors back requires a strategic, data-driven approach that nurtures relationships, personalizes outreach, and automates engagement. That’s where HubSpot shines. More than just a nonprofit CRM, HubSpot is a comprehensive marketing and donor engagement platform that integrates your database, email marketing, and automation tools into one seamless system. Instead of juggling multiple software solutions, you can manage donor outreach, track interactions, and automate re-engagement workflows—all from a single dashboard. With HubSpot’s nonprofit toolkit, you can: Centralize donor data: Track donation history, donor communications, channel preferences, and engagement levels in one place. Segment donors effectively: Group donors based on engagement history, giving patterns, and other key criteria to ensure the right message reaches the right people. Automate donor outreach: Set up workflows that send customized messages at the right time without manual follow-up. Track donor interactions: Monitor email opens, website visits, and form submissions to gauge interest and adjust your outreach strategy accordingly. Building a Lapsed Donor Workflow in HubSpot (+ Templates) Here’s a step-by-step guide to building a lapsed... --- ### How to Upload Videos to YouTube > Learn how to upload videos to YouTube with this step-by-step guide. From uploading to optimizing, master video marketing strategies effortlessly! - Published: 2025-03-19 - Modified: 2025-03-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-upload-videos-to-youtube/ - Categories: Video Marketing - Tags: video marketing, YouTube YouTube is a powerful platform that can help any brand reach a global audience. It’s the undisputed leader in video content in an era when video drives 82% of consumer internet traffic. This comprehensive, step-by-step guide distills YouTube’s evolving techniques into actionable insights for marketing teams, small businesses, and creators aiming to elevate their video strategy in 2025. In this guide, we’ll cover the initial upload mechanics, optimization strategies, promotion tactics, and more. YouTube is a powerful platform that can help any brand reach a global audience. It’s the undisputed leader in video content in an era when video drives 82% of consumer internet traffic. YouTube has over 2. 7 billion active users, uploading 500 hours of video to the platform every minute. No wonder you’re interested in creating a presence for your brand on YouTube. To start, you’ll need to understand the platform’s features, tools, and best practices. This comprehensive, step-by-step guide distills YouTube’s evolving techniques into actionable insights for marketing teams, small businesses, and creators aiming to elevate their video strategy in 2025. In this guide, we’ll cover the initial upload mechanics, optimization strategies, promotion tactics, and more. Let’s go! Why YouTube Matters in Modern Marketing Obviously, there’s strategic value in having a brand presence on YouTube. One of the more dynamic aspects of the platform is that it serves as both a search engine and a social network, combining Google’s discoverability with TikTok’s shareability. Consider these pivotal statistics: 70% of viewers use YouTube to research products/services Channels that upload new videos weekly grow subscriptions 3x faster than sporadic posters Videos with custom thumbnails see 42% higher CTRs For businesses, this translates to unparalleled opportunities for brand visibility. Marketing teams can repurpose webinars into evergreen tutorials, while product teams can leverage shoppable video features. YouTube’s discoverability makes it possible for small businesses to compete on equal footing with multinational corporations through strategic content creation. It’s not too late to carve a spot for your brand in this integral part of today’s digital ecosystem. The platform’s recent interface updates, including enhanced Studio analytics and Shorts integration, make 2025 an ideal time to refine or launch your video strategy. How to Create a YouTube Account: A Guide for Beginners To get started, you'll need a Google account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free. Go to the Google Account sign in page (on the upper right hand on google. com) Click Create account Choose the type of account you want to create (“For my personal use,” “For my child,” or “For my business”) Enter your name, birthday, and gender Enter a username Enter and confirm your password Click Next Once you have a Google account, you can create a YouTube channel by going to www. youtube. com and clicking on the "Sign In" button in the top right corner. Choosing A Brand Account While any Google Account can create a YouTube channel, marketing teams should prioritize brand accounts for collaborative, multi-user access, unified branding across Google services, and advanced copyright dispute management. To create a brand channel, navigate to YouTube Studio’s “Settings” > “Channel” > “Create a New Channel” to establish a dedicated brand presence. When choosing your channel name: For businesses: Match your company name exactly (e. g. , “Big Sea”) For creators: Blend personality with niche (e. g. , “Marco’s Marketing Mastery”) For multi-department organizations: Use descriptors (e. g. , “Big Sea Client Education”) For all brands: Implement a branded URL structure like youtube. com/@BigSea immediately after verification to enhance professionalism. Customize your channel by adding a profile picture, description, and links to your website and social media profiles. To do this, click on the "My Channel" button in the top right corner, then click on the “Customize Channel” button. Remember: channel customization is about more than just aesthetics—your profile picture, banner, and description directly impact first impressions. Use these graphical elements to display your logo, convey your brand ethos, and direct attention to your primary products or services. Profile Optimization Checklist Visual Identity: Make your profile picture distinct; it will be displayed on your channel, next to every comment you make, and alongside each of your uploaded videos. Most brands create a transparent PNG of their logos using the recommended dimensions (800x800px). Your banner image is the welcome mat at the top of your channel’s page. Ensure that your banner image is 2560x1440px and captures the personality of your brand! Description Framework: Below the banner on your channel’s page is a text field that should explain exactly what its about. For example, “ empowers to through . Explore playlist links or connect via . ” Include... --- ### How to Create an SEO Content Strategy That Serves Users and Search Engines Alike > Discover actionable SEO content strategy tips & expert insights to optimize your website, boost search rankings, & drive higher ROI. - Published: 2025-03-14 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/creating-an-seo-content-strategy/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Content Marketing, SEO In this comprehensive step-by-step guide, we’ll discuss pain points when creating content, explain the nuances of developing SEO content that achieves both goals, and describe how to beat Google’s algorithm to capture the attention of more search queries. We’ve all experienced the difference between good content and bad content on the internet. You click on something thinking, “Oh this looks fun / helpful / interesting. ” But before you know it, you find the useful part is paper thin or non-existent, and instead you’re wading through a page designed to trick you into listening to a sales pitch you didn’t ask for. But as marketers for small businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs, we need to get those visitors and we need to make those pitches. That’s why we all need to think hard about striking the right balance between engaging your website visitors and satisfying organic search engine results pages (SERPs). Finding the right formula means serving a dual purpose: creating search engine optimized (SEO) content that promotes your online visibility that nevertheless provides real value to your customers. In this comprehensive step-by-step guide, we’ll discuss pain points when creating content, explain the nuances of developing SEO content that achieves both goals, and describe how to beat Google’s algorithm to capture the attention of more search queries. Understanding Your Audience The foundation of any effective content marketing strategy is a deep understanding of your audience. Without this insight, even the most meticulously crafted piece of content can miss its mark. Utilize tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and BuzzSumo to glean data about your audience, what they’re searching for, and how they interact with your content. A quick Google Search on your topics of interest can also reveal valuable information about what’s already out there and what’s missing. Try creating user or buyer personas for your audience to better understand who they are and what they want from your brand. This will help you generate new content ideas throughout the year. This knowledge makes creating targeted content that addresses their needs and interests straightforward. Keyword Research Keyword research is vital to align your content with the queries your target audience is using. Think of it as your SEO compass. SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz offer powerful insights into search volume, domain authority, competition, and relevance, helping you identify the right long-tail keywords to center your content. Remember, the goal is to select the right keywords and search terms that your audience is looking for and that offer a realistic chance of ranking. Use these search intents and related keywords to create a comprehensive editorial calendar, planning the different content topics you’ll write about throughout the year. Content Creation The art of great content creation lies in delivering value to your readers in an engaging manner while subtly incorporating your target keywords. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing, which can penalize rather than promote your page. Instead, focus on creating comprehensive content and product pages that naturally integrate your list of keywords. Our team utilizes keyword tools like Clearscope for guidance on covering all relevant subtopics and keywords associated with a primary topic, ensuring our content is rich in value and SEO-friendly. Metadata such as title tags, meta descriptions, headers, alt text, and other on-page SEO content planning needs should also be considered. Remember to keep the format of your content in mind! Engaging Landing Page Design Beyond words, the design of your web pages plays a crucial role in engaging searchers. A well-designed page enhances the user experience, encouraging visitors to stay longer and explore further. Clear calls-to-action and mobile-friendly design improve your accessibility score and are critical to converting visitors into customers. Incorporate quality graphic elements, such as infographics, to improve visitor engagement and time on site. Good design makes long-form copywriting more readable and increases organic traffic for your website. Promotion and Engagement Creating SEO content is only the first step. You need to promote your high-quality content through social media, email marketing, and other channels to increase its visibility, improve your search traffic, and help attract a wider audience. Engage your audience through regular comments and social media interaction in order to build community and signal to search engines that your content is valuable and draws active attention. Remember the importance of link building for SEO. In each piece of content you create, include important internal links to other pages on your website... --- ### Website Navigation Best Practices > Discover the importance of effective website navigation, common mistakes to avoid & best practices to enhance user experience. - Published: 2025-03-14 - Modified: 2025-03-13 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/website-navigation-best-practices/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: best practices, website, Website Navigation Clear and intuitive website navigation is the backbone of any successful site. Whether building an e-commerce platform or a website for a major nonprofit, user-friendly navigation improves the overall user experience (UX), boosts search engine rankings, and keeps visitors engaged. But what really makes good website navigation? This guide is packed with best practices, actionable tips, and expert advice on website navigation to help you create intuitive and effective main menus that drive results. Clear and intuitive website navigation is the backbone of any successful site. Whether building an e-commerce platform or a website for a major nonprofit, user-friendly navigation improves the overall user experience (UX), boosts search engine rankings, and keeps visitors engaged. But what really makes good website navigation? This guide is packed with best practices, actionable tips, and expert advice on website navigation to help you create intuitive and effective main menus that drive results. What Is a Website Navigation Menu? A website navigation menu is a roadmap for visitors to explore your website. Typically, it’s a set of links organized into menus or lists that guide users to specific pages, subpages, and your other most important pages, helping them quickly find the information they need. Good navigation menus are essential for two reasons: User Experience (UX): A well-structured system ensures visitors can explore your website without frustration or confusion. SEO Rankings: Clear and logical navigation aids search engines in crawling your website, improving your ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). When executed correctly, your navigation menu doesn’t just guide—it converts. Types & Formats of Navigation Not all websites are the same, and neither are their main navigation needs. Here are four common website navigation types to consider when building a navigation structure. Horizontal Navigation Bars These are ideal for smaller websites, portfolio sites, small businesses, or landing pages. They have a straightforward structure, and horizontal bars display navigation links across the top of a webpage. Mega Menus Mega menus are great for content-heavy websites or online stores. They display multiple categories and subcategories in an expansive dropdown format. Example: Asana’s mega menu enables users to browse an extensive range of products, solutions, and resources seamlessly. Sidebar Navigation Vertical sidebar menus are perfect for blogs or informational sites. They provide navigation items from the top to the bottom of the page, making it easier to display categories and subcategories. Footer Navigation This secondary menu is placed at the bottom of a page and typically features key links like "contact us," "privacy policies," or "social media links. " It serves as a safety net for users who scroll to the end of the page without finding what they need. What Are the Four Rules for Designing Great Navigation? Achieving excellent website navigation design is easier when you stick to these four golden rules: 1. Simplicity Your navigation should be clean, clear, and easy to understand. Limit options to prevent overwhelming your users. Stick to short, descriptive labels like "About Us" or "Services. " Avoid jargon or overly creative terms that may confuse website visitors. For example, Shopify’s clean menu items clearly outline the user’s options while keeping clutter minimal. 2. Functionality Menus aren’t just visual elements—they must work flawlessly across all platforms. Test your navigation on different devices, screen sizes, and browsers. Ensure your dropdown or mega menus are intuitive, responsive, and free of bugs. 3. Accessibility Your website navigation should be accessible to all users, including those relying on assistive technologies. Use clear headings, descriptive link text, and ARIA roles to accommodate screen readers. Ensure functionality without a mouse by making all navigation operable via keyboard. Pro Tip: Hover menus can be problematic for touchscreen devices. Stick to clickable elements whenever possible. 4. Consistency Uniformity across all pages ensures users always know where they are and how to move forward. Keep the navigation layout and style consistent throughout your website. For easier access, implement sticky navigation, a type of menu that stays visible even as users scroll down. What Makes for a Great Navigation Menu? A standout navigation menu goes beyond just following the basics. Take it a step further with these practices. 1. Consider Making Parent Pages Clickable Ensuring that parent pages in your navigation are clickable helps to provide a seamless user experience. These pages should serve as both destinations and gateways. For instance, a "Products" page might offer an overview of all product categories and links to individual product pages. By making them clickable and actionable, users are not forced to rely solely on submenus, making it easier to access key content. If you opt not to use clickable parent pages, indicate which are clickable and which... --- ### How to Attract New Patients through Healthcare Content Marketing > Learn effective healthcare content marketing strategies, including SEO, storytelling & compliance with HIPAA, to build trust, drive engagement & stay ahead of future trends. - Published: 2025-03-10 - Modified: 2025-03-10 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-content-marketing/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Health & Wellness The healthcare market is crowded. So, what can your practice do to attract new patients? The answer is a smart content marketing strategy built on trust and authenticity. Your potential patients need to feel that your practice is credible, caring, and nonjudgmental. By cultivating a welcoming digital space that prioritizes useful information and supportive dialogue over mere transactions, you can distinguish your medical practice from the competition. The healthcare market is crowded. So, what can your practice do to attract new patients? The answer is a smart content marketing strategy built on trust and authenticity. Your potential patients need to feel that your practice is credible, caring, and nonjudgmental. By cultivating a welcoming digital space that prioritizes useful information and supportive dialogue over mere transactions, you can distinguish your medical practice from the competition. Most of us seek healthcare providers with expertise and compassion; when your content embodies this dual commitment, new patients will feel drawn to you. Here’s how to do it. What Is Healthcare Content Marketing? Healthcare marketing is changing. It's less about old-school ads and more about providing useful content. Like it or not, nowadays when someone’s worried about their health, everyone turns to Dr. Google. High-quality, informative content tailored through SEO to answer the questions potential patients are asking online gives your practice a chance to stand out in the earliest phases of their search for a provider. Effective healthcare content marketing hinges on these core components: The 4 P’s: Product, Price, Placement, Promotion—tailored to meet patient needs effectively. The 3 C’s: Compelling content, consistent delivery, and community engagement, which involve understanding the needs, concerns, and motivations of your future patients. Unlike traditional marketing, healthcare marketing must adhere to strict ethical guidelines and regulations (like HIPAA), and it’s deeply personal, often educating and empowering patients to make informed decisions about their health. Successful healthcare marketers leverage a variety of channels, including digital marketing (websites, social media, SEO, email marketing), traditional advertising (print, radio, television), and public relations, to increase patient volume, improve brand awareness, and promote specific services. Understanding Your Target Audiences Healthcare content marketing requires a nuanced approach that recognizes the distinct needs of its two primary audiences: patients and referring physicians. Patients want to: Understand their conditions Evaluate treatment options Find qualified providers Referring physicians, on the other hand, are typically looking for: Specialized expertise Efficient referral processes Clear lines of communication to ensure optimal patient care To connect with both of these groups effectively, start by researching and creating detailed personas. Patient personas might reveal concerns about cost, access, and common misunderstandings of their condition or treatment options. Physician personas, on the other hand, are more likely to zero in on clinical outcomes, research opportunities, and the reputations of their peers. This persona prioritizes data-driven insights and streamlined collaborations. Understanding these divergent needs, preferences, and behaviors allows healthcare marketers to tailor information and messaging for each audience. Resonating with both audiences is crucial to scaling patient acquisition and strengthening your referral networks. Content Creation Best Practices Sharing good information builds trust. You can become your future patients’ go-to source for medical advice by offering educational content that empowers them to make informed decisions about their health. Follow these best practices to strike a chord with your audiences: Clear writing is kind writing. Avoid complicated medical terms that can be hard to pronounce and remember. Use plain language and simple communication that everyone understands. Optimize your website for mobile devices so it looks good and reads well on every phone or tablet. Adhere to accessibility standards (WCAG). This means adding alt text to images, using good color contrast, and making your website easy to navigate with a keyboard. Ensure all content is thoroughly reviewed and vetted for clinical accuracy and adherence to HIPAA standards to protect patient privacy and security. Types of Content That Resonate With Healthcare Consumers Different types of content work for different people, so it’s good to have a mix. Experiment with these forms and see what happens: Blog posts and articles: Best for breaking down complex medical information—turn big words and hard ideas into simple language anyone can understand. Videos and animations: Great for showing treatment processes and patient success stories. Explain ailments with animations. Infographics and data visualizations: Make data easy to digest with pictures and short text. Podcasts: Great for interviews with healthcare experts, patient testimonials, and in-depth discussions on medical advancements. Webinars: Useful for live discussions, Q&A sessions, and virtual seminars on specialized health topics. Whitepapers: Ideal for presenting research, clinical studies, and detailed analyses of healthcare issues. These are ideally suited for appealing... --- ### How to Raise Awareness for a Cause: A Nonprofit Marketer's Perspective > Learn how nonprofits can boost awareness with impactful strategies, creative storytelling, & effective tools to drive engagement. - Published: 2025-03-06 - Modified: 2025-03-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-raise-awareness-for-a-cause/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: nonprofit marketing Whether you’re addressing climate action, advocating for mental health, or mobilizing funds for local community programs, spreading the word about your cause is critical to making an impact. But how do you cut through the noise and truly engage your audience? With limited resources, fierce competition for attention, and an ever-evolving digital landscape, nonprofit marketers face unique challenges. Let’s explore actionable strategies to help you effectively raise awareness, reach potential donors, and rally the general public. Whether you’re addressing climate action, advocating for mental health, or mobilizing funds for local community programs, spreading the word about your cause is critical to making an impact. But how do you cut through the noise and truly engage your audience? With limited resources, fierce competition for attention, and an ever-evolving digital landscape, nonprofit marketers face unique challenges. Let’s explore actionable strategies to help you effectively raise awareness, reach potential donors, and rally the general public. Understanding Your Cause Before crafting campaigns, the first step is to make sure you understand your nonprofit’s mission and values deeply and thoroughly enough to communicate it effectively. This clarity will guide your efforts and resonate with your target audience. Defining the Core Values and Mission Your first priority is clearly articulating your nonprofit's mission. Your mission is your rallying cry—it tells people why you exist. Without a strong, well-articulated mission, your message can easily get lost. For example, if your cause is mental health advocacy, make your message succinct and action-oriented, just like WNC Health Network did with their View From Here WNC campaign. “The View From Here WNC campaign acts as a mouthpiece for resident stories about what managing mental health looks like for them. These stories demonstrate the uniqueness of the human experience and encourage viewers to discover the things that bring them joy and prioritize those activities. ” Identifying Your Nonprofit's Unique Value Proposition Why should people participate in your cause rather than another? Understanding your unique selling proposition (USP) will help you stand out in a crowded space. For example, you can: Highlight your geographic impact (e. g. , improving a local community) Showcase measurable outcomes (e. g. , planting 1,000 trees in a year) Appeal to values that potential supporters hold dear (e. g. , sustainability, inclusivity, etc. ) Aligning Core Values with Awareness Strategies Ensure that every marketing campaign or outreach effort is rooted in your values. This consistency builds authenticity, trust, and stronger connections with your audience. Pro Tip: Collaborate with your team to ensure your communication aligns with your nonprofit’s voice and values across all awareness campaigns. For instance, if your nonprofit is focused on climate change, make sure that focus comes through clearly at a glance in all your campaigns, in all your content, and across your social media platforms. Doing this reminds your audience who you are and what you care about every possible point of contact. Identifying Your Audience Knowing your audience is key to tailoring your messaging and strategy in ways that deeply resonate. Conducting Audience Research Spend time researching who your audience is. You don't want to waste resources targeting everyone; instead, focus on the people most likely to care about your specific cause. Ask yourself: Who is impacted by this issue? Who has shown interest in supporting similar causes? Where do these individuals spend time online and offline? Segmenting Your Audience for Targeted Campaigns Don’t lump your audience into one group. Use segmentation to create compelling campaigns that speak to specific demographics. Some examples of this include the following: Young people might respond better to engaging social media videos or text messaging campaigns. Potential donors may appreciate detailed email outreach about how their contributions make a difference. Local businesses could partner with you to amplify awareness in the community. Utilizing Social Media Choosing the Right Platforms for Your Cause Not all platforms are equal when it comes to awareness campaigns. Consider your audience: Use Instagram for visually rich storytelling, targeting people under 40. Leverage LinkedIn for professionals or corporate sponsors interested in your initiatives. Tap into Facebook for local community engagement and in-person event promotion. Creating Engaging Content A good social media campaign grabs your audience’s attention and encourages sharing. Here are some tips to build your own: Use hashtags that align with your cause, e. g. , #MentalHealthAwareness. Post real-time updates from fundraising events or advocacy campaigns. For example, Metropolitan Ministries provided real stories and seasonally-based real-time requests, like a shortage of school supplies or Christmas hams, through their end-of-year fundraising social media campaigns. Make infographics and videos to simplify complex issues and appeal to wider audiences. Content Marketing Content marketing educates, inspires, and motivates action—making it an... --- ### 10 Secrets to Maximizing the Google Ad Grants Program > Boost your nonprofit’s online presence with 10 expert tips on Google Ad Grants, bidding strategies, & campaign optimization for higher engagement & conversions. - Published: 2025-02-28 - Modified: 2025-02-27 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/10-secrets-to-maximize-google-ad-grants/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: ad campaigns, Google Ad Grants Program The Google Ad Grants program is often misunderstood or underutilized by nonprofit organizations. We frequently encounter nonprofits who have given it a try, but say it just doesn’t work for them. But we’re here to flip that narrative. Here’s your ultimate guide to mastering Google Ad Grants with actionable insights designed for nonprofits. We'll also answer FAQs to help you make informed decisions and maximize this opportunity. The Google Ad Grants program is often misunderstood or underutilized by nonprofit organizations. We frequently encounter nonprofits who have given it a try, but say it just doesn’t work for them. But we’re here to flip that narrative. This free advertising resource can drive significant traffic, engagement, and conversions with the right strategy and tools. Here’s your ultimate guide to mastering Google Ad Grants with actionable insights designed for nonprofits. We'll also answer FAQs to help you make informed decisions and maximize this opportunity. What are Google Ad Grants? Google Ad Grants provide eligible nonprofits with up to $10,000 per month (up to $120,000 annually) in ad credit to spend on Google search ads. This program allows nonprofit organizations to promote their mission, increase their visibility, and connect with their audience through the power of search engine advertising—a massive opportunity. Are Google Ad Grants Worth It? Yes! Here are a few reasons why: They Drive Search Traffic: Even if you don’t rank #1 organically for a keyword, a Google Ad Grant can help you show up at the top of the search results so you can connect more people to your mission. They Supplement Your SEO Efforts: Google Ad Grants for nonprofits supplement your search engine optimization. They Drive Leads and Conversions: If you combine your Google Ad Grants efforts with a great content and conversion rate optimization strategy, you can get more website visitors and lead them through a relevant conversion path. They can help you drive newsletter signups, event registrations, volunteer opportunities, or donations. Over the years, we’ve uncovered 10 essential tactics that differentiate highly effective Google Ad Grants campaigns from unsuccessful ones. Take a look at our findings below. >> Leave your content strategy to our Google Ad Grants management team. We aim to get your promotable content to appear on the first search results pages. 1. Always use the Google Grant to build your audience. Building a solid email list is one of the most critical ways to expand an organization's reach and impact. With the right strategy, landing page design, and conversion tracking, Google Grant traffic can be converted into sustainable and regenerative email list growth. 2. Focus on traffic quality vs. quantity. Once a Google Ad Grants account is approaching the full use of the $10,000 per month budget, it’s ideal to refocus the campaign and prioritize the keywords driving the most conversions, website engagement, and audience growth. 3. Don’t forget to set up and tune your Google Analytics account properly. It’s impossible to fully optimize or report on a Google Ad Grants account without having Google Analytics set up correctly on the organization’s website. This will also help you unlock advanced targeting features. 4. Tracking conversions unlocks advanced targeting. One element of Google Analytics that’s especially critical for nonprofits is identifying and tracking conversions. Tracking conversions such as newsletter signups, event registrations, resource downloads, video views, contact form completions, or other vital actions not only helps with reporting but also unlocks a few more advanced targeting options that can help accelerate the overall effectiveness of the campaigns. Tools like Google Tag Manager can also enable advanced tracking, letting you evaluate what’s working to optimize conversions. 5. You need to start with comprehensive keyword and topic research. Before you can launch any effective pay-per-click advertising campaign, you need to understand how people are searching for the topics and keywords your organization is interested in being found for. Detailed and well-organized keyword research helps to create an organized hierarchical campaign, which helps with account management, keyword Quality Score, reporting, and account management. Together, these benefits make keyword research one of the most essential strategic steps for any successful Google Ad Grants project. 6. Remember to factor in negative keywords. Most for-profit advertisers quickly understand the importance of negative keywords to block non-qualified traffic. For nonprofits with Google Ad Grants, factoring in negative keywords can help refine the overall quality of your traffic, leading to more visitor interactions and positive outcomes. 7. You will only succeed with strategic, optimized website content. Most organizations consider SEO, content marketing, thought leadership, and Google Ad Grants separate marketing tactics. However, organizations achieve the best results when they combine these... --- ### Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits: A How-To Guide > Social media marketing can transform your nonprofit. Learn the strategies to reach more people, raise more funds, and deepen your connections. - Published: 2025-02-28 - Modified: 2025-02-27 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/social-media-marketing-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: nonprofit marketing, Social Media, social media marketing Social media is still an essential tool for organizations to amplify their mission. This guide explains how a well-crafted social media strategy can help your organization harness the best social media platforms to enhance your visibility, build community connections, and elevate your fundraising efforts. It might sound corny—like a throwback to the late aughts before we all got a little bitter about it—but social media can be a realm where creativity meets purpose: a place where posts, tweets, and shares can spark a wave of awareness and action. After all, 55% of people who engage with nonprofits on social media end up taking some other sort of action (most often donating), and 69% of next-gen donors (i. e. millennials or younger) prefer to use social media when interacting with nonprofits. For these reasons alone, social media is still an essential tool for organizations to amplify their mission. Outreach can range from light-hearted but impactful viral campaigns like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge or Movember, to direct, informative video content that shows the value of what you do, like the way Direct Relief used Instagram Reels to highlight their work responding to wildfires in Southern California. This guide explains how a well-crafted social media strategy can help your organization harness the best social media platforms to enhance your visibility, build community connections, and elevate your fundraising efforts. Understanding the Role of Social Media in Nonprofit Marketing Social media plays an essential role in supporting most nonprofits’ goals. It’s a cost-effective vehicle to raise awareness about your cause, build community, recruit volunteers, and bring in donations. Nonprofits prioritize storytelling, education, and advocacy. Your audience isn’t just looking for something to buy—they want to connect with a purpose, see the impact of their support, and feel like they’re a part of something bigger. This means your social media strategy should focus on authenticity, relationship-building, and mobilization, rather than pure conversion metrics. Understanding this distinction is key to leveraging social media as a powerful tool for growth, engagement, and long-term sustainability. Key Differences Between Nonprofit and For-Profit Social Media Strategies Nonprofits and for-profits operate with different priorities. You’re not just selling a product—you’re rallying people around a cause, cultivating trust, and encouraging engagement that goes beyond transactions. Here are some key differences in social strategies: Mission-Driven vs. Profit-Driven: Nonprofit organizations communicate their mission and impact, while for-profits focus on products and services. Audience Engagement: Nonprofits build deeper connections with their supporters, encouraging them to become advocates and volunteers. Content Focus: Nonprofits often share more story- and emotionally-driven content that highlights their cause and mission. Tip: Set Key Performance Goals for Social Media Strategy Set SMART goals to measure your impact. SMART stands for: Specific: Clearly define what you aim to achieve. Measurable: Establish metrics to track your progress. Achievable: Set realistic targets based on your resources. Relevant: Ensure your goals align with your overall mission. Time-bound: Set a deadline for achieving your goals. The SMART goals paradigm is an established approach to clarify success and guide your endeavors. This framework is useful for social media marketing, ensuring your objectives are structured and achievable. How to Choose the Best Social Media Platforms for Your Nonprofit Choosing the right social media platform for your nonprofit is about more than just reaching the most people—it’s about finding a space where your values resonate and your message can thrive. Think of each platform as a different kind of community, each with its own culture, priorities, and ways of engaging. To make the most impact, it’s essential to align your nonprofit’s mission with the platforms that best support your goals and values. Facebook: Community & Fundraising Powerhouse As one of the largest social media networks, Facebook remains a vital tool for nonprofits focused on community-building, storytelling, and fundraising. With nonprofit fundraising tools, private groups, and targeted ads, it offers a way to deeply engage supporters and mobilize giving. Mission Alignment: Best for nonprofits that prioritize storytelling, community engagement, and grassroots fundraising. Impact: 88% of donors who have given through Facebook Charitable Giving Tools say they are likely to donate again. Popular Topics: Users frequently engage with community events, personal updates, and news articles. Instagram: Visual Storytelling for Social Good Instagram’s visual nature makes it an excellent choice for organizations that rely on compelling imagery and video to communicate their impact. With features like Stories, Reels, and fundraising stickers, it’s a great way to reach younger, visually engaged audiences. Mission Alignment: Ideal for nonprofits... --- ### 6 Reasons You Should Be Using Canva Pro for Social Media Content > Here are six reasons you should use Canva Pro to enhance your business’s social media posts plus suggestions for getting the greatest benefits. - Published: 2025-02-21 - Modified: 2025-02-21 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/canva-for-social-media/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: Canva, design tools More and more people are turning to Canva, an easy-to-use application design tool that empowers businesses to create their own social media ads in-house. It’s a cheaper and easier alternative—one that even beginners can use to start building visually striking content. Here are six reasons you should use Canva Pro to enhance your business’s social media posts plus suggestions for getting the greatest benefits. If you’re new to thinking about graphic design, you probably assume when you see a sharp or compelling ad on Facebook or Instagram that it was made using expensive design tools such as Photoshop or Illustrator. But you might be wrong. More and more people are turning to Canva, an easy-to-use, free application design tool that empowers businesses to create their own social media ads in-house. It’s a cheaper and easier alternative—one that even beginners can use to start building visually striking content: from ads to posters, slide decks, business cards, or anything else you can think of. And while every tool has its pros and cons (we’ve definitely got some Adobe fans in the house), we’re focusing on Canva for this post for its sheer accessibility, functionality, and affordability. If you’re a small business owner or startup company trying to get recognized while establishing your brand, using Canva to create visually engaging social media content can help you draw the audience you need to grow your business. The Top Canva Pro Features for Businesses Canva is free to sign up and use (you can try it out here), but upgrading to Canva Pro provides many more features you can’t get with a free account (check out their pricing plans here). Since Canva’s an online platform, it’s easy to access wherever you need it via your phone or tablet (iOS and Android). Plus, it’s exceptionally user-friendly, with pre-made templates for whatever design pieces you need. It’s worth it in our book. With that, here are six of the top reasons you should use a Canva Pro account to enhance your business’ social media posts right now and suggestions for getting the greatest benefits. >> Work in the nonprofit sector? The Canva for Nonprofits program unlocks all the premium features of the Canva Pro plan—for free. Explore how nonprofits can leverage Canva’s features to create compelling visuals that will help drive awareness, donations, and community engagement on our blog. 1. Keep all your brand assets in one place. Photos: Imagery is the most crucial part of social media content. According to research by Buzzsumo, Facebook posts with images see 2. 3X more engagement than those with just text. Not only does Canva Pro offer unlimited storage of your images, but it also grants you access to millions of stock photos from a growing stock media library. Storage: Canva Pro lets you store up to 1 terabyte of designs and create unlimited folders to keep things organized. Fonts: Canva already offers over 3,000 fonts, but Canva Pro lets you upload any font, which is great for businesses that follow stricter brand guidelines. Color Palettes: With Canva Brand Kit, you can keep your brand identity consistent across all your designs. 2. Choose from pre-made templates and pre-set sizes. Running short on time? Feel like you don’t have the graphic design skills to just build an image from scratch? One fantastic feature of Canva Pro is its hefty selection of free templates and pre-set layouts that are ready to use with a click. These Canva templates are already designed for you; all that’s left to do is change out your brand colors, fonts, imagery, and logo. (Of course, you always have the option to let your creative flag fly with custom templates to showcase your professional designs. ) 3. Easily adapt and resize your designs with just a few clicks. Once you’ve successfully designed a Facebook banner, you might want that same social media design adapted for Instagram, Linkedin, Eventbrite, or MailChimp. But one image size won’t work for every social media platform. With Canva Pro’s Magic Resize button, you can alter the size of your design to various social media templates (and more! ) with just a few clicks. You can even change the dimensions of one design into several different design types simultaneously. Even better: the tool comes with most social media platform image sizes preset, but you can also customize it to specific dimensions if needed. Canva Pro also has various image customization tools that are unavailable in other graphic design apps. Our favorite is the image background remover tool, which automatically removes unwanted imagery from photos and replaces it with... --- ### Get the Most Out of Your CRM: 7 Contact Management Strategies for Nonprofits > Discover the best nonprofit CRM tools & strategies to boost donor engagement, streamline operations, & optimize fundraising efforts. - Published: 2025-02-13 - Modified: 2025-02-12 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/7-contact-management-nonprofit-strategies/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: CRM, Customer Relationship Management Managing meaningful relationships is at the heart of every nonprofit’s mission. Whether it’s keeping donors engaged, mobilizing volunteers, or fostering new advocates, the success of your organization lies in its ability to connect with your stakeholders effectively. Yet, with spreadsheets and outdated systems, many organizations struggle to stay organized and deliver personalized interactions. That’s where a powerful nonprofit customer relationship management system (CRM) can make a difference. Keep reading as we uncover seven actionable contact management strategies to help your nonprofit thrive and meet its goals, from boosting donor retention to optimizing fundraising campaigns. Managing meaningful relationships is at the heart of every nonprofit’s mission. Whether it’s keeping donors engaged, mobilizing volunteers, or fostering new advocates, the success of your organization lies in its ability to connect with your stakeholders effectively. Yet, with spreadsheets and outdated systems, many organizations struggle to stay organized and deliver personalized interactions. That’s where a powerful nonprofit customer relationship management system (CRM) can make a difference. Donor management software can help automate tasks and create meaningful engagements—all while saving you time and effort. In fact, 67% of nonprofits already use a CRM to track donations and manage communications. So if you don’t, it’s time to get started. Keep reading as we uncover seven actionable contact management strategies to help your nonprofit thrive and meet its goals, from boosting donor retention to optimizing fundraising campaigns. What Is Contact Management, and Why Does It Matter for Nonprofits? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, but don’t let the name fool you: even if you’re not managing “customers,” CRMS are an essential tool to help nonprofits manage stakeholders of all sorts, from donors to volunteers to members. A nonprofit CRM isn’t just for storing contact information like names and emails—it’s an all-in-one management solution that boosts fundraising efforts, streamlines workflows, and assists with customer support. Key features of a CRM include: Centralized Donor and Volunteer Information: Stop sifting through spreadsheets. A CRM system creates a secure hub for donor profiles, volunteer management, and contact records—everything you need in one place. Streamlined Communication and Outreach: With tools like email marketing integrations and templates, nonprofits can deliver professional and personalized messages at scale. Enhanced Donor Relationships: Personalized follow-ups leave a lasting impression. A CRM tracks engagement history, enabling tailored communication that strengthens bonds. Today’s management tools, such as Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, HubSpot, or Keela, include features designed explicitly for nonprofit needs. These include tools for event management, real-time insights via dashboards, and secure payment processing for online donation forms. By and large, these tools are user-friendly, customizable, and built to grow with your organization. How let’s put them to use! 7 Contact Management Strategies Strategy #1: Segment Your Contacts What it means: Organizing your constituents into meaningful groups like donors, volunteers, advocates, or new donors. How: Use CRM tools to apply tags or filters based on donor engagement levels, event participation, or advocacy interests. For example, contacts can be sorted into subsets like recurring donors, prospective donors, or lapsed donors. Why it matters: Segmentation allows for personalized outreach. For instance, high-value donors can receive exclusive behind-the-scenes updates, while first-time donors might be invited to onboard with a welcome email series. Real-world example: A local nonprofit segments its donor database into recurring donors and one-time supporters. Recurring donors receive quarterly special reports, while one-time donors are nudged with stories about their donation’s impact to encourage recurring contributions. Strategy #2: Personalize Your Communications What it means: Tailoring your messaging based on individual engagement history or preferences . How: Leverage your CRM’s email marketing tools or templates to insert personalized data like names, prior donations, or event attendance. Automate your emails when possible. For example, HubSpot can automate various transactional emails, including customer feedback emails, order-related emails, account management emails, customer support emails, and marketing emails. Learn more about HubSpot's transactional email capabilities in our blog. Track key data points such as birthdays, campaign involvement, or volunteering history to build your communications around what matters most to each contact. Why it works: Personalized interactions create a sense of belonging. They show your donors and volunteers that they matter, which fosters loyalty and deepens relationships. Real-world example: After an advocacy campaign, a nonprofit sends a personalized thank-you email through HubSpot acknowledging how an individual’s contributions helped them surpass a fundraising goal. Strategy #3: Automate Core Processes What it means: Automating repetitive tasks to save time and standardize your team’s workflows . How: Use CRM features like workflows to automate follow-up emails, give anniversary reminders, or confirm event registrations. Create templates for welcome messages or fundraising appeals to use on repeat. Benefits: Automation reduces errors and ensures no tasks slip through the cracks, allowing your team to focus more on relational activities that require a human touch. Real-world example: A nonprofit... --- ### 3 Quick Wins to Improve Your Content Marketing & SEO Management > Learn how implementing these 3 quick wins with SEO management can boost your rankings & improve your digital marketing efforts. - Published: 2025-02-10 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/3-quick-wins-seo-management/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Content Marketing, SEO Mastering search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing is crucial for small business owners, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs. However, the SEO world can be complex and overwhelming, especially for those new to digital marketing. We’ve seen some quick wins in SEO management that can significantly impact a business in a short amount of time. In this post, we’ll explore three quick success tactics with SEO management to improve your SEO rankings and boost your online presence. Mastering search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing is crucial for small business owners, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs. A robust SEO strategy enhances your online visibility and drives organic traffic to your website, ultimately leading to higher conversions and revenue. However, the SEO world can be complex and overwhelming, especially for those new to digital marketing. But you don’t need to start with a robust and detailed SEO marketing strategy to increase your digital presence. We’ve seen some quick wins in SEO management that can significantly impact a business in a short amount of time. Below, we’ll explore three quick success tactics with SEO management to improve your SEO rankings and boost your online presence. >> Our in-house SEO services are tailored to your needs and goals. We start with an SEO audit, strategy, and research. From there, we can help you plan, create, and optimize content that grows your website’s authority and brings in traffic. Get started with our SEO agency today. The Importance of SEO Management SEO isn’t just about getting to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs); it’s about ensuring your target audience can find you easily and quickly. For small businesses and nonprofits, this means attracting more visitors who are genuinely interested in what you offer. With the right SEO tools and strategies, you can enhance your website traffic, improve user experience, and build a solid online presence. Some on-page SEO strategies include creating high-quality content, technical SEO, page optimization for user experience and site speed, and internal linking. In contrast, off-page SEO strategies include backlinking and link building, social media engagement, and local SEO. Quick Win 1: Keyword Research and Content Optimization with SEMRush Choosing the Right Keywords Keywords are the backbone of any successful SEO campaign. They’re the words and phrases that potential customers type into search engines to find information, products, or services. Choosing relevant keywords ensures your website appears in front of your target audience when they search for the things you offer. Effective Keyword Research with SEMRush SEMRush is a website with powerful SEO tools that identify the best search terms for your business. Start by entering a broad keyword related to your business into SEMRush’s Keyword Overview. SEMRush will list keywords and metrics such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and click-through rate (CTR). Look for low-hanging fruit keywords with a decent organic search volume but lower difficulty. These keywords are often less competitive and provide more opportunities to rank. You can also use SEMRush or similar tools like Ahrefs to discover keywords your competitors are ranking for. This can give you new content creation ideas and opportunities to improve your rankings. Integrating Keywords Into Existing Website Content Once you’ve identified your target keywords, it’s time to integrate them into your web pages. Ensure your primary keywords appear in critical areas such as headings, meta descriptions, meta tags, alt tags, the page URL, and the first 100 words of your content. But avoid keyword stuffing; instead, focus on creating high-quality content that naturally incorporates your target keywords. Note: If you’re adjusting your current URL to include your target keyword, set up a redirect from the old URL to the updated URL to ensure no 404 error appears. Example: Brand Fuel For our client Brand Fuel, we needed to quickly gain more quality traffic, leading to more sales on their company’s online store page. We used SEMRush to develop a content strategy with target keywords that enhanced their existing content, and we created new pillar page content to capture more website traffic. Our marketing team decided to optimize their existing company store page using the keyword “online company store” and turn it into a comprehensive pillar page with more information on this topic and all related sub-topics. Our work resulted in some incredible key performance indicators (KPIs): there were increases in keyword rankings, including the primary term “online company store,” which moved from position 8 to position 3 in SERPs, and “company online store,” which moved from position 17 to position 6. Note: You can track how your pages rank in Google Analytics and Google Search Console or paid tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs. Quick Win 2: Using ClickCease for Google... --- ### Top Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends in 2025 > Discover the top healthcare digital marketing trends for 2025, including privacy-first marketing, AI-powered patient journeys & more - Published: 2025-02-06 - Modified: 2025-02-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-digital-marketing/ - Categories: Digital Marketing, Health & Wellness - Tags: Digital Marketing, healthcare, healthcare marketing The healthcare marketing terrain is constantly evolving. Despite changing trends and the impact of generative AI, it’s still possible to make some predictions about its future. Join us as we discuss what we expect from healthcare marketing in 2024, and why we think these will be the top trends to watch. The healthcare marketing terrain is constantly evolving. Despite changing trends and the impact of generative AI, it’s still possible to make some predictions about its future. Join us as we discuss what we expect from healthcare marketing in 2025 and why we think these will be the top trends to watch. 1. Technical SEO is Still Vital for Medical Content Search engine optimization (SEO) is no longer just a nice-to-have—it’s a must for medical practices aiming to rank highly and build trust with potential patients online. Medical websites face unique challenges regarding SEO due to the sensitive nature of the content and regulations. However, strong technical SEO is crucial for ensuring your website is accessible, trustworthy, and ranks well in search results. Crawlability and Indexing Structured Data: Use schema markup to provide clear information about your practice, staff, services, and conditions treated. This helps search engines understand your content and display it accurately in rich snippets. XML Sitemap: Submit an updated XML sitemap to major search engines like Google and Bing. This helps them discover and index your pages efficiently. Robots. txt: Ensure your robots. txt file doesn’t block search engine crawlers from accessing essential pages. Mobile-Friendliness: Make sure your website is mobile-responsive and offers a seamless experience across all devices. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in search results. Website Speed and Performance Page Speed Optimization: Minimize page load times by optimizing images, compressing files, and using a caching plugin. Faster loading pages improve user experience and SEO rankings. Server Response Time: Choose a reliable hosting provider with fast server response times. Slow servers can significantly impact your website’s performance and crawlability. Technical Audits: Conduct technical audits regularly, using tools like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog, to identify and fix any technical issues affecting your website. Content Creation Voice Search Optimization: Optimize content for long-tail, conversational queries as more users search for health-related information via voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant. E-E-A-T Compliance (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Continue creating medically accurate, user-friendly, and authoritative content that boosts your search engine rankings while building trust with healthcare consumers. Remember, medical SEO is complex. Consider hiring an SEO specialist to maximize your technical SEO strategy. 2. Grow Digital Health Communities Social media is a powerful tool for uniting healthcare consumers and providers. Building digital health communities can improve outreach, engagement, and brand awareness. Patient Support Groups: Create online spaces for individuals to connect and share experiences about health conditions. Professional Healthcare Networks: Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among healthcare professionals. Condition-Specific Online Communities: Cater to niche audiences and deliver highly targeted content marketing strategies. Healthcare Influencer Partnerships: Amplify your reach by collaborating with trusted voices in the healthcare industry on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram. *Pro Tip: Review community metrics regularly to gauge engagement and identify areas for improvement in your outreach initiatives. 3. Stand By Privacy-First Precision Healthcare Marketing Data privacy is a top concern, especially in healthcare. Marketing campaigns must balance personalization with compliance, ensuring patient information remains secure. While healthcare providers are interested in understanding web visitor behavior, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and many other analytics tools are not HIPAA compliant. However, this limitation doesn’t mean healthcare organizations can never benefit from analytics. GA4 and other analytics tools can help you avoid HIPAA issues. Workarounds include masking specific URLs (for instance, URS with a name that could indicate a user’s medical condition) and masking IP addresses. Here are some of our recommendations: Privacy-First Analytics Alternatives: Adopt tools that comply with HIPAA and prioritize patient data privacy. To stay compliant without workarounds, consider using an analytics tool designed for HIPAA compliance, such as Heap, Snowplow, or Rudderstack. First-Party and Zero-Party Data Strategies: Shift to data collection methods that rely on transparent and consent-based practices. Compliance with International Regulations: Stay updated on global data privacy laws to avoid legal complications. Enhanced Targeting Without Breaching Privacy: Contextual advertising and anonymized metrics can reach specific patient demographics and internet users effectively. Navigating HIPAA compliance and web analytics can be extremely challenging, but healthcare organizations can greatly benefit from analytics tools. 4. Adopt Healthcare Workforce Solutions With a growing emphasis on employee well-being and engagement, healthcare organizations are streamlining workforce solutions... --- ### 7 Nonprofit Branding Examples (and What You Can Learn From Them) > Discover 7 nonprofit branding examples, from ChooseU to Cove Behavioral Health. Learn how a strong brand can amplify your mission & impact. - Published: 2025-02-04 - Modified: 2025-02-03 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/7-nonprofit-branding-examples/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Branding, nonprofit branding Nonprofit organizations work tirelessly for their causes. But smaller nonprofits can have difficulty standing out in a crowded space. With so many organizations competing for attention, donations, and support, a good nonprofit branding strategy can mean the difference between surviving and thriving. So let’s take a closer look at seven inspiring nonprofit branding examples and case studies. We’ll talk about what they do best and how you can apply their strategy to your own organization to elevate your nonprofit’s impact. It’s easy to overlook how impactful great branding can be. When it’s done right, branding molds your perceptions, it shapes your expectations—it even gets to work on your emotions! Images, symbols, fonts, and colors all affect us in immediate, gut-reaction ways that are difficult to explain. Even once you figure out the effect they have on you and why, it’s hard to shake your initial impression of them. This might all sound too fancy: like subliminal messaging concocted by big businesses. But nonprofits are no stranger to good branding either. Think of the Salvation Army, St. Jude’s Research Hospital, NPR, or PBS: chances are an image (or even a slogan) might come to mind as you read each name. Nonprofit organizations work tirelessly for their causes. But smaller nonprofits can have difficulty standing out in a crowded space. With so many organizations competing for attention, donations, and support, a good nonprofit branding strategy can mean the difference between surviving and thriving. So let’s take a closer look at seven inspiring nonprofit branding examples and case studies. We’ll talk about what they do best and how you can apply their strategy to your own organization to elevate your nonprofit’s impact. What Is Nonprofit Branding? Effective nonprofit branding creates a cohesive identity that aligns with your mission statement, resonates with your target audience, and leaves a lasting impression. From color palettes to messaging, every branding element contributes to building brand recognition. When you’re creating a brand for your nonprofit, the goal is to create a visual, emotional, and experiential identity that communicates what your organization stands for and why it matters. Key elements of nonprofit branding include: Your Mission Statement: This clearly communicates the purpose and goals of the organization. It succinctly states who you are and what you do. Your Visual Identity: These are elements like your nonprofit logo, color palette, and typography that make up your nonprofit’s look and feel. You can compile all these elements into an easy-to-share style guide your entire team can access. Your Messaging: This can feel like a much broader topic, but when it comes to branding, you should think of your messaging in terms of taglines, basic value propositions, and essential stories that connect with your audience. Your Brand Guidelines: A brand guide is a set of rules and templates that ensures consistency across social media posts, marketing materials, and other touchpoints. Nonprofits that excel at branding create a cohesive brand personality that resonates with their stakeholders, beneficiaries, and supporters. It’s about creating a sense of consistency and connection that inspires trust, loyalty, and action. Why Is Branding Crucial for Nonprofits? Strong branding enables nonprofits to: Attract more attention, donors, and community support. Differentiate themselves from other organizations in their sector. Build legitimacy and stakeholder trust. Create stronger and more consistent messaging. Improve fundraising results using cohesive marketing strategies. 7 Outstanding Nonprofit Branding Examples Let’s take a look at some nonprofits that have put a lot of thought into their branding. These organizations have created identities that elevate their missions, from compelling taglines to thoughtful brand color schemes to user-friendly websites. Example #1: The American Red Cross It should come as no surprise that the American Red Cross is particularly astute at branding. The Red Cross symbol from which they take their name is over 150 years old. It was adopted during the First Geneva Convention in 1864 to serve as a clear, distinct sign for medical and humanitarian aid in war zones. The organization has retained this iconic symbol over the years while evolving its messaging and marketing for modern audiences. Standout Branding Elements: The bright, simple, primary color Red Cross logo, which is instantly recognizable worldwide Simple yet impactful messaging, such as "Give Blood. Save a Life. " Adaptable branding guidelines that allow consistency across regional branches What you can learn: Your branding efforts don’t need to be complicated to be effective. Cohesion across touchpoints strengthens brand personality and trust. Check out this one-page brand identity document for the American Red Cross. Note how it touches on all the dimensions we’ve been discussing: logo, color scheme, typography, tone of voice, and messaging. While clear and straightforward, these kinds of guidelines are the... --- ### Nonprofit Marketing Trends for 2025 > We've collected our top 10 nonprofit marketing trends for 2024 so you can use them to build your fundraising and content marketing strategies. - Published: 2025-01-23 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/top-10-nonprofit-marketing-trends/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing It's not too late to start making your 2025 nonprofit marketing plans. The world of digital marketing is always changing, and what worked last year is likely already out of date for this year. Don't worry - we're here to help. With all the changes coming down the pipeline for 2025, staying ahead of the curve in the nonprofit sector has never been more critical. Putting aside swings in national policies and federal funding, nonprofit organizations must adapt their marketing strategies to evolving technologies, shifting donor behavior, and an increasingly competitive landscape to remain effective and relevant. This comprehensive guide explores the 10 key nonprofit trends for 2025 and how nonprofit leaders and marketers can harness them to maximize donor engagement, increase advocacy, optimize fundraising efforts, and build stronger communities. Trend 1: Personalized Marketing Strategies Personalization has become more than a luxury—it's an expectation. Three-quarters of consumers now feel frustrated if their website experience isn’t personalized to their needs, and 72% say they only engage with personalized messaging. And it’s true: personalized messages improve open rates, increase donor retention, and foster stronger connections. That’s why you should make it a goal to personalize your nonprofit marketing messages to specific demographics in 2025. Nonprofit organizations can use data analytics to tailor their outreach and create meaningful connections with supporters. What It Looks Like: Use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools to segment your audience. Invest in systems that allow you to build customized messaging for your audience, regardless of channels, like HubSpot (which offers a 40% discount to nonprofits! ). Send personalized emails acknowledging past contributions and tailoring future asks. Send birthday wishes to recurring donors or event invites based on past participation. Utilize programmatic advertising and highly segmented lists to deliver creative campaigns targeted specifically to on-the-fence members of your target audience. Trend 2: Zero-Click Searches Most nonprofit marketers already understand the value of content marketing. In fact, according to one survey, 92% of them already use it, and 65% have increased the pace of their content production. But what do you do when Google makes it easier than ever for people to find the answers they’re looking for without even clicking on your content? Google searches increasingly provide answers directly on the results page, called zero-click searches. These include features like Google's Featured Snippets or People Also Ask boxes. Nonprofits have to rethink their content marketing strategies and up their game through higher-quality content if they’re going to succeed in this environment. You need to make sure your cause stands out even before the click. What It Looks Like: Optimize content for featured snippets using concise, FAQ-like sections. Utilize structured data to enhance search visibility. Invest more in high-quality content that educates and inspires. Every piece of content should give your audience insight into your cause or provide a takeaway that helps them solve their pain points. Tip: Content marketing is still essential. Even if someone doesn’t click immediately, providing clear, educational content builds trust, positioning your organization as an authority in your field. “We need really good storytelling embedded into our organization. It’s not just Marketing’s job anymore, it’s everyone’s. ” - Justine Burke, VP of Marketing at Metropolitan Ministries Trend 3: Video Content Dominance As of the start of 2025, video content makes up over 82% of internet traffic, and nonprofit professionals can’t ignore its power. From emotional storytelling to behind-the-scenes operations, videos can humanize your mission and increase engagement. Videos work particularly well for nonprofits because they let you tell your story clearly and vividly. What better way to demonstrate what your organization does than by interviewing the people you’ve helped or by showing footage of volunteers in action? A behind-the-scenes video of your organization at work or a feature about the impact of nonprofit fundraising can powerfully convey your organization’s mission and create a personal and emotional connection with viewers. What It Looks Like: Utilize TikTok and Instagram Reels, which are popular among Gen Z and millennials and offer short, engaging formats. Live video remains impactful for events, webinars, and fundraisers. Use storytelling to highlight community building. Share a heartfelt donor story or showcase how your organization impacts the community. Remember, authenticity wins. Quick Tip: Don’t forget about the power of live streaming, either. More than 150 million people watch livestream videos every month. For inspiration, check out the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ Extra Life campaign, which has generated millions of donations through the power of live... --- ### 8 Nonprofit Websites to Look to for Design Inspiration > Explore how great web design can help your nonprofit communicate its mission, attract donors & boost fundraising with these 10 nonprofit web designs for inspiration. - Published: 2025-01-17 - Modified: 2025-01-16 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-web-design-inspiration/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: nonprofit website, website design A well-crafted website is more than just a virtual brochure for nonprofit organizations; it’s a powerful tool for storytelling, connection, and impact. Through creative, thoughtful design, your site can communicate your nonprofit's mission, attract potential donors, and significantly enhance your fundraising efforts. It can be a bridge between you and your donors and volunteers, fostering emotional connection and lasting engagement. In this blog, we’ll explore 8 nonprofit websites that exemplify exceptional web development and design. From innovative layouts to impactful imagery, each website offers unique elements that capture attention and inspire action. A well-crafted website is more than just a virtual brochure for nonprofit organizations; it’s a powerful tool for storytelling, connection, and impact. Through creative, thoughtful design, your site can communicate your nonprofit's mission, attract potential donors, and significantly enhance your fundraising efforts. It can be a bridge between you and your donors and volunteers, fostering emotional connection and lasting engagement. In this blog, we’ll explore 8 nonprofit websites that exemplify exceptional web development and design. From innovative layouts to impactful imagery, each website offers unique elements that capture attention and inspire action. What Is SEO-Friendly Web Design? SEO-friendly web design is a powerful strategy that enhances your website's aesthetics and optimizes it for search engines. Integrating SEO best practices into your website’s design makes it easier for potential supporters and visitors to discover your mission and engage with your cause. Optimized web pages improve your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs), driving more traffic to your nonprofit site and increasing visibility. Big Sea specializes in SEO-friendly web design and high-quality content development, helping nonprofits transform their outreach efforts. 8 Great Nonprofit Website Design Examples Our Favorite Large-Scale Aquatic Website: Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium >> Visit the Mote website. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium is an innovative nonprofit science center and research institute dedicated to making science and technology accessible to everyone. Big Sea redesigned Mote's website to feature dynamic design and compelling visuals that make the site a fun place for students and enthusiasts, all while maintaining sophisticated content governance structures on the back-end that make the page an evolving resource of scholars. It's a tricky balancing act that required careful attention to website UX and an examination of the site's various users and use cases. Stand-Out Design Features: Mote’s website features a vibrant, bright color palette that reflects the excitement of discovery. The straightforward, intuitive navigation lists categories for exhibits, education, research, and events—their most important pages. The prominent “Donate” button is also strategically placed in the main navigation bar to encourage engagement. How This Enhances the User Experience: The engaging visuals and straightforward navigation create an emotional connection with site visitors, making it easy to explore their mission and get donation conversions. Users can quickly find information about upcoming events, which promotes a sense of expectation and community involvement. Fundraising and Advocacy Tactics: Mote effectively highlights success stories and testimonials, motivating visitors to donate or participate in events. Their design elements encourage users to envision their contributions making a tangible impact. Key Takeaways: Vibrant visuals combined with clear calls-to-action enhance user engagement and drive donations. Our Favorite Website for Local Environmental Volunteering: Asheville GreenWorks >> Visit the Asheville GreenWorks website. Asheville GreenWorks promotes environmental sustainability in the Asheville community. Their mission focuses on ecological stewardship through community engagement. Stand-Out Design Features: The banner image shows everyday people working on local projects and issues, while the headline emphasizes the impact volunteering has on you, the visitor, and your immediate family and community. This helps connect what can be a very abstract issue (climate change) directly to the user. A little further down a “by the numbers” graphic on the homepage highlights actual statistics about the scope and scale of their work. How This Enhances the User Experience: Visitors can easily participate in the nonprofit’s mission and learn more about key issues. Fundraising and Advocacy Tactics: Asheville GreenWorks effectively highlights its impact through catchy headlines, dynamic photos, and compelling stories that motivate visitors to support its initiatives. It also features a donation form directly on its homepage, so users don’t have to click on a new web page to support their cause. Key Takeaways: Strategic above-the-fold design and copy immediately engage visitors and command attention. Our Favorite Animal Rights Nonprofit Website: The Asheville Humane Society >> Visit the Asheville Humane Society website. The Asheville Humane Society is committed to rescuing and rehoming animals in need while promoting responsible pet ownership. Stand-Out Design Features: You can't go wrong featuring cute cats and dogs on the internet. The adorable animal photos are immediate attention-getters, and the arrow beneath the header directs users to start scrolling through interactive options that slide onto the page from either side as you descend. This... --- ### 7 Best Marketing Grants for Nonprofits [2025] > Looking for marketing grants for nonprofits? Here are 5 great ones, so you can partner with experts and take your nonprofit marketing to the next level. - Published: 2024-12-23 - Modified: 2025-01-27 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-grants-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: grants, nonprofit marketing Looking for marketing grants for nonprofits? Here are 5 great ones, so you can partner with experts and take your nonprofit marketing to the next level. Marketing is crucial for nonprofits to raise awareness, engage supporters, and advance their missions. However, securing the necessary funding for marketing initiatives can be challenging for many nonprofit organizations. That’s where marketing grants for nonprofits come into play. In this article, we’ll explore five valuable grants that can help your nonprofit boost its marketing efforts, adapt to nonprofit marketing trends, and make an even more significant impact on the causes you care about. If you’re searching for ways to amplify your nonprofit’s message and reach, you’re in the right place! 1. Wavemakers Grant Big Sea’s Wavemakers Grant is a competitive grant exclusively designed for nonprofit organizations with innovative marketing projects. It provides up to $30,000 in marketing services for nonprofits that aim to create groundbreaking ad campaigns. The grant usually runs from November to early December each year. Wavemakers Grant recipients get access to Big Sea’s expertise in nonprofit content marketing. This includes helping you refine and define your brand, clarify your message, develop your website, design your marketing materials, and grow your donor community. In addition to financial support, Wavemakers grantees also benefit from networking and mentorship opportunities. This grant empowers nonprofits to turn their unique and impactful marketing ideas into reality. 2. Google Ad Grants Google Ad Grants is a transformative program that provides eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 per month in free advertising credits on Google Ads. This funding is designed to give nonprofits an unparalleled opportunity to increase their online presence and engage with a broader audience through Google’s powerful advertising platform. By leveraging Google Ad Grants, your nonprofit can create highly targeted online campaigns that drive meaningful actions—attracting donors, recruiting volunteers, promoting programs, or raising awareness about your cause. These ads are displayed based on search intent, meaning they will reach people actively looking for services or support related to your mission. This ensures your message resonates with the right audience at the right time. Maximizing the potential of Google Ad Grants requires strategic planning and ongoing management. Ad campaigns must follow specific compliance guidelines to maintain eligibility, such as maintaining a 5% click-through rate and adhering to Google’s quality standards. With a thoughtful approach, this grant can become a cost-free pillar of your nonprofit’s digital marketing strategy, enabling you to make a significant impact without straining your budget. To help you make the most of this resource, Big Sea offers comprehensive guidance on applying for, optimizing, and managing Google Ad Grants. Our team can assist with everything from crafting compelling ad copy to ongoing monitoring and performance tracking, ensuring your campaigns achieve measurable results. Take the first step toward transforming your digital outreach with Google Ad Grants, and see how it can elevate your nonprofit’s mission to new heights. For more details and support, connect with Big Sea today and start unlocking opportunities with confidence! 3. AWS IMAGINE Grant Program The AWS IMAGINE Grant Program, funded by Amazon Web Services (AWS), offers two prestigious grant opportunities for nonprofit organizations that utilize cloud technologies to positively impact society: the Go Further, Faster award and the Momentum to Modernize award. Each award provides nonprofit organizations valuable resources and support to enhance their IT capabilities and advance their missions. Awards from AWS Imagine Go Further, Faster For eligible nonprofits that need help with specific cloud-based projects, the Go Further, Faster award offers up to $150,000 in unrestricted funding, $100,000 in AWS promotional credit, technical support, AWS training, and opportunities for marketing promotion. Eligible projects must have the potential to advance big, repeatable solutions in your industry and use or integrate with advanced cloud services, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, high-performance computing, or the Internet of Things. AWS Go Further Go Faster Award Description Momentum to Modernize If you don’t have a specific project in mind but want to enhance your tech capabilities or streamline operations, you can apply for the Momentum to Modernize award. Recipients of this award have access to $50,000 in unrestricted funds, $20,000 in AWS promotional credit, implementation guidance, training and support, and marketing opportunities. Eligible projects can include database migration, net-new application development, application migration and optimization, or infrastructure expansion. AWS Momentum to Modernize Award Description 4. The Unless Project The Unless... --- ### Email Marketing for Nonprofits: Examples and Best Practices > Discover how email marketing can transform your nonprofit's engagement strategy. Explore best practices, successful examples, essential tools & growth tips. - Published: 2024-12-04 - Modified: 2024-12-04 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/email-marketing-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Email Marketing - Tags: email marketing, nonprofit email marketing Building a solid email list and using it wisely is still one of the most effective and dependable items in your marketing toolkit. Used correctly, it's your nonprofit's golden ticket to building solid relationships, driving donations, and spreading your mission far and wide. But email marketing for nonprofits isn’t just about hitting send on a generic email blast. It’s about crafting messages that resonate with your audience and inspire action. Whether you're new to nonprofit email marketing or looking to level up your strategy, this guide has you covered. From best practices to standout examples, we’ll walk you through how to create email campaigns that make an impact. Technology is always about what’s new. What’s the cool new social media platform (Bluesky, anyone? ), what’s the brand new wearable device, what’s the latest game-changing software integration? And don’t get us wrong, we love all that. But you should never lose sight of the fundamentals. Sometimes the best tool for the job is one that’s so tried and true, it’s easy to forget. That's where email marketing comes in. Building a solid email list and using it wisely is still one of the most effective and dependable items in your marketing toolkit (not to mention, one with an industry-leading average ROI). Used correctly, it's your nonprofit's golden ticket to building solid relationships, driving donations, and spreading your mission far and wide. But email marketing for nonprofits isn’t just about hitting send on a generic email blast. It’s about crafting messages that resonate with your audience and inspire action. Whether you're new to nonprofit email marketing or looking to level up your strategy, this guide has you covered. From best practices to standout examples, we’ll walk you through how to create email campaigns that make an impact. What Is Nonprofit Email Marketing? Email marketing for nonprofits offers a strategic way to engage and communicate with your donor base, volunteers, and advocates. Think of it as your direct line to the people who care about your mission. Unlike social media (where algorithms decide who sees your content), emails land straight in your audience’s inbox. This makes it a powerful tool for maintaining an ongoing dialogue with subscribers, driving actions like donating, volunteering, or attending events. Why Is Nonprofit Email Marketing Important? While social media is flashy and fun, email marketing brings in results. Studies show that email has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) for nonprofits. It costs little to run and generates big rewards. Here's why. Personalized Communication: You can speak directly to your audience with tailored messages. Segmentation and automation allow you to send different messages to different audiences on timelines suited to their interests, when they signed up, when they last interacted with your organization, etc. Long-Term Relationships: Regular email communication keeps your supporters engaged and informed over time. It Drives Action: From fundraising campaigns to event invitations, email is your go-to tool for inspiring your audience to take action. Cost-Effectiveness: Affordable email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Constant Contact allow even small nonprofits to run campaigns without breaking the bank. Best Practices in Creating Engaging Nonprofit Emails When it’s done right, email marketing can be a game-changer for your nonprofit. Follow these best practices to create emails that get opened and make an impact. Personalization and Segmentation Nobody likes being treated like just another name on a list. Personalization is the key to making your supporters feel valued. Using segmentation, you can tailor your email content to different audiences based on their interests, location, or previous interactions with your nonprofit. Tips: Segment your list by donor levels, such as recurring or first-time donors. Create separate campaigns for volunteers, advocates, and event attendees. Use tools like Campaign Monitor to automate personalized greetings using the recipient's name. Following these tips will help ensure your subscribers are receiving messages that are timely and relevant. For instance: Someone who volunteered at an event four months ago gets notifications about new upcoming events and an occasional nudge to consider donating as well. Someone who made a one-time donation at Christmas a year ago gets a reminder as this year’s holiday season approaches. A reliable recurring donor gets regular updates on the difference their donations make and information about new initiatives. Crafting Compelling Subject Lines Your subject line is the first thing your audience sees, so make it count. Aim for 6-8 words that spark curiosity or touch on emotion. Think of it as your elevator pitch in five seconds or less. Tips: Keep it concise and punchy, e. g. , "Your Impact is Changing Lives! " Use action words like “Discover,” “Help,” or “Transform. ” A/B test to see which subject lines perform best. Most email marketing platforms like Mailchimp offer built-in A/B testing functionality. Using Visuals and Stories A picture is worth a thousand words, right? To make your... --- ### Website Design with SEO: Building a Site for Search Engines > Unlock the secret of high-performing websites! Drive traffic & increase your online presence with these powerful tips for SEO web design. - Published: 2024-11-22 - Modified: 2024-11-22 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-and-website-design-what-you-need-to-know/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Web Design - Tags: SEO, Strategy, Web Design Search engine optimization (SEO) pleases algorithms, making it a necessity for website building. However, SEO and web design also affect the user experience and, ultimately, the number of people visiting your site. With the right tools and information, you can satisfy humans and search engines. Learn how to create your website and make it SEO-friendly using these best practices and tips. For many years, creating websites for Google search rankings was prioritized over creating websites for the ideal human experience. Luckily, this is no longer the case. Google and other search engines have finally realized that the “best” results in their search rankings should also be those with the best user experience. Search engine optimization (SEO) has come full circle and put the human back at the center. Considering SEO from the beginning of a website redesign project is paramount to a successful launch. An excellent SEO website design project that combines design and development best practices with content structure and a solid redirect strategy can increase your leads by 250%. What is SEO website design? SEO website design involves building a website that is easy for search engines to interpret and index. The term often refers to several best practices, starting with the basic foundation and ongoing content marketing efforts. In short, SEO is embedded in developing a website. Although you can design a website without using SEO best practices, doing so will make it harder to rank for important keywords and can lose rankings you might already have earned. A beautiful website gains you nothing if no one can find it, and SEO won't retain visitors without an engaging user experience. Web design and SEO are two sides of the same coin. They work together from the beginning of the design process, creating a seamless experience for users and search engines. How does SEO affect web design (and vice versa)? Content marketing and website design go hand in hand. Both focus on pleasing web users while incorporating SEO. The successful implementation of SEO requires both a design strategy and a content marketing plan. In web design, SEO is a technical process intended to increase your website’s visibility so it appears during web searches. Well-structured site architecture allows search engines to crawl and index your website smoothly, which directly impacts your search engine rankings. But just as important is the usability — from fast load times to responsive design that works across mobile devices. Without one or the other, you could lose out on visitors or ranking opportunities. Take, for instance, an e-commerce site. Users will likely abandon their carts if the page speed is slow and the navigation is unclear. This could reduce conversion rates, increase the bounce rate, and harm your position on search engine results pages (SERPs). Websites that integrate SEO-friendly web design from the start avoid these pitfalls and set themselves apart. By comparison, content marketing delivers information to your potential customers in a user-friendly format. Marketers optimize content by following a keyword research strategy yet ensuring the copy focuses on the customer first. Content marketing and website design work together to provide relevant information in a compelling yet user-friendly format. Design elements that impact SEO Every design decision you make affects your site's visibility, from loading speed to readability. Here are a few ways design elements affect your website’s SEO performance: Navigation: Clean, intuitive menus enhance usability and help prevent visitors from leaving too soon. Fonts and colors: Choose readable fonts and contrast-balanced colors. A user-friendly design keeps users on the site longer, signaling value to search engines. Mobile-friendliness: With most web searches happening on mobile devices, having a responsive design isn’t optional if you want high search engine rankings. Fundamentals of website design with SEO Crawling is the process search engines follow to discover and categorize page content for search engines — their software crawls (scans) pages to find new and updated content across the web. Information architecture (IA) is the visual layout of content on your page. This includes the organization of schemes and structures, systems for labeling and navigation, and search options for users to find the information they’re looking for. Mobile-friendly sites work just as well on handheld devices as on desktops. They’re responsive to changes in format, optimized for speed, free from clutter, and easy to use. Page speed is how fast a page loads once its link has been clicked. UX (user experience) focuses on presenting your site visitors with an easy-to-use, enjoyable, and accessible site to explore. On-page elements include visible items like section headings, page titles, anchor... --- ### Nonprofit Appeal Letters: 11 Easy Steps + Template > Crafting a successful nonprofit appeal letter is crucial to gaining support for your organization. Let us guide you step-by-step. - Published: 2024-11-20 - Modified: 2024-11-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/craft-compelling-nonprofit-appeal-messaging/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Picture a potential donor scrolling through Facebook. We’ll call her Linda. Linda is a middle-aged woman who cares deeply about social issues and her local community. While she typically donates to several charities throughout the holiday season, her budget is tight this year, and her attention is limited. How can your nonprofit organization create a compelling message to capture Linda’s attention and convince her that she should spend some of her hard-earned money on your charity? With over 1. 5 million registered nonprofits in the U. S. alone, developing your message and unique viewpoint is vital all year round. However, it’s essential during the holiday season. Nearly one-third of annual giving happens in December alone. That’s why your appeal letter must stand out from the rest. There’s a brief window for your message to have the maximal impact, and you’re competing not just with other nonprofits but with everything else in Linda’s life: home, work, the holiday season, etc. What is copywriting for fundraising? Copywriting for fundraising involves creating persuasive content that convinces potential donors to contribute to a cause. Unlike commercial advertising, fundraising copy focuses on emotional connections, storytelling, and the impact of donations. It's about creating a narrative that resonates with your audience and inspires them to take action. Why do nonprofits need copywriting? Effective copywriting is essential for nonprofits because: It helps articulate the nonprofit's mission and vision. It motivates potential donors by connecting them emotionally to the cause. It enhances donor engagement and retention by keeping them informed and inspired. It creates a compelling narrative that drives action on platforms such as social media, direct mail, and email campaigns. Common fundraising copywriting mistakes nonprofits make Even seasoned nonprofits can fall into common copywriting traps. Avoid these pitfalls to ensure your fundraising efforts are successful: Lack of clarity: Avoid jargon or overly complex language. Keep your writing clear and straightforward. Weak calls to action: Be direct in your requests for support. Don't leave donors guessing how they can help. Ignoring audience needs: Tailor your messages to specific segments rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all approach. Neglecting to tell a story: Facts alone are not enough. Stories create an emotional connection that facts and figures cannot. Overlooking donor appreciation: Always thank your donors and inform them of the impact of their contributions. How to write a successful nonprofit appeal letter While nonprofit appeal letters are not one-size-fits-all, we’ve put together 11 steps to make your messaging more effective during the holiday season and year-round. The more you combine these techniques, the better the chance that your appeals will hit potential donors in the right way at the right time. Ready to jump right into copywriting techniques? Click to scroll down to our handy template and get started. Step 1: Tell a story While clearly defining your mission in your messaging is important, you have to tell a story. You must prove to Linda that her donation can make a real difference. Tell a story of how your nonprofit has accomplished its mission. For example, while working with Metropolitan Ministries to craft their holiday messaging and campaign, we found that focusing on the stories of the real-life families Metro serves played a key role in engaging potential donors. (Read the entire case study on how we exceeded their holiday-giving goals by 10% here). When telling a story, distill it down to the basics — the character (this can be a person or family), their struggle, and how your audience’s donations will help them overcome that struggle. What does that look like in practice? It could be an email telling the story of how one single mother, borderline homeless and struggling to make ends meet, could find food and shelter with your organization. It could be a Facebook ad showing a hungry child saying you can give her family a holiday meal this year. It could be a website page showing 100,000 meals were served to families on Thanksgiving. While that last example is a large statistic, you should use numbers sparingly. Instead, focus on personal, individual stories that appeal to the heart. Research shows emotionally driven messaging is far more motivating and effective than facts and figures. Step 2: Create... --- ### How to Measure and Track Your Content Strategy ROI: Key Metrics and Practical Tools > Boost your performance with our insights on content strategy ROI. Discover essential metrics, practical tools & expert tips to optimize your marketing efforts. - Published: 2024-11-15 - Modified: 2024-11-15 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-measure-and-track-content-strategy-roi/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Content Marketing, Content Strategy, roi Content’s no longer just king; it’s the entire kingdom. But how do you measure its success? This blog will guide you through the intricacies of measuring and tracking your content strategy return on investment (ROI), ensuring that your marketing investments yield substantial returns. Content’s no longer just king; it’s the entire kingdom. But how do you measure its success? This blog will guide you through the intricacies of measuring and tracking your content strategy return on investment (ROI), ensuring that your marketing investments yield substantial returns. Why Is Measuring ROI Important for Content Strategy? Understanding the ROI you get out of your content marketing strategy is crucial for several reasons. First, it helps marketing professionals justify the budget allocated to their content marketing efforts. You can secure continued or increased investment from stakeholders by showcasing how content drives brand awareness, website traffic, and, ultimately, conversions. Second, understanding your content marketing ROI provides insight into which strategies work best. This information is indispensable for refining your approach, optimizing your tactics, and improving your overall digital marketing performance. Finally, measuring ROI helps align your marketing goals with business objectives, ensuring every piece of content contributes to the bottom line. Three Components of Content Strategy Think of the three core components of your content strategy as creation, distribution, and analysis. Each one plays a key role in determining your content's success and overall ROI. But what do we mean by them? Let’s take a look. Creation means producing high-quality content that resonates with your target audience. This starts with keyword research and fundamental SEO principles, then expands out into writing, editing, illustrating, audio and visual production: all the skills that go into crafting blogs, videos, podcasts, webinars, infographics, or whatever else you need to match your audience’s preferences and draw their attention. Distribution focuses on ensuring your content reaches the right audience at the right time. Effective content distribution includes leveraging social media, email newsletters, PPC campaigns, and more to maximize visibility and engagement. Analysis means tracking content performance and using data to inform your future decisions. By monitoring metrics like page views, bounce rate, and click-through rates, you can gauge your success and identify areas for improvement. The Value of Content Marketing Content marketing offers benefits that extend beyond immediate sales. By establishing your brand as a thought leader, you can enhance brand awareness, drive organic traffic, start new initiatives, and meaningfully engage potential customers. Content marketing campaigns build trust and foster long-term relationships with your audience through storytelling, informative content pieces, and addressing customer pain points. These efforts ultimately lead to higher conversion rates and increased sales, contributing to your organization's growth and success. Let’s consider an example. If I wanted to try a new recipe, the website Serious Eats is one of the first places I might look. In fact, if I just do a Google search for French toast recipes, theirs is one of the first to pop up. That kind of brand awareness is powerful, and they’ve earned it through useful, optimized content geared toward what home chefs are searching for online. I might not have subscribed to their newsletter or bought anything from them yet, but the next time I’m in the market for a cookbook, I’ll probably turn to them. Heck, look at me, I’m advertising them to you right now! That’s the value of good content marketing. What Is a Good Content Strategy ROI Percentage? Determining what constitutes a good ROI for content marketing depends on various factors, including industry benchmarks, marketing goals, and content types. A marketing ROI of 5:1 or 500% is considered strong, while anything below 2:1 or 200% indicates poor performance. To achieve this, focus on measuring the right metrics, such as lead generation, customer lifetime value, and conversion rate. Regularly analyzing these key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you assess your content's effectiveness and adjust your strategy accordingly. Key Performance Indicators for Measuring Your Content Marketing ROI Let’s take a closer look at some of the key metrics that can help you measure and track the ROI of your content marketing efforts: Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or purchasing a product. A high conversion rate indicates that your content effectively engages and persuades users. For most content marketing, the conversion rate will fall between 1. 5-3%. Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of visitors who leave your website... --- ### Google Ad Grants Explained: Eligibility, Requirements, and Optimization Tips for Nonprofits > Google Ad Grants for nonprofits adds $10,000 a month to your online advertising budget for free. Learn more about Google Ad Grant management. - Published: 2024-11-13 - Modified: 2025-01-27 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/get-google-ad-grants-nonprofit/ - Categories: Digital Marketing, Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Digital Marketing, Display Ads, Nonprofit, nonprofit marketing Google Ad Grants. What are they? How do you get them? And how can they help you grow your nonprofit? We’re here to show you how you can put this invaluable resource to work for your organization in 2025. I’ve got three words for you: Google Ad Grants. What are they? How do you get them? And how can they help you grow your nonprofit? We’re here to show you how to put this invaluable resource to work for your organization in 2025. What are Google Ad Grants? If you work for a nonprofit, you know how difficult it is to get the word out about your cause. Figuring out how to do the most with your advertising budget is always tricky, but it can be particularly challenging for nonprofits with smaller teams and tighter resources. That’s where Google Ad Grants come in. By getting a Google for Nonprofits account and applying for Google Ad Grants, you can add $10,000 a month to your online advertising budget—for free. Imagine how many more people you could reach with an extra $120,000 in your annual budget. Overlooking an opportunity like that would be leaving money on the table. Are Google Ad Grants worth it? Since its launch in 2003, Google Ad Grants has given over 115,000 nonprofit organizations $9 billion in free advertising. People are four times more likely to click ads on Google than on any other advertising network, and you can use the program indefinitely, provided that you maintain Google’s standards for eligibility. With this program, you could draw up to 60,000 new, targeted visitors to your site each year. How easy is it to get Google Ad Grants? Most nonprofit organizations can get a Google Ad Grant provided they have tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) and have registered with Google for Nonprofits to confirm that fact. However, Google has some stringent standards for maintaining your ads and website that are technical but doable with time and effort. How much do Google Ad Grants pay? The Google Ad Grants program offers eligible nonprofits $10,000 monthly to spend on Google search ads to promote their organizations. That means you can get up to $120,000 annually in free advertising. How do I effectively use Google Ad Grants? There are lots of ways to use Google Ad Grants. With them, you could: Encourage donations – Obviously, this one’s the Holy Grail. Every organization seeks to find more donors and encourage the ones you already have. Well-targeted ads will help you reach people looking to support your cause. Educate the public – Before anyone can make a difference, they need to know about the problem! Google ads are a fantastic opportunity to educate people about the issues your organization addresses. Recruit volunteers – When you get creative with your call-to-action, you’ll find many ways to get people to interact meaningfully with your organization—beyond donating. More volunteers lead to success. Publicize events and sell fundraising tickets – Google Ads require nonprofits to use geo-targeting to ensure their ads reach people in the right area. Encourage people to attend events or buy tickets for fundraisers nearby to use this strategy even more. Encourage people to take action for your cause – Getting people to sign a petition or post about an issue on social media is a great way to connect with potential donors. People are more likely to get involved when they learn about an issue from a friend. Expand your mailing list or social media following – Google Ads will allow you to cultivate future leads. Every organization wants to increase donations, but you should never underestimate the value of simply getting donors on your mailing list or checking out your social media accounts. Learn more about potential donors – Who wants to donate to your cause? What do you know about them? Using Google Analytics to track your ads’ performance will give you valuable insights into the people who want to solve the same problems you do. That’ll help refine your messaging and ad placement as you continue growing. Market different campaigns simultaneously – Google Ad Grants doesn’t restrict you to just one campaign. Your organization can test multiple keywords simultaneously. This way, there’s variety in your messaging, and you’ll gather information about which keywords help you own that results list. Are Google Ad Grants free for nonprofits? Yes, Google Ad Grants are free for nonprofits if your organization meets and maintains... --- ### Nonprofit Web Design Guide 2024 > Nonprofit web design is essential because your website is the first stop for people to invest in your organization. - Published: 2024-11-07 - Modified: 2024-12-04 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-web-design-guide-2024/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing, Web Design - Tags: nonprofit marketing, web design research, website design It’s 2024, so we know that, for better or worse, the internet is where we all turn first for information. It may start with social — Sarah had a new baby, Blake just got into medical school, and the Patels are traveling to Rome this week (doesn’t the coffee look heavenly? ). A new tech company is hiring for my role. The Dow moved up a few points, and a different billionaire is building a different spaceship. A nonprofit is asking for help with a major community initiative. — but it ends with a click to a website. That’s why digital experience is (still) the most essential part of your nonprofit’s digital marketing strategy. Your website is the building that’s always open for visitors and the first stop when people are considering investing time, energy, and money into your organization. Your nonprofit website design is the frontline storyteller, sharing everything that matters to your audience and your mission. But is your website telling a story, or is it an info dump? Is it easy to navigate or overwhelming? Are you making the most of your content to engage visitors and establish strong virtual connections? Are you ranking on search engines? A nonprofit set on growth needs an intelligent website to get there. We’ve got some ideas for you. What should a nonprofit website look like? Before we look at some examples, let’s review some of the essential elements of high-quality web design. Tell your story — quickly. The average time spent on web pages across all industries is 54 seconds. That’s why when designing your online presence — and especially your About page — you want to ensure your organization’s mission is as straightforward as possible. Clear, unambiguous headlines, photos, and other media will tell this story before new visitors start reading. Integrate your social media. The more ways people can follow your organization, the better. Ensure you link to your social media accounts (and from them back to your webpage) to make the transition from one to the other as smooth as possible. Another way to smooth that transition is... Be consistent with branding. Use consistent logos, fonts, colors, and other eye-catching graphic design elements across social media platforms. Consistency leads to trust. It reassures your users that you are who you say you are wherever they encounter you online. Show people who you work with. To bolster your credibility, include testimonials from people you’ve helped or organizations you’ve partnered with. People are naturally more hesitant to trust online sources, so it’s important to provide sources and evidence that demonstrate who you are and what you do. Don’t be afraid of negative space. Above all, your website's navigation should be straightforward, clear, and intuitive. Sometimes, that means more information, but often, it means less. Don’t overload your navigation bar with too many options; don’t pile on text that’ll slow down visitors before they even get to your call to action. Provide multiple ways to engage. Donations are critical, but don’t let the push for donations obscure the other ways visitors can get involved. Encourage users to ask questions, sign up for a newsletter, follow you on social media, or volunteer. Not everyone will be ready to donate right away, but if you have other ways for them to get involved, you’ll be at the front of their mind when they are ready. Streamline your donation page. Once visitors to your website have clicked on your CTA, ensure they don’t get confused or bogged down on your donation page. Keep things clear and straightforward. If they’re directed away from your website to a third party, make sure to include elements of your branding to establish consistency. Nonprofit web design best practices Creating an impactful nonprofit website goes beyond aesthetics. It's about storytelling, accessibility, and functionality. Nonprofit web design requires a unique approach, prioritizing mobile optimization, ADA compliance, and engaging user experiences. These elements ensure that your website is not just visually stunning but also accessible and easy to use. 1. Accessibility and ADA compliance It is crucial to ensure your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Implement features like screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation to... --- ### From Awareness to Action: A Comprehensive Approach to Nonprofit Marketing > Learn essential strategies to attract, engage, and retain supporters while maximizing your organization’s reach and mission impact with this nonprofit marketing guide. - Published: 2024-10-31 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/comprehensive-approach-to-nonprofit-marketing/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: nonprofit marketing How do you spread awareness and encourage engagement in a way that actually makes a difference for your nonprofit organization? We explore how nonprofits can move beyond the buzzwords and into action, leveraging tailored digital marketing strategies that resonate with your donor base and deliver serious results. Effectively marketing your nonprofit requires a strategic blend of storytelling, digital savvy, and community building, and we’re here to show you the basics! When it comes to nonprofit marketing, terms like "awareness" and "engagement" get tossed around a lot. But what do they really mean in this context? And how do you spread awareness and encourage engagement in a way that actually makes a difference for your organization? Below, we explore how nonprofits can move beyond the buzzwords and into action, leveraging tailored digital marketing strategies that resonate with your donor base and deliver serious results. Effectively marketing your nonprofit requires a strategic blend of storytelling, digital savvy, and community building, and we’re here to show you the basics! What Is Nonprofit Marketing? Nonprofit marketing is how an organization promotes its mission, values, and services to attract donors, volunteers, and supporters. Unlike for-profit marketing, which focuses primarily on driving sales, nonprofit marketing seeks to raise awareness, foster engagement, and inspire action. At its core, nonprofit marketing aims to create emotional connections that translate into tangible support, whether through donations, volunteer hours, or advocacy. The Role of Nonprofit Marketing in Awareness and Fundraising Nonprofit marketing plays a critical role in both raising awareness and driving donations. By crafting compelling narratives and leveraging various marketing channels, you can build brand awareness for your nonprofit and establish your organization as a leader in your field. This heightened visibility, in turn, creates fundraising opportunities, since donors are more likely to support organizations they recognize and trust. Effective nonprofit marketing drives this cycle of awareness and support, fueling your organization's mission and maximizing its impact. The Three Pillars of Nonprofit Marketing Successful nonprofit marketing is built on three key pillars. 1. Attracting Donors and Volunteers Donors and volunteers are the core of your organization’s support: attracting them is the first step in any nonprofit marketing strategy. That means identifying potential supporters and crafting messages that resonate with their interests and values. Start your marketing strategy by creating donor and volunteer personas – short guides to the typical demographic characteristics of people who support your organization. That can include gender, age range, income range, education level, reasons why they give (either money or their time), etc. This information will shape how you communicate your organization's mission and impact, thereby attracting new donors and volunteers eager to contribute to your cause. 2. Engaging Supporters Once donors and volunteers are on board, next you need to engage them in meaningful ways. This could involve regular communication through newsletters, updates on the organization's work, or opportunities for involvement. By fostering a sense of community and shared purpose, nonprofits can deepen their relationship with supporters and encourage ongoing engagement. 3. Retaining Supporters for Long-term Relationships The final pillar of nonprofit marketing is retention. Keeping donors and volunteers engaged long-term is essential for sustainable success. This involves recognizing and appreciating contributions, providing opportunities for continued involvement, and maintaining open lines of communication. By nurturing long-term relationships, you can build a loyal base of supporters invested in your organization's mission. Key Nonprofit Marketing Strategies Nonprofits can employ various marketing strategies to achieve their goals. Here are some key tactics to consider. Storytelling Storytelling is the heartbeat of nonprofit marketing. By sharing authentic and relatable stories, you can create emotional connections that resonate with your audience. Compelling narratives can inspire empathy, drive donations, and ignite a sense of purpose. Some storytelling strategies include: Use case studies to demonstrate impact and showcase how the organization is making a difference in the lives of individuals and communities. Highlight personal stories that evoke emotion and convey the organization's core values. Incorporate visuals such as images and videos to enhance storytelling and create a more immersive experience. Social Media Social media marketing provides a dynamic space for nonprofits to connect with their audience, share their message, and build brand awareness. By strategically utilizing the right platform for your audience – whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, heck, even TikTok – you can reach a broader audience and foster engagement. Some social media strategies include: Develop consistent themes and language for your social media posts and post regularly to maintain visibility and keep your supporters informed. Encourage user-generated content to amplify the organization's reach and create community among your supporters. Utilize live streaming and interactive features to engage with your audience in... --- ### Big Sea Welcomes New Team and Expands Services with Acquisition of JB Media Group - Published: 2024-10-22 - Modified: 2024-10-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-welcomes-new-team-and-expands-services-with-acquisition-of-jb-media-group/ - Categories: News & Culture Big Sea is thrilled to announce the acquisition of JB Media Group, bringing new talent and expanded services to better support nonprofits. This acquisition strengthens our capacity and enhances our expertise in key areas. A Shared Mission for Purpose-Driven Marketing Both Big Sea and JB Media Group share a passion for empowering nonprofits with impactful digital marketing strategies. We share a mission to help organizations grow and amplify their voices. A key feature of our alignment is our respect for JB Media Group’s status as a certified B-Corp, a designation we hold in high regard. We appreciate their dedication to balancing profit with purpose. As Big Sea works through our own B-Corp certification process, this acquisition feels like a natural extension of the values we both uphold. “Our goal has always been to empower nonprofits through innovative digital strategies,” said Andi Graham, CEO of Big Sea. “Bringing on JB Media Group’s team, who share our mission and values, allows us to take that further with expanded skills and new perspectives. ” Expanded Expertise for Nonprofits The acquisition introduces new service lines and strengthens areas where Big Sea already excels, including: Google Grant management – Helping nonprofits maximize their grant potential to increase their online presence and reach more people. Organic and paid social media – Crafting data-driven strategies to engage communities, drive action, and amplify the voices of nonprofits. Content-driven SEO and storytelling – Enhancing the power of narrative in digital marketing strategies, ensuring nonprofits are visible in search results while engaging their audiences with compelling stories. These new and enhanced services will help our clients expand their reach and broaden their impact even more effectively. “Joining Big Sea allows us to continue our work with a larger, like-minded team,” said Justin Belleme, Founder of JB Media Group. “We’re excited about the opportunities this merger creates for our clients. ” Looking Forward With our expanded team and expertise, Big Sea is better positioned to help nonprofits and purpose-driven organizations make a difference in their communities. We’re excited to provide even greater value as we move toward B-Corp certification and deeper alignment with our shared mission. --- ### Increase Visits with a Museum Content Marketing Strategy > How can museums use content marketing to grow their online audience and get more foot traffic, too? Here are some easy and effective content marketing ideas to grow your museum’s audience. - Published: 2024-10-10 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/8-ways-to-use-content-marketing-to-grow-your-museums-online-audience/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums, Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Content Marketing, Content Strategy, museum marketing Few institutions were hit as hard by COVID-19 as museums. And while there’s been a long, slow recovery since 2021, overall attendance remained down by 38% last year, and 17% of directors were still worried about the risk of closing permanently. The key to recovery lies in a lesson learned during 2020: the necessity of going digital. But it’s been a struggle. While most museum professionals recognize the need to invest in digital content creation and new marketing management methods, only 21% of museums have full-time staff dedicated to digital marketing efforts. The difficulty is particularly acute for smaller to mid-sized organizations: only about half of these museums have online exhibitions or learning programs. 10% of small museums aren’t even on social media. That’s why, in 2024, every museum’s mission should include cultivating its online presence. A great museum website is an extension of the museum itself — a digital antechamber where people can learn about your subject before they even walk in the door. Here are ten ideas for a digital content strategy that will increase your website traffic and, as a result, your foot traffic. 10 Tips for Content Marketing for Museums 1. Curate a vibe with your homepage. Chances are, before someone visits your museum, they'll visit your website. That means your page is their first impression, and you know what they say: you only get one chance. That’s why your website should help convey what it feels like to be there. Websites don’t just list information; they make us feel something — about a brand, an institution, or ourselves as patrons or visitors. They let us know what the museum feels like inside. Consider the homepage for the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History. The first thing you see is a photo of Henry, the 11-ton, 13-foot-tall elephant in the museum's rotunda, dwarfing a group of visitors admiring it from the balcony. It’s a great photo on its own, but think about what it gives the website visitor: A taste of something remarkable that needs to be seen in person to be genuinely experienced A glimpse of the museum’s architecture showing that the location itself is interesting on its own A hint of the unforgettable museum experience we’ll have when we visit All of these elements compel you to plan a trip in person. High-quality videos, photos, and thoughtful design will all help pique people’s interest in your institution before they even enter the door. 2. Create dedicated pages for new exhibits. A standard tip for optimizing search engine results for museums is to create separate pages for each of your products or services. This makes search engine-friendly results that lead back to your online content. The same goes for museums and cultural institutions. Don’t just let an “About” page explain everything you have at your museum. Create a unique page for each major current exhibit and initiative so you can provide more information and media content to get your target audience excited. For instance, The Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium has over a dozen online exhibits showcasing their aquatic fauna, promoting in-person attractions, and educating online visitors. Big Sea partnered with Mote to redesign their website content to boost engagement and better inform visitors about opportunities to donate, volunteer, and get involved. In the process, we designed custom exhibits for the site — such as “Otters and Their Waters” — that people love to link to. (Otter-cam, anyone? ) Individual exhibit pages add value to your website by giving people more to explore. Ultimately, your website becomes as useful and revisit-worthy as your museum itself. 3. Use social media challenges to earn user-generated content. If your Facebook news feed looked anything like ours in 2020, you might remember a trend from the early days of COVID-19: people were recreating famous paintings at home using themselves and household objects — and sometimes their pets! — as props. The idea started with a small Instagram account called “Between Art and Quarantine,” but it really took off when the Getty Museum in Los Angeles picked up on it and promoted the trend on social media platforms as the #GettyChallenge. Even better, they wrote a blog about it... --- ### The Importance of Accessibility in Digital Marketing > Learn why accessibility in digital marketing is essential for broader reach, better UX, and compliance. Make your brand inclusive today! - Published: 2024-10-01 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/accessibility-digital-marketing/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: accessibility, Americans with Disabilities Act According to the CDC, more than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. have some kind of disability. That’s more than 70 million people in the U.S. alone who are living with a disability. Is your organization’s digital content accessible to this huge swath of the population? By designing accessible web pages and other assets, you’ll simultaneously expand your brand’s reach while also demonstrating your organization’s commitment to inclusivity. Making your content accessible greatly expands your potential customer base, while digital accessibility best practices also benefit usability and engagement for all users. According to the CDC, more than 1 in 4 adults in the U. S. have some kind of disability. That’s more than 70 million people in the U. S. alone who are living with a disability. Is your organization’s digital content accessible to this huge swath of the population? What Is Accessibility in Digital Marketing? Digital accessibility means designing and developing digital content and experiences that are usable by people with disabilities. Inclusive marketing ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and interact with your website, apps, and other digital assets. Why Accessibility Matters in Digital Marketing Making your web content accessible matters first and foremost because it’s the right thing to do. For people with disabilities, inaccessible websites can limit access to information of all kinds, increasing what disability activists and researchers call the digital divide. By designing accessible web pages and other assets, you’ll simultaneously expand your brand’s reach while also demonstrating your organization’s commitment to inclusivity. Making your content accessible greatly expands your potential customer base, while digital accessibility best practices also benefit usability and engagement for all users. Finally, making your web pages inclusive for all users can also improve your website’s SEO and your ability to generate leads. If all of the compelling reasons above weren’t enough to convince you to prioritize accessibility — under the ADA, it’s also the law. Accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities in federally funded programs and require federal agencies to use accessible technology. Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), courts have ruled that websites and applications can be considered places of public accommodation. The Department of Justice has affirmed this interpretation, confirming that the ADA applies to websites. As a result, suing website owners for violations of public accommodations has been on the rise in recent years. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), provide a universal standard for making websites accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. WCAG acts as an international standard for digital accessibility, and aligns with many accessibility laws and regulations worldwide, including the ADA in the United States. The Risks of Inaccessibility Digital inaccessibility can have significant consequences for businesses, individuals, and society as a whole. Here are some of the key risks: Businesses and organizations that fail to comply with accessibility laws, such as the ADA in the United States, can face hefty fines and lawsuits. Inaccessible websites can deter potential customers, leading to lost sales and revenue. Businesses with inaccessible websites can suffer from negative publicity and damage to their brand reputation. Customers may lose trust in brands that are perceived as discriminatory or uncaring. Businesses that prioritize accessibility have a competitive advantage over those that do not. Digital accessibility broadens your audience. Inaccessible websites contribute to the digital divide, excluding individuals with disabilities from participating fully in society. Inaccessible websites are a form of discrimination against people with disabilities. Businesses and organizations have an ethical obligation to ensure that their products and services are accessible to everyone. By designing web pages for accessibility, organizations can mitigate these risks and create a more inclusive and equitable online environment. Key Accessibility Best Practices for Digital Marketers Here are some key practices for creating digitally accessible content. Website Accessibility: Make sure your web pages are easy to see and understand, even for users with visual impairments. This means using readable fonts, high contrast, and ensuring your content is navigable via keyboard. Content Accessibility: Your content should be clear and easy to follow. Avoid jargon or complex language. Employ alt text, headings/subtitles, and descriptive link text appropriately. Email Accessibility: Ensure your emails have plain text options, larger fonts, and accessible HTML design. Ease of Navigation: All of your digital content should be simple to navigate on different devices, including assistive technologies like screen readers. By following WCAG guidelines and conducting thorough testing, you can ensure your website is accessible to all users. Examples of Brands Excelling in Digital Accessibility The good news is, you won’t be reinventing the wheel when... --- ### 5 Best Holiday Giving Campaigns to Inspire Your Nonprofit > Looking for holiday fundraising ideas? These nonprofit campaigns will inspire your year-end giving strategy and help you connect with donors. - Published: 2024-09-25 - Modified: 2024-09-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/best-nonprofit-holiday-giving-campaigns/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: holidays, nonprofit campaigns Over 30% of annual donations in the U.S. are made during the holiday season. Nonprofits can make or break their annual fundraising goals during this key season of the year! Let’s take a look at some characteristics of successful giving campaigns, and at some highly-effective nonprofit holiday campaigns to inspire your org to reach its goals this year. Over 30% of annual donations in the U. S. are made during the holiday season. Nonprofits can make or break their annual fundraising goals during this key season of the year! Let’s take a look at some characteristics of successful giving campaigns, and at some highly-effective nonprofit holiday campaigns to inspire your org to reach its goals this year. The Power of Holiday Giving Campaigns Holiday giving campaigns can help you close out the year strong with increased donations and new supporters. Why the holiday season is critical for nonprofits While the overall numbers of nonprofit donations and donors have fluctuated over recent years, the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day remains the busiest giving season in the United States. Many nonprofits count on this end-of-year surge in donations to keep their organizations’ missions alive. People often associate the holidays with feelings of gratitude, connection, and community. As people gather with family and friends to celebrate, feelings of generosity are evoked. For many Americans, the holidays are the main time of year to donate to charities and nonprofits. To successfully court donors during this key time of year, nonprofits need to tell the story of their organization in ways that evoke the holiday giving spirit. We hope the creative examples below inspire your organization’s holiday campaign this year. Characteristics of a Successful Holiday Giving Campaign While the message and the medium can vary wildly based on each nonprofit’s mission and brand identity, as well as shifts in marketing trends, all top-performing holiday campaigns have key elements in common: A clear mission and purpose Engaging storytelling that connects with donors on an emotional level A simple, convenient, and mobile-friendly donation process Strategic and coordinated use of various marketing channels (including email, social media, and direct mail, when appropriate) Urgency tied to the holiday season A strong call to action 5 Winning Nonprofit Holiday Campaigns to Inspire You Let’s take a look at some super inspiring — and super effective — holiday campaigns to get your creative juices flowing. Compassion International: Giving through Gift Catalogs Compassion International's Gift Catalog Holiday Campaign is a popular fundraising initiative that allows donors to make a tangible difference in the lives of children around the world. By purchasing gifts from the catalog, individuals can sponsor a child's education, provide food, healthcare, and more. The catalog offers a wide range of gifts, each tied to a specific need or project, such as goats, cows, wells, educational projects, and much more. By choosing a tangible need or project to fund, donors feel personally connected to the impact of their giving. Donors can see the direct results of their generosity through stories, photos, and updates. This creates a sense of fulfillment and encourages continued support. The campaign often features heartwarming stories of children who have been positively impacted by Compassion International's programs. This emotional appeal resonates with donors and motivates them to give. The Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign: A Tradition of Giving The Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign is a beloved holiday tradition that has been a staple of many communities for decades. This iconic fundraising initiative involves volunteers standing outside of stores, ringing bells, and encouraging passersby to donate to the red kettles placed near the entrances. The Red Kettle Campaign has been a part of holiday celebrations for so long that it has become a cherished tradition. Many people associate the red kettles with the spirit of giving and the holiday season. The campaign's visibility is unparalleled. The red kettles are placed in high-traffic areas, and the ringing bells draw attention to the fundraising effort. This accessibility makes it easy for people to donate, and reinforces trust and engagement. The Red Kettle Campaign's combination of tradition, visibility, personal interaction, community involvement, and impactful results has made it a highly effective fundraising initiative that continues to resonate with people in communities throughout the U. S. Movember: Combining Holiday and Year-End Giving Movember is a global charity event that takes place every November. The campaign encourages men to grow mustaches throughout the month to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health. Since growing mustaches “for a cause”... --- ### How To Use HubSpot for Fundraising > Learn strategies and best practices for using HubSpot for fundraising to acquire new donors in this guide. - Published: 2024-09-13 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-for-fundraising/ - Categories: Fundraising - Tags: fundraising, HubSpot Technology has revolutionized how for-profit and nonprofit organizations are able to engage with supporters, and one popular tool has become indispensable to nonprofits: HubSpot. HubSpot might have been built with marketing and sales in mind, but it's an absolute game-changer for nonprofits. To illustrate this point, we've compiled a complete guide to HubSpot for fundraising to help you consider whether this tool is the right choice for your next fundraising initiative. These days, fundraising is more than galas and neighborhood car washes. Technology has revolutionized how for-profit and nonprofit organizations are able to engage with supporters, and one popular tool has become indispensable to nonprofits: HubSpot. While HubSpot is renowned for its comprehensive marketing, sales, and service software suite, using HubSpot for fundraising is an excellent option for nonprofits who need to engage with donors and meet fundraising goals. If you're still thinking—wait for a second—HubSpot is for marketing, not fundraising, then we're going to be the first ones to stop you right there and tell you that it can be used for both. HubSpot might have been built with marketing and sales in mind, but it's an absolute game-changer for nonprofits. To illustrate this point, we've compiled a complete guide to HubSpot for fundraising to help you consider whether this tool is the right choice for your next fundraising initiative. How Can HubSpot Be Used for Fundraising? HubSpot was initially created to help companies with their inbound marketing. So, if you're thinking that it's not a tool to help your fundraising—that might have been correct—over 15 years ago! Today, its capabilities go well beyond standard CRM functions, and many of the features that are used for "traditional" marketing can be seamlessly adapted for fundraising purposes. Just like businesses that use HubSpot to market their products and services, nonprofits can flip these same tactics on their head and use them for fundraising, too. “The key to better fundraising and better marketing lies in the data, and HubSpot offers a CRM that ties together your fundraising, marketing, communications, and other tools so that you can leverage that data for incredible personalization and automation. " - Andi Graham, CEO at Big Sea. Nonprofits can use pipelines and tracking metrics to enhance their fundraising efforts and also lean on some of the more popular HubSpot features to help with: Lead generation Creating donor personas Managing donor data Marketing campaigns Generating Leads: HubSpot's marketing tools can help attract and grow the donor pipeline by optimizing digital presence. From nonprofit content marketing strategies to email marketing, HubSpot makes it easier to attract visitors to your site and convert them into potential fundraising leads. You can even use HubSpot’s lead scoring tool to get a jump start on evaluating which leads to invest your time in—which is invaluable when there is never enough time in the day. Creating donor personas: Understanding donors is crucial. With HubSpot, you can segment your audience and create detailed donor personas, enhancing the personalization of your fundraising campaigns. By using contact properties, you can establish lists of your different personas based on criteria: what cause they donated to, what region they are in, etc. Managing donor data: HubSpot's CRM offers data management features that track every step your donor takes. From daily interactions to donor retention metrics, HubSpot is the one-stop spot for providing documented insights. You can even keep track of all communications with your donors by connecting your email account to HubSpot. Also, keeping your donor information in one place is a great way to manage and track all current and potential donors and the best place to set up a legacy donor program. Marketing your nonprofit: Competition and budgets are tight for nonprofits out there, and many must prioritize their marketing budget. Combining a tool that can work for marketing and fundraising goals is a two-birds-with-one-stone situation. Using HubSpot, nonprofits can run campaigns to promote their core services and also fundraising initiatives. With so many plates spinning at your nonprofit, it is challenging to manage and monitor all of your donors. HubSpot can handle the donor management while you focus on building true, authentic relationships with your donors, keeping them invested in your mission without missing a beat. What HubSpot Tools Are Best for Fundraising? HubSpot isn't just a single program designed to solve one problem; it's a collection of Hubs designed to address the different facets of your business. If one of your business needs is fundraising, then there are a few "Hubs" that can significantly impact your fundraising efforts. Let's explore them in detail: Marketing Hub The Marketing Hub is the cornerstone for nonprofit fundraising. It provides... --- ### How to Write a Mission Statement for a Nonprofit Mission (with Examples) > Learn how to write a mission statement for a nonprofit with step-by-step instructions and examples to help you define your organization's purpose and impact. - Published: 2024-09-12 - Modified: 2025-03-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-write-a-mission-statement-for-a-nonprofit/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: mission statement, Nonprofit A well-crafted mission statement can inspire, motivate, and guide your nonprofit. While it might seem straightforward to "write a mission statement about your mission," conveying your goals and the image you want to present to your supporters is no easy feat. If you are a nonprofit and need help to write a mission statement, this guide is for you. A well-crafted mission statement can inspire, motivate, and guide your nonprofit. It is the powerful set of guiding words that define your organization's core purpose so that everyone involved—staff, volunteers, donors, and the community—understands and aligns with it. However, crafting a mission statement can be very challenging for nonprofit organizations. While it might seem straightforward to "write a mission statement about your mission," conveying your goals and the image you want to present to your supporters is no easy feat. If you are a nonprofit and need help to write a mission statement, this guide is for you. Below, we will explore the intricacies of writing a nonprofit mission statement, its purpose, key elements, and common mistakes to avoid. We'll also provide some examples of great mission statements to inspire you! What is a nonprofit mission statement? A nonprofit mission statement is a concise declaration that defines your nonprofit's purpose, values, and goals. It's a roadmap that spells out what your organization stands for, what it seeks to achieve, and how it plans to do so. To give you an idea, here are some mission statements from three well-known nonprofits: Wounded Warrior Project: To honor and empower Wounded Warriors. AARP: To enhance the quality of life for all as we age. The Humane Society: We fight the big fights to end suffering for all animals. Notice some of the similarities between these examples? They are concise, powerful, and truly convey the organization's commitment to its cause. Like these three examples, a well thought out mission statement is not just a formality but a fundamental part of a nonprofit's identity. It is your nonprofit’s identity statement. It is crucial for your business, and the foundation of a successful nonprofit content marketing strategy. It guides messaging that consistently reflects your organization's purpose and values across all platforms, reaching followers, donors, and stakeholders. So no pressure — right? What is the purpose of a nonprofit mission statement? But don’t panic, you have all the tools to write the perfect mission statement, and we will start at the beginning. The purpose of a mission statement is to provide clarity and direction, and should provide the following for an organization: Define the nonprofit purpose: A mission statement clearly articulates why the nonprofit exists. It answers questions like: What issues does the nonprofit address? Whom does it serve? What impact does it aim to have? Guide decision-making: Every decision, from program development to resource allocation, should align with the mission statement. It acts as a compass, ensuring the organization stays true to its core purpose. Communications: The mission statement is a key communication tool for attracting donors, engaging volunteers, and explaining the organization's work through digital channels. Inspire and motivate: A compelling mission statement can inspire staff, volunteers, and supporters by providing a clear vision of the organization's goal. What are the key elements to include in a nonprofit mission statement? Crafting a mission statement can become challenging when different ideas and preferences come into play. While creativity and nonprofit storytelling are valuable, they can lead to conflicting visions or a mission statement that is too involved. Focus on these key elements to simplify the process. While it might feel formulaic and rigid at first, starting with a formula like this will streamline the creation of your nonprofit mission statement. Purpose: This element explains why your organization exists. It should be specific and focus on the core issue your nonprofit addresses. For example, The Girl Scouts' mission statement is: "Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. " In these few words, they clearly define their purpose, highlighting the impact they aim to have on the lives of young girls and the broader community. Target audience: Identify who your organization serves, which could be a specific community, group, or cause. For example, the Make a Wish Foundation's mission statement is: "Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. " This mission statement clearly identifies children with critical illnesses as its target audience, ensuring that its mission is directly aligned with the needs of those it serves. Core values: Your mission statement should reflect the principles and... --- ### How to Gather Stories at Your Nonprofit > What are some nonprofit storytelling best practices your organization can adopt? Find out how you can share compelling firsthand accounts of the work you do. - Published: 2024-08-28 - Modified: 2024-08-28 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-storytelling-best-practices/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: storytelling With all the tools at our disposal today, it’s easier for nonprofits to gather and display the value of the work they do through engaging, persuasive, emotionally compelling storytelling. We understand that nonprofits are lean organizations: everyone’s working at capacity, and marketing often has to take a back seat. That’s why we’re here to share how to gather stories efficiently at your nonprofit that you can use to engage new donors and spread your message. Between 1933 and 1935, the American classicist scholar Milman Parry traveled to remote mountain villages in Bosnia, where he made thousands of hours of recordings of farmers singing epic poems recited entirely from memory. Their tales were captured on small aluminum discs that could record five minutes of audio at a time. I’m telling you this to make a point: gathering stories is a lot easier than it used to be. With all the tools at our disposal today, it’s a crime that more nonprofits don’t seize the opportunity to display the value of the work they do through engaging, persuasive, emotionally compelling storytelling — be it from the people you benefit, your staff, or your volunteers. But — our niche opening example aside — it’s tough. Nonprofits are generally lean organizations: everyone’s working at capacity, and marketing often has to take a back seat. That’s why we’re here to share how to gather stories at your nonprofit that you can use to engage new donors and spread your message. Why do nonprofits need to be storytellers? 97% of nonprofit donors are motivated by the perceived impact of their gift. That idea might seem obvious at first: after all, it’s not a surprise that most people give to make a difference! But step back and think about what that really means: It means showing donors what their gifts accomplish is absolutely critical for your organization. Storytelling isn’t the only way to do this, but it’s one of the most powerful ways. There’s a famous Maya Angelou quote that “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ” A good story makes you feel something. It leaves an impression that only the most overwhelming facts and figures can hope to equal. And when you get those numbers working side by side with your storytelling? That’s when you’re really cooking. 6 Tips for gathering stories at your nonprofit 1. Record your achievements Do you keep a running tally of your achievements on LinkedIn? Do you update your resume whenever you accomplish something? If so, good! I commend you. But if you’re anything like me, a lot of those things get stored away in some mental filing cabinet until nine months later you’re trying to list your achievements and you can’t recall any of them. You remember that award you got, sure, but you can’t list the 15 other major things you achieved this year that didn’t come with a check or a title. All this is to say: make sure to record what you accomplish! And by “you,” we mean everyone in your organization. Set up a mechanism for people at your nonprofit to make note of milestones throughout the year. It’s as easy as setting up a Google Form. Encourage your team members to record praise they’ve received, goals they reached – anything that you can draw on later to show the good you do. 2. Conduct interviews (and record them! ) We all know the power of a good testimonial. That’s why you should record interviews: with the people you help, with your team members, with the organizations you partner with, etc. It can take a little doing, but it will pay off in spades when you have firsthand accounts of the work you’ve accomplished and the difference you’ve made in people’s lives with text, audio, photos, and video to back it all up. How you choose to record them is up to you, though for our money we love Riverside. Designed for podcasts, Riverside records video in 4K, creates separate studio-quality audio tracks for each participant, is easy to edit, and produces accurate, searchable transcripts you can use to edit your recording the way you would a document. You’ll be shocked by how quickly you can go from recording an interview to producing a 30 second clip ready for use on your website or in an email. 3. Get buy-in from your board For many nonprofits, marketing is still an uphill battle, and getting buy-in from board members is a crucial step in the process. There’s an old fashioned view (you can still root it... --- ### 10 Nonprofit Fundraising Email Examples and Templates > Need inspiration for your next nonprofit fundraising email? Learn how to craft compelling subject lines, write persuasive copy, and increase donor engagement. - Published: 2024-08-22 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-fundraising-email/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: email marketing, fundraising A well-crafted email that stands out from the crowd is still one of the most effective ways to raise funds for your nonprofit. These emails are often the first touchpoint between you and your contributors – they’re essential for engaging supporters and driving donations. That’s why it’s crucial to craft messages that resonate, inspire, and compel action. In this blog, we'll explore 10 standout examples of nonprofit fundraising email formats, highlighting what makes them effective and how your organization can apply these strategies to boost your own fundraising efforts. Let’s face it: we all get more messages in our inbox than we have time to read. But a well-crafted email that stands out from the crowd is still one of the most effective ways to raise funds for your nonprofit. So much so that 26% of nonprofit donors worldwide say email is the communication tool that most inspires them to give. These emails are often the first touchpoint between you and your contributors – they’re essential for engaging supporters and driving donations. That’s why it’s crucial to craft messages that resonate, inspire, and compel action. In this blog, we'll explore 10 standout examples of nonprofit fundraising email formats, highlighting what makes them effective and how your organization can apply these strategies to boost your own fundraising efforts. 1. Donation request to family or friends Crafting a successful donation request to family and friends leverages existing relationships to inspire support for a cause you're passionate about. Since they care about you, they're more likely to see the cause as personally relevant. To maximize your chances of success, keep your request personal and specific. Share a heartfelt story about your connection to the cause and clearly explain how their contribution will make a difference. A sincere expression of gratitude, both before and after receiving support, strengthens your bond and emphasizes the value of their generosity. Template Subject: Join Me in Supporting Dear , I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out to share something that’s really important to me, and I’m hoping you might consider helping out. As you may know, I’ve been volunteering with for the past year, and I’ve seen firsthand the incredible work they do to support . This cause is close to my heart because . Right now, is running a campaign to raise funds for , and I’m doing my part to help them reach their goal. I’m reaching out to ask if you would consider making a donation to support this effort. Even a small contribution can make a big difference. If you’re interested in donating, you can do so easily through . I truly appreciate any support you can offer. Thank you so much for considering this. Your generosity means a lot to me and to those we’re helping together. With gratitude, 2. Sponsorship appeal to corporate partners Securing corporate sponsorships involves strategically aligning your nonprofit's mission with a company's business objectives. These partnerships offer substantial resources, including financial support, increased visibility, and valuable connections. To build successful relationships, focus on mutual benefits. Clearly articulate how the company can achieve its corporate social responsibility goals while supporting your cause. Tailor your proposal to each company, highlighting specific ways your organization can add value. A clear, concise, and professional approach, coupled with enthusiasm for the potential partnership, will increase your chances of securing sponsorship. Template Subject: Partnership Opportunity with to Support Dear , I hope this message finds you well. My name is , and I’m reaching out on behalf of , an organization dedicated to . We are currently preparing for , and I believe that would be an ideal partner to help us make a significant impact. Your company’s commitment to aligns perfectly with the work we’re doing, and we would love to explore a potential sponsorship opportunity with you. By sponsoring , will receive . We believe this partnership would not only contribute to but also enhance your company’s reputation as a leader in . I would love the opportunity to discuss how we can tailor this partnership to meet your goals and make a lasting difference together. Please let me know a convenient time for us to connect. Thank you for considering this opportunity. I look forward to the possibility of working together. Best regards, 3. Urgent need request to supporters An urgent need request is a fundraising appeal designed to galvanize immediate support for a critical cause. By effectively communicating the urgency of the situation, these emails can inspire swift action from donors. These appeals are typically employed during crises or when facing funding shortfalls that threaten essential services. To maximize impact, clearly articulate the problem, its consequences, and the specific use of donated funds. An urgent call... --- ### Using HubSpot for Transactional Emails for Your Nonprofit > Discover how to leverage Hubspot transactional emails to enhance donor engagement and streamline operations for your nonprofit. - Published: 2024-08-20 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-transactional-emails/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: email marketing, HubSpot, transactional emails Effective email communication is essential for nonprofits. In fact, 26% of donors say email is the communication tool that most inspires them to give. That’s why you need to master transactional emails. Unlike marketing emails, transactional emails are automatically triggered by specific user actions and deliver essential information. Implementing transactional emails should be an integral part of a nonprofit's marketing and communication strategy. If your organization hasn’t adopted this form of communication, now’s the time to start! Effective email communication is essential for nonprofits. In fact, 26% of donors say email is the communication tool that most inspires them to give. That’s why you need to master transactional emails (or “trigger emails,” as they’re sometimes called). Unlike marketing emails, transactional emails are automatically triggered by specific user actions and deliver essential information. Implementing transactional emails should be an integral part of a nonprofit's marketing and communication strategy. If your organization hasn’t adopted this form of communication, now’s the time to start! In this article, we'll explore the significance of transactional emails and guide you on how to use HubSpot to automate and manage them effectively, ensuring that your nonprofit always sends powerful and relevant email communications. What are transactional emails? If you think you don't know what a transactional email is, think again — chances are you have a few in your inbox right now! Transactional emails are automated messages sent out in response to a very specific action taken by a user. These emails are usually informational and necessary to complete a transaction or to provide updates related to an interaction with your organization. If you’ve ever purchased something online, or even just reset your email password, you most likely received an immediate automated email response with your receipt or your new password verification. Those types of response emails are examples of transactional emails. How do transactional emails differ from marketing emails? While both transactional and marketing emails are a necessary part of email marketing strategies, they have two different purposes. Here they are for comparison: Transactional emails Transactional emails are sent in response to a specific user action and contain information the recipient expects to receive. Transactional emails typically have higher open rates because recipients anticipate and find value in the information provided (e. g. , a fundraising receipt, confirmation of a form submission, etc. ). Marketing emails Marketing emails should be designed to promote a product, service, or campaign, and they’re typically sent to a broad audience. These emails are usually informational or promotional, and recipients can unsubscribe or choose not to engage with them. When should my nonprofit use transactional emails? Nonprofits often overlook their transactional emails as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with their donors, but they can absolutely set the tone for your future engagements. Offering opportunities to engage with your organization at a deeper level, keeping the copy conversational and warm, and of course, tying their transaction to a higher purpose and impact can all serve to help steward them for future gifts. -Andi Graham, CEO at Big Sea Transactional emails are vital to your nonprofit's strategy and should be a key component of your brand experience. These emails are highly effective at delivering essential information triggered by specific user actions. For instance, if you’re a museum using Hubspot and you want to send immediate receipts to all donors who contributed to your fall charity drive, a transactional email can make this happen. Using transactional emails this way ensures transparency, builds trust, and provides valuable information that many donors will appreciate for their year-end charitable donation tax records. Think about the times you’ve made a purchase and didn’t immediately receive a confirmation email: you probably felt uncomfortable or at the very least uncertain that the transaction went through. Trigger emails help build trust that your system works the way it should. What triggers HubSpot transactional emails? HubSpot transactional emails are triggered by specific actions taken by users on your website or within your HubSpot-managed platforms. Depending on your campaign goals, your email triggers can vary. However, some of the more common triggers for nonprofits include: Completing a donation Signing up for an event Requesting a password reset Submitting a donor feedback form What types of transactional emails can you automate on HubSpot? HubSpot can automate various transactional emails, ensuring all essential communications are handled seamlessly. Here's a breakdown of the types of transactional emails that can be helpful to automate for your nonprofit. Customer feedback emails These emails are essential for gathering valuable lead insights from your donors and volunteers, helping to enhance service and engagement. They help build and foster long-term relationships with donors, encourage donor retention, and... --- ### Google SGE: How AI-Powered Search Is Shaping New Marketing Strategies > How will Google SGE (Search Generative Experience) shape your SEO marketing strategies? Find out what you need to know in our blog. - Published: 2024-07-24 - Modified: 2024-07-23 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/google-sge/ - Categories: Artificial Intelligence - Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Google SGE You’ve probably seen it by now. You do a search on Google, and at the top of your results page there’s something new. It’s sort of like featured snippets, which have been around for ages, but longer. You’ve stumbled upon Google’s new Search Generative Experience (SGE). While this new AI-powered search presents challenges, it also creates exciting opportunities for marketers. In this blog, we will explore how Google SGE is influencing marketing tactics and what businesses can do to adapt and thrive in this new era. You’ve probably seen it by now. You do a search on Google, and at the top of your results page there’s something new. It’s sort of like featured snippets, which have been around for ages (since 2014, to be exact – ages in internet time), but it’s longer: a paragraph or two, highlighted in light red or blue, next to an icon of a little Erlenmeyer flask, and with a couple sources linked underneath. You’ve stumbled upon Google’s new Search Generative Experience (SGE). (Or maybe it stumbled upon you. ) Google’s SGE leverages AI to create interactive "AI Overviews" that directly address search queries, transforming how people find information online. This goes beyond traditional links, offering a consolidated response crafted from various web sources. While this new AI-powered search presents challenges, it also creates exciting opportunities for marketers: how can we optimize content to be featured in these AI summaries? As businesses strive to stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, SGE necessitates new marketing strategies. In this blog, we will explore how Google SGE is influencing marketing tactics and what businesses can do to adapt and thrive in this new era. What Is Google SGE? Google's SGE is an advanced AI-powered feature that provides users with contextually relevant and intuitive information directly on search results pages. It leverages machine learning to understand your intent and deliver comprehensive answers, transforming how you find information online. SGE analyzes credible sources to create concise AI Overviews within the familiar Google search environment, eliminating the need to search multiple sites. By understanding user intent and crafting high-quality, relevant content that engages readers, marketers can adapt their strategies to align with how AI prioritizes informative and user-centric content. How Can I Access Google SGE? The good news is, you don't need to do anything special to access Google SGE! It's currently rolling out to a wider range of users globally, and as Google continues to refine the technology, SGE features will become seamlessly integrated into standard Google searches. Most users can currently access it by simply performing a search. To experience the benefits of Google SGE, ensure your browser and Google app are updated to the latest versions. Google often rolls out new features gradually, so if you don't see it immediately, it might become available soon. Additionally, to opt-in for AI Overviews, check your Google Search settings and enable any new features related to AI or enhanced search experiences. You can also explore Google's support and help sections for tips on maximizing your use of AI-powered search features. Can I Use Google AI for Free? Google SGE summaries appear alongside search results at no extra cost, just like traditional links. Powered by Google AI, It's a free, advanced way to interact with Google Search. Optimizing your website for Google SGE doesn't require a paid subscription either. All you need to do is focus on high-quality, informative content that aligns with search intent. While basic AI functionalities in Google Search are free, premium tools exist on platforms like Google Cloud AI. For most users, free access to AI-enhanced search offers significant value, but staying informed about Google's AI developments can help you explore paid options if your business needs them. What’s the Difference Between Google SGE and Traditional Search? Traditional search engines like Google functioned by crawling and indexing web pages, then ranking them based on keyword matching and relevance to your query. This meant users were presented with a list of blue links, each potentially containing the answer they sought. The onus was then on the user to visit each website and sift through information to find what they needed. Google SGE flips this script entirely. By leveraging artificial intelligence, SGE analyzes relevant websites and directly generates an informative summary on the search results page. This eliminates the need to visit multiple websites and provides a consolidated answer, potentially saving users valuable time – but also potentially depriving the listed sites of clicks. Therein lies the rub. What Are the Benefits of Using Google SGE? Google SGE offers a game-changing experience for both searchers and businesses. AI Overviews reduce the need to hop between multiple websites. This can result in a faster,... --- ### 10 Creative Museum Marketing Ideas to Attract More Visitors > Exceptional museum marketing isn't just advertising. It's an extension of your mission to engage visitors through fun and informative content. - Published: 2024-07-09 - Modified: 2024-08-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-marketing-tips/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums Museums are pillars of culture and learning: places where people can explore different traditions, cultivate new ideas, and encounter unique art forms. They're also constantly changing. Curators know this, but potential visitors often don’t. That means many museums miss out on attracting new and repeat visitors due to lack of engagement. This blog explores 10 creative museum marketing ideas that will help you foster engagement, attract more visitors, and build a community around your institution. 1. Embrace smartphone culture For years, museums fought against smartphones, encouraging visitors to put away their technology and focus on the images and artifacts in front of them. However, the top institutions across the world have embraced modern technology in their museum marketing, and are reaping the benefits because of it. New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has a mobile-focused website and app to guide visitors through its exhibits. People use their smartphones to learn more about the pieces they see and discover other works like them. Sree Sreenivasan, the Met’s Chief Digital Officer, says the museum’s biggest competition isn’t the Guggenheim or the Museum of Modern Art, but rather Netflix, Candy Crush, and a desire to stay home rather than explore the city. User-generated content is one of the most cost-effective ways you can boost your museum marketing. 2. Encourage visitors to get social Another way museums like the Met increase attendance is by creating exhibits specifically for fans to promote on social media. Instead of denying visitors a chance to share what they saw with friends, museums can encourage people to snap selfies and share the museum content online. These photos promote museums as cool places to be and make online users wonder what the exhibits would look like in person. User-generated content is one of the most cost-effective ways you can boost your museum marketing. The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg recently hosted, "This is Not a Selfie," an exhibition featuring photographic self-portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Guests were encouraged to engage with an interactive portion of the exhibit and share their selfies on social media with the hashtag #notaselfieMFA. Obviously, we had to check it out. The Museum of Ice Cream in New York gained Instagram “cult status,” as people flocked to the exhibits to take photos with the various displays. Everyone wanted a photo in the sprinkle pool or on the ice cream sandwich swing. The $18 tickets to the museum sold out within five days in New York, and then the entire six month run in San Francisco (with $38 dollar tickets this time) sold out in ninety minutes. Your fans are your biggest marketers and can bring more people to your museum. 3. Make your website as inviting as your exhibits These days, your website might well be the first glimpse that a new visitor has of your museum, so why not make sure it's as stunning as your exhibits? When we relaunched Tampa Bay History Center's website, we wanted to create an online experience that captured some of the awe and beauty that visitors to the museum might experience. Our goal with museum websites, which we think should be yours as well, is to capture the story you want to tell to visitors about your museum. Great website and content strategy is built on the same kind of storytelling that draws people in via email, social media, and other campaigns. That's why your website should: Put a face on your museum and the experiences people have there Tell a story about your your exhibits Extend your museum's mission of education Provide an opportunity to interact with exhibits online Love the idea, but need some examples? Check out these 16 great museum websites for inspiration. If you think it's time for a new website, reach out to us! We specialize in a number of platforms, including WordPress and Hubspot, and we'd be happy to guide you to the right foundation, design, and user experience. 4. Turn your research into organic website visits A lot of museums don't just educate through exhibits. They also perform research, and write incredibly informative articles and blogs. This means that... --- ### How to Manage Your Google Business Profile: A Guide for Beginners > Learn how to utilize Google Business Manager (i.e. Google Business Profile) with this comprehensive beginner's guide. Learn how to claim, verify, optimize, and manage your profile. - Published: 2024-07-02 - Modified: 2024-06-26 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/google-business-manager/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: Google, Google Business Manager, Google Business Profile Google Business Profile (or Google Business Manager), is a free tool that allows businesses to display key information and connect with customers across Google products like Search and Maps. Creating a Google Business Profile is easy to do and can have a big impact on your business. Follow along as we teach you how easy it is to get started! Google Business Profile (or what is sometimes called "Google Business Manager" in conversation), is a free tool that allows businesses to display key information and connect with customers across Google products like Search and Maps. Creating a Google Business Profile is easy to do and can have a big impact on your business. Let’s dive in! What is Google Business Profile? When you search for a business on Google, alongside regular search results, you’ll often see a sidebar with key information about the business, such as the name, location, hours, a map view, and more. A Google Business Profile (GBP) allows you to manage your online presence across Google - including on Google Search and Maps. A business’s Google Profile is often one of the first things a user will see when searching. It’s a powerful way for you to provide customers with key information about your business. Since more than 87% of Americans use Google Search, creating a GBP and increasing your visibility on Google is a win-win for small businesses. Key features of Google Business Profile Google Business Profile offers several key features to help businesses manage their online presence and connect with customers. Once created, you can use your GBP to keep updated business information at users’ fingertips, including your address, phone number, and website. You can also add photos and videos to your profile. Additionally, you can use your GBP to track and manage customer interactions, respond to reviews of your business, or enable direct messaging to allow customers to communicate with you. With Google Business Profile, you can also get insights into how users find you online. This information can help you hone in on keywords to emphasize in your quest for SEO domination. GBP is a powerful tool for local businesses to improve online visibility, connect with customers, and track engagement. What are the advantages of using Google Business Profile? In addition to simply making it easier for customers to find key information about your business, your GBP can help you: Improved local SEO. A verified and optimized Business Profile increases your chances of appearing higher in local searches on Google Maps and Search. Targeted Audience Reach. You can define your service area or add categories to help your business reach relevant customers. Showcase Your Business. You can add high-quality photos and videos to your profile to showcase your products, services, and location. Understand Customer Behavior. See how customers are finding your business online through insights on search terms and demographics. Track Performance. Monitor metrics like photo views and customer engagement to measure the effectiveness of your profile. Who qualifies for Google Business Profile? Google Business Profile is generally for businesses with a physical location, including shops, restaurants, salons, gyms, and more. Service-area-businesses, like plumbers, electricians, and house cleaners, can also benefit from a GBP. Service-area-businesses can create a profile based on their central office location. Businesses that do not qualify for a GBP include online companies with no physical location, rental properties such as vacation homes, and pop-up shops/events. For more information, check out Google’s full guidelines. How to get started with Google Business Profile Getting started with GBP is a straightforward process. Here's a quick guide: Visit Google Business Profile. Head over to Google Business Profile to get started. Sign In or Create a Google Account. If you don't have a Google account, you'll need to create one for free. Otherwise, sign in using your existing Google account. Enter Your Business Information. Provide details like your business name, address, and phone number. Choose Your Business Type. Specify whether your business has a physical location or operates as a service-based business with no storefront. Select Categories. Choose relevant categories that accurately describe your business offerings. Verify Your Business. Google will send a verification code to the address you provided. Once received, enter the code to verify your ownership of the business. Complete Your Profile. This is where you can add additional details to make your profile more informative and engaging. Add photos or videos, set your business hours, and write a short but compelling business description. And that's it! You now have a GBP to enable more customers to find your business. Remember... --- ### 11 Best Museum Fundraising Ideas for 2024 > Discover creative and effective museum fundraising ideas, including engaging events, membership revamps, and online strategies to attract donors. - Published: 2024-06-24 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-fundraising/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums - Tags: fundraising, museum Museums today are getting creative when it comes to attracting visitors – and donors. With the continued decline of public funding for museums, many arts and culture institutions must continually diversify their fundraising sources. Read on for some of the best ways for museums to fundraise in the coming year. Museums today are getting creative when it comes to attracting visitors – and donors. With the continued decline of public funding for museums, many arts and culture institutions must continually diversify their fundraising sources. Let’s discuss some of the best ways for museums to fundraise in the coming year. 1. Host themed events Museum-at-night special events like torch-lit tours, mystery games, silent discos, or “last-chance” exhibit closing parties attract new visitors and create a splash on social media. Themed events related to the museum's permanent collection or an exhibit can be a fun way to attract a wider audience. These events can incorporate elements like lectures, performances, or special tours alongside fundraising and member-drive activities. Think about what makes your institutions’ exhibits, collections, and research unique. Drive your fundraising by developing a themed event around something core to your museum’s identity. This approach can produce a memorable event and an opportunity for community members to connect. 2. Revamp membership options Another strategy for upping your fundraising is to take a look at your membership options. Are you catering to different budgets and interests with your memberships? You might include a basic level with free admission, a mid-tier with discounts and exclusive events, and a top-tier with VIP perks and special access. You can also create memberships focused on specific interests, like a "Young Patrons" tier for families or an "Archaeology Enthusiast" level with behind-the-scenes tours of relevant exhibits. You can deepen members’ connections to your institution by focusing on community building as well. Organize member meet-ups, volunteer opportunities, or special social events to foster a sense of belonging amongst members. 3. Organize a crowdfunding campaign Your museum has likely already become “very online. ” There’s no way – and no reason – to avoid the siren song of social media and digital advertising. If you’ve built a robust following on social media, the time could be ripe for a crowdfunding campaign. Crowdfunding campaigns generally work best when centered around a very specific and time-bound goal, such as funding a specific exhibit or raising enough money to acquire or preserve a special piece. Some museums, however, like Japan’s National Museum of Science and Nature, have had incredible success crowdfunding for operational costs as well, so brainstorm what makes the most sense for you and your community. 4. Install donation kiosks By installing donation kiosks, you create a convenient and accessible donation experience for museum visitors. Kiosks allow visitors to make impulsive donations on-site, inspired by their museum experience. This captures donations they might forget to make later online or through traditional methods. Make sure to strategically place your kiosks in high-traffic areas like exits, gift shops, or near popular exhibits. Ensure the kiosk is user-friendly, accessible, and accepts a variety of payment options (like credit cards, Apple Pay, etc. ). 5. Plan an online auction Online auctions marry the fundraising opportunities of a traditional silent auction with the ease of collecting online donations. It’s a match made in heaven. Because online auctions transcend geographical limitations, your online auction can reach a wider audience and younger demographic. And you can use social media to amplify your auction’s reach (and to attract new museum supporters). Museums can offer a wider range of auction items beyond just physical artifacts, including experiences and exclusive access. The online platform also allows museums to showcase the stories behind auction items and how the proceeds contribute to their mission, fostering a deeper connection with donors. 6. Curate subscription boxes Curated subscription boxes are a trendy and engaging way for museums to raise funds and connect with audiences. As with lots of fundraising ideas, it pays to begin by thinking about what makes your institution special. Is there an interactive or immersive exhibit at your museum you want to highlight? Is there a theme that would particularly resonate with your community right now? You could focus on a specific exhibit, historical period, or other area of your museum’s collection to create a theme. For example, an art museum could offer a "Modern Art Explorer" box, while a natural history museum might create a "Dino Discovery" box. Each box could include a curated selection of items like replicas of artifacts,... --- ### Record a TikTok Like a Pro (On Your First Try) > Dominate TikTok on your first take! Use this guide to learn how to record a TikTok, edit it, and share your videos like a pro. - Published: 2024-06-21 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/record-a-tiktok/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: TikTok, TikTok Marketing, using social media TikTok has more than two million users actively consuming video content every day. People cannot resist video content – and TikTok is where millions of people learn about (and create!) the latest trends. Whether you’re creating your own TikTok video for sharing or capturing a recording of someone else’s viral video, we’ve got you covered. Grab your smartphone and let’s get started. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you likely already know that TikTok has more than two million users actively consuming video content every day. People cannot resist video content – and TikTok is where millions of people, especially members of Gen Z, learn about (and create! ) the latest trends. Whether you’re creating your own TikTok video for sharing or capturing a recording of someone else’s viral video, we’ve got you covered. Grab your smartphone and let’s get started. How do I record a TikTok video? To record your own video directly in the TikTok app, follow these simple steps: Hit the "+" button at the bottom to start a new video. Pick your video length: Choose between 15 seconds or 1 minute (60 seconds) at the bottom of the screen. 15 seconds: Recording stops automatically after 15 seconds. 60 seconds: You can tap the red button to stop recording anytime, or it will stop automatically after 60 seconds. Record your masterpiece! Tap the red button to start recording. Tap it again to stop. Once happy, tap the checkmark. Fine-tune with "Adjust Clips" (optional): If you need to adjust the timing, tap "Adjust clips" in the top right corner. Slide the red bar to set the exact video length. Alternatively, you can record your video outside the app and then upload to TikTok. With either method, you’ll be able to use TikTok’s editing options, which include adding text overlays or stickers, trimming clips, adding voiceover narration, and more. What methods can I use to record a TikTok? Filming directly in the TikTok app using your smartphone camera is the simplest method for creating TikTok videos. The app offers a variety of built-in features to record, edit, and enhance your video. Just follow the steps above to record your video. Another option for creating TikTok videos is to record your video outside the app and then upload it to TikTok. This method offers more flexibility for editing but requires some additional steps: Film your video using your phone's camera app, your webcam, or another type of recording software. Import the video into the TikTok app. Tap the "+" button and select "Upload" to choose your pre-recorded video from your camera roll. Edit and enhance your video within the TikTok app using the same editing features as recording directly in the app (text, effects, sounds, etc. ) Another option is to edit your video using a different program, or even AI video editing tools, before you upload to TikTok. Post your video! Just like before, add a caption and hashtags to get your video discovered. How to screen record a TikTok on any device Sometimes you want to capture someone else’s content on TikTok either for inspiration or to sample another creator’s clip in your next video. Here’s a step-by-step guide to screen recording a TikTok on your preferred device. Screen Record a TikTok on an iPhone/iPad Skip the extra apps! Both iPhones and iPads have a built-in screen recorder that lets you capture any on-screen action, including video and audio. Here's how to use it for recording TikToks: Find your TikTok: Open the TikTok app and choose the video you want to record. Keep it playing if you haven't favorited it yet. Activate Screen Recording: Swipe down from the top right corner (iPhone X and later) or swipe up from the bottom (earlier iPhones/iPads) to open the Control Center. Locate the screen recording icon (it looks like a circle with a dot inside) and tap it to start recording. That's it! The screen recorder will capture everything on your screen, including the TikTok video and any sound effects. Just remember to stop recording when you're finished by tapping the red recording icon again in the Control Center. Your screen recording will be saved in your Photos app. Record a TikTok on an Android device Androids also have a built-in screen recorder, but the quality of the videos aren’t as high when captured this way. If that isn’t an issue for you, follow these steps: Choose the TikTok video you want to save. From the home screen of your Android device, draw the drop-down menu and find the screen record option.... --- ### How to Start Using Canva for Nonprofits > Learn how your nonprofit can benefit by using Canva for Nonprofits in this guide. - Published: 2024-06-06 - Modified: 2025-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/canva-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: Canva, graphic design, Nonprofit Powerful visuals are key for digital storytelling and engagement, but creating them can be a challenge. Canva for Nonprofits offers a workable solution. This free, user-friendly design platform empowers nonprofits to create professional-looking graphics, presentations, and social media content – all without needing graphic design expertise. In this guide, we'll give you all the information you need to get started with Canva for Nonprofits. You’re putting together a presentation for your nonprofit and you’ve got all your materials prepared: your facts, your figures, your charts, your graphs, they’re all where you want them to be. You look over the deck and it’s... blah. One slide on its own, okay, but by slide #4, your audience is checked out. What’s missing? Visuals. Powerful visuals are key for digital storytelling and engagement, but creating them can be a challenge. Canva for Nonprofits offers a workable solution. This free, user-friendly design platform empowers nonprofits to create professional-looking graphics, presentations, and social media content – all without needing graphic design expertise. In this guide, we'll give you all the information you need to get started with Canva for Nonprofits. We’ll also explore how nonprofits can leverage Canva's features to create compelling visuals that will help drive awareness, donations, and community engagement. What is Canva for Nonprofits? Canva for Nonprofits is a specialized version of the popular graphic design platform, Canva, tailored to the unique needs of nonprofit organizations. It offers free access to Canva's premium features, empowering nonprofits to create professional-quality graphics for their marketing, fundraising, and outreach efforts. What are some key benefits of Canva for Nonprofits? On top of its user-friendly interface, Canva for Nonprofits offers a wealth of benefits to empower any nonprofit organization. Not only does it unlock the full power of Canva's Teams plan, including premium features, at no cost to your organization, it also provides eligible nonprofit users with: a massive library of over 42,000 free, customizable templates over 75 million royalty-free stock photos and graphics 3,000+ customizable fonts a brand kit feature with logo upload to ensure consistent branding across all your content resizing tools so you can use your graphics in a variety of designs 100GB of storage and unlimited folders to organize your creations Combine these features with Canva’s intuitive drag-and-drop design tools and anyone can create professional-looking visuals regardless of design experience. Who is eligible for Canva for Nonprofits? Canva for Nonprofits eligibility requires your organization to be a registered charity or nonprofit, working for the public good, and operating on a not-for-profit basis. In the US, this translates to having a valid charitable status, such as a 501(c)(3). Specific eligibility requirements may vary by region, and verification documents are needed during application. How your nonprofit can utilize Canva for Nonprofits’ features Your nonprofit can harness Canva for Nonprofits' features in numerous ways to enhance your marketing, outreach efforts, and visual storytelling to connect with your audience, inspire action, and drive positive change in your community. Here are just some of the ways your nonprofit can make the most of Canva’s platform: Develop Consistent Branding Use Canva for Nonprofits to design a cohesive brand guide outlining your logo usage, color palette, and preferred fonts. By applying these elements consistently across all marketing materials — from social media posts to website banners — you can create a recognizable and memorable brand experience. Canva's design tools and templates make it easy since they go beyond basic design; they empower you to craft a brand that reflects your organization's mission, values, and personality. Promote Events and Campaigns Canva for Nonprofits equips you to become a promotional powerhouse for your fundraising efforts, community outreach, and beyond. Create eye-catching posters, flyers, social media graphics, invitations, and banners to spread the word about your cause, promote events, and generate excitement. Canva's library of customizable templates provides a head start, allowing you to focus on crafting compelling messages that resonate with your target audience. Whether it's conveying the urgency of a fundraising campaign or attracting attendees to a volunteer drive, Canva empowers you to tailor your designs perfectly. Boost Your Social Media Engagement Canva for Nonprofits offers tailored design tools and templates specifically for social media, enabling you to create visually appealing content. With Canva, you can move beyond plain text posts and produce engaging graphics, gifs, quotes, and short videos optimized for different social media platforms. You can even utilize interactive features, such as polls and quizzes, to stimulate conversations and build community engagement. Build Impactful Presentations, Infographics, and Annual Reports With Canva, your days of text-heavy presentations and handouts are over. Canva’s professionally... --- ### 10 Benefits of HubSpot for Marketing > Discover the benefits of HubSpot for marketing agencies, including how to use this all-in-one platform for SEO, social media, email marketing, and more. - Published: 2024-05-17 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/benefits-of-hubspot/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: Digital Marketing, HubSpot, marketing agency Everyone knows that as your business grows, new challenges arise. What isn’t as clear is how to choose the best tools to handle those increases in scale and demand as they emerge. HubSpot is specifically designed to anticipate the needs of growing organizations. Read on to find out 10 ways HubSpot can offer your marketing agency the critical business systems and infrastructure you need to grow and manage your organization successfully. Everyone knows that as your business grows, new challenges arise. What isn’t as clear is how to choose the best tools to handle those increases in scale and demand as they emerge. Enter HubSpot. HubSpot is specifically designed to anticipate the needs of growing organizations. Its unified data and customer view stores information about your customers and their interactions across all its integrated applications; that way, you don’t have to manage separate databases for marketing campaigns, sales pipelines, and customer support issues! Read on to find out 10 ways HubSpot can offer your marketing agency the critical business systems and infrastructure you need to grow and manage your organization successfully. 1. HubSpot’s all-in-one platform consolidates marketing, sales, and service HubSpot focuses on connecting multiple tools for growing organizations, making it an all-in-one platform with a focus on customer relationship management (CRM). Specifically in the areas of marketing, sales, and customer service, it can unify your data and customer views, streamline workflow by automating repetitive tasks, and improve communication and collaboration within your organization. And because everyone is using the same platform, it’s so much easier for your teams to communicate with one another. For example, marketing can see which sales materials are most effective, sales reps can tailor their pitches based on marketing interactions, and customer service reps can see the entire customer history. Again, this is all based in HubSpot’s centralized data repository, so not only can teams all see the same data, they also have access to the analytics and reporting features to simultaneously track the effectiveness of their efforts. 2. HubSpot’s SEO tools improve your site’s visibility In addition to centralizing your customer data, HubSpot helps grow your business by helping more customers find your site through search engine optimization (SEO), improving your website's visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). HubSpot can identify what search terms your audience is using to find you, suggest new content and keywords to increase your reach and visibility, and help you plan an overarching content strategy around topics that resonate with both your customers and the search engine tools they use. In addition to growth-oriented strategies like those described above, HubSpot can do a basic scan of your website and identify common problems that might actually be preventing customers from engaging fully with your content. One example is broken links: if your organization is expanding rapidly, keeping all the links current – to both internal and external content – can be a full-time job in itself. Broken links are frustrating for visitors, and can also downgrade your ranking in SERPs. HubSpot can scan your site and identify all the broken links that need addressing, saving your team time and energy. Speaking of SERPs (say that five times fast! ), HubSpot integrates with Google Search Console, so you can track the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and identify areas for improvement. 3. Personalize campaigns, automate workflows, and track results with HubSpot’s email marketing HubSpot's ability to personalize campaigns, automate workflows, and track results is the 3-ingredient secret sauce that makes it such a powerful platform for email marketing. It’s no secret that personalized messages are a great way to engage customers. Using list segmentation, you can divide your existing contacts into targeted lists based on demographics, interests, behavior, or any other relevant criteria you can capture in your database. This lets you send highly relevant emails that resonate with specific audience segments. You can also use merge tags to dynamically pull in contact information like first name, company name, or any other custom property you've stored for them, and send emails with dynamic content that automatically adapts based on recipient details. For instance, you can personalize greetings, include location-specific offers, or showcase products relevant to their purchase history. All this sounds great, but how do you know if it works? HubSpot actually builds in analytics so you can track the results of your campaigns and determine your ROI. The platform analyzes metrics such as total sales generated or the number of qualified leads produced by the campaign. On the individual email level, you can track key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, and more for each email campaign. 4.... --- ### Instagram Story Size and Other IG Guidelines > Discover the perfect Instagram Story size and find out other tips and guidelines for maximum engagement. Learn about aspect ratios and design best practices. - Published: 2024-05-07 - Modified: 2024-08-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/instagram-story-size/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Instagram, Social Media, social media marketing Vertically oriented short form videos – the kind you find on Instagram Stories and Reels – has taken over social media. Instagram remains one of the most popular places for creators and brands to reach their followers because of the ease of creating and posting content: you can film and upload vertical videos and images with just a tap. We’ve put together this guide to help you prep your content for Instagram Stories. A few years ago, the comedian @GarethWaugh posted on Twitter: “No I don't watch tiktoks, I watch Instagram reels of tiktok videos that were popular two weeks ago, LIKE A GROWN UP. ” It isn’t just an astute observation about these apps’ demographics and the movement of content through the social media ecosystem. It’s also a reminder that vertically oriented short form video – the kind you find on Instagram Stories and Reels – has taken over social media. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to posting and properly formatting content for Instagram Stories. All joking aside about elder millennials, the app remains one of the most popular places for creators and brands to reach their followers because of the ease of creating and posting content: you can film and upload vertical videos and images with just a tap. And if you’re all about production values, you can create Instagram content that’s red-carpet worthy too. What is the proper Instagram Story size? Because of the vertical formatting, your Story must have an aspect ratio of 9:16. Use 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels for a crisp, high-resolution visual. Within this, there’s something called a “safe zone. ” This is a term for the top and bottom 250 pixels of image where elements of the Instagram interface live (like your profile image and the swipe-up feature). Taking safe zones into account, your Story has about 1080x1420 pixels of available real estate. Following the above guidelines is important to make sure you don’t lose any content: Instagram cannot show other image formats in Stories, so it will crop and downsize your image to force it into the necessary format. What is the aspect ratio for Instagram? While Instagram itself can accept any aspect ratio, your Stories and Reels can only be in a 9:16 aspect ratio (the proportion of the width of the image to its height). Within the 9:16 ratio, you can actually use different resolutions: other common 9:16 resolutions are: 720px by 1280 px, which is a good compromise between a high-resolution image and one that won’t take up a ton of space on your phone; and 450px by 800 px, which will upload much faster but might not be as sharp. What file types does Instagram support? Instagram supports multiple file types depending on the kind of content. Picture files should be either a jpg or png format, and under 8 MB in size. Videos should ideally be an mp4 under 650 MB, but Instagram can also accept mov or gif files. There are pros and cons for each file type depending on the content. For still images, JPG files are the most common, and typically balance image quality with file size so that you end up with a beautiful image that won’t completely take over your phone storage. PNG formats prioritize the image clarity (making it good for transparent images, like if you want to add a brand watermark) at the cost of large file sizes. For videos, while IG can accept . mov/iMovie files, since . mov is an Apple file format, not all IG users will have the ability to play those files. MP4 files are supported on nearly every device, making them a much better choice overall. You can also upload GIFs, but they’ll need to be converted to an mp4 before uploading. Are Instagram Stories and reels the same size? Yes, both Stories and Reels should follow the same technical specifications. Both Stories and Reels should have an aspect ratio of 9:16, in either . jpg/. png or . mp4 file format. Check your upload file size as well, since the resolution of your image can push your file size up to the point where Instagram will compress or crop the file. Where can I find free Instagram Story templates? If all these numbers and file names sound like a lot, luckily there are many free tools with templates that take aspect ratio, file size, and safe zones into account. Our favorites for Instagram are Canva and DesignWizard; for more, check out our blog on 7 (truly) free graphic design tools. We like Canva and DesignWizard because they can be used across many kinds... --- ### Facebook Video Downloads: How They Work > Do you want to download a video from Facebook? Use our guide on Facebook video downloads for help. - Published: 2024-04-29 - Modified: 2024-08-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/facebook-video-download/ - Categories: Video Marketing - Tags: facebook, Facebook videos, video Did you know Facebook users prefer video posts to text posts? This makes video marketing a great way to grow leads. Whatever reasons you have for being on Facebook, you probably want to be able to download your videos or those in your community. Keep reading to discover how to save videos to your computer or mobile device. We have a confession: We have a lot of elder millennials at Big Sea, and a lot of us have years and years of video and photo memories on Facebook; whether they are videos taken at that one party in college (you know the one) or videos family members have shared, the social media platform hosts them all. And even if you don’t use Facebook personally, you probably know that videos are a powerful force in advertising as well. Users of the platform prefer video posts to text posts, making it a great way to grow leads. Whatever reasons you have for being on Facebook, you probably want to be able to download your videos or those in your community. Keep reading to discover how to save videos to your computer or mobile device. Facebook video downloads: 3 ways There are three different kinds of videos that you might want to download from Facebook: videos you have posted, public videos that other people have posted, and Facebook Live videos. Before you download any videos that aren’t yours, though, it’s important to check whether the videos are copyrighted or not; copyright affects what you are able to do with the video. Just because you can download a video doesn’t mean you can share it again, for example! Make sure to check for any watermarks or copyright marks on the video itself, and when in doubt, check with the original poster of the video. Keep this in mind as you proceed, since violating copyright means you could face legal repercussions. 1. How to download your own videos from Facebook Downloading your own videos from Facebook is fairly simple, even though it isn’t necessarily straightforward: Facebook would much rather you watch videos on Facebook (it’s how they earn ad revenue). 1. Go to your Facebook profile on a desktop or mobile browser (you won’t be able to download videos from the official Facebook app). 2. Click "Videos" under your profile picture. This will show all the videos you've uploaded or been tagged in. 3. Find the video you want to download. 4. Click the three dots (... ) in the top right corner of the video thumbnail. 5. Select "Download video" from the menu. Once you’ve hit “Download,” you can rename your video according to your computer’s setup; a local copy is now stored on your computer. 2. How to download public videos from Facebook Downloading public videos from Facebook is a little trickier. It can still be done, there are just a few more specific steps to take. The first steps to downloading public videos are similar to downloading your own videos: 1. First, click on the video you want to save, and then click on the three dots in the upper-right corner of the video. 2. Here’s where it gets a little more complex: you’ll notice you don’t have the option to download the video directly. Instead, click “Copy Link. ” 3. Next, paste the link into a new browser window or tab (either is fine), and hit “Enter. ” You’ll then need to modify the URL itself: click in the address bar, and replace the “www” of the URL with “mbasic”. Make sure to keep the rest of the URL the same. Once you’ve made the changes to the URL, press Enter again. 4. Now, you’re going to see a more minimal view of the video. This is because by changing the URL, you’re loading a more basic version of the interface that is designed to work best with older smartphones. 5. Hit play on the video. The video will automatically start playing in a new tab. 6. From this new tab, you can right-click on the video and select “Save video as”, and then follow the appropriate steps on your device to rename the video. 3. How to download Facebook Live videos Facebook makes it pretty easy to download your own Facebook Live videos. Note that you cannot download Live videos streamed by other people. You might find yourself wanting to save a copy of your personal Live, or your business or nonprofit might livestream videos to connect with your stakeholders and you want to create a video archive... --- ### How to Use the Facebook Debugger Tool for Shared Posts > The Facebook debugger tool is essential for diagnosing and repairing issues with your Facebook posts. Read on to learn how to use it. - Published: 2024-04-20 - Modified: 2024-08-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/facebook-debugger/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: facebook, Facebook Debugger Tool If you're aiming to optimize your website's content for social sharing or merely troubleshooting issues with existing posts, understanding the Facebook Debugger Tool is an essential skill for maximizing your reach and engagement. In this guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of the tool, exploring how it works and providing step-by-step guidance on its features to ensure your shared posts look their best. Social media platforms like Facebook serve as invaluable tools for businesses and individuals to connect, share, and engage with and grow their audience. However, when it comes to sharing content on Facebook, issues like incorrect preview images, outdated metadata, or broken links can hinder the effectiveness of your posts. This is where the Facebook Debugger Tool comes to the rescue. If you're aiming to optimize your website's content for social sharing or merely troubleshooting issues with existing posts, understanding the Facebook Debugger Tool is an essential skill for maximizing your reach and engagement. In this guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of the tool, exploring how it works and providing step-by-step guidance on its features to ensure your shared posts look their best. What is the Facebook Debugger tool? The Facebook Debugger Tool is a free tool provided by Facebook to help users troubleshoot and optimize shared content on the platform. The tool analyzes the URLs you plan to share and provides real-time previews of how the links will appear. You’ll be able to see and then fix issues like incorrect metadata, broken links, or missing images. By utilizing the Facebook Debugger tool and addressing issues promptly, you’ll be able to safeguard your brand's reputation, optimize engagement, and enhance the overall effectiveness of your Facebook marketing strategy. How to use Facebook's Debugger Tool Using the Facebook Debugger tool involves a series of simple steps. Upon accessing the tool's webpage, users input the URL of the content they wish to debug and click "Debug. " In the following breakdown, we'll guide you through each step, offering insights into effectively resolving any issues impacting your content's appearance on Facebook. 1. Grab the URL that’s not working Before diving into the debugging process, you’ll need to obtain the URL of the content you are trying (unsuccessfully) to post on Facebook. You don’t need the link to any broken posts, though, but just the link to the page you are trying to share. For instance, a blog on your website or a video. 2. Access the debugger tool and log in Open a web browser and go to the Facebook Debugger Tool page. If you're not already logged into your Facebook account, you'll be prompted to do so. Logging in gives you access to all the features of the debugger tool so you can effectively debug the URL you've copied. To log in to Facebook, enter your username and password and click “log in. ” 3. Paste in your post’s URL Once logged in to Facebook, locate the text field labeled "Enter a URL” on the Facebook Debugger Tool page. Paste the URL of the content you want to debug into this text box. Ensure the URL is accurately copied to facilitate the tool's analysis of the post's metadata and content. 4. Click “Scrape Again” After pasting the post's URL, click the "Debug" button. Once the analysis is complete, you’ll be able to review the provided information, including any errors or warnings related to the post's metadata, images, or other elements. Additionally, you’ll have access to information about the last time the page was “scraped,” the canonical data, and information about what Facebook sees when it “scrapes” your URL. To refresh the analysis with any recent changes, click "Scrape Again" for updated results. 5. Check the preview After you click “scrape again,” the preview should pull the new image or meta data. Examine the preview section below the debugger tool to see Facebook’s updates. The preview displays how the post will appear when shared on Facebook, including the title, description, and thumbnail image. Ensure that the preview accurately reflects the intended presentation of your post. If it doesn’t, and you just recently updated your page or video, then click “scrape again” a few more times. If it still doesn’t work after a few minutes (and a few clicks), go to the next step. 6. If the preview isn’t right, return to your website Should the preview not match your expectations, return to your website and make sure that the update was finalized. We also recommend refreshing your cache if you haven’t and checking the code on the published page to make sure the image... --- ### HubSpot Implementation: Step-by-Step > HubSpot implementation doesn’t have to be difficult. Check out this step-by-step guide and checklist to get you started today! - Published: 2024-04-19 - Modified: 2024-08-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-implementation/ - Categories: Tech & Code - Tags: HubSpot, Hubspot implementation Is your business, nonprofit, or professional organization struggling to keep up with leads or scattered customer data? HubSpot's suite of tools is designed to solve exactly these types of challenges. By aligning your sales process, marketing efforts, and customer interactions with HubSpot, you'll unlock the potential for growth. This guide provides a clear roadmap for your initial HubSpot implementation journey. Is your business, nonprofit, or professional organization struggling to keep up with leads or scattered customer data? HubSpot's suite of tools is designed to solve exactly these types of challenges. By aligning your sales process, marketing efforts, and customer interactions with HubSpot, you'll unlock the potential for growth. This guide provides a clear roadmap for your initial HubSpot implementation journey. What are "Hubs" in HubSpot? HubSpot's power lies in its organization around "Hubs. " Each Hub is a collection of software tools specifically designed to support different areas of your business: Marketing Hub: Attracting visitors and converting leads with tools for blogging, social media, SEO, landing pages, and more. Sales Hub: Facilitates managing deal pipelines, tracking customer interactions, automating tasks, and closing deals. Service Hub: Streamlines customer support through ticketing systems, knowledge bases, surveys, and live chat features. CMS Hub: Provides an easy-to-use content management system for building and maintaining your website. Operations Hub: Connects your various apps, cleans and manages customer data, and automates business processes across teams. Why HubSpot? HubSpot's real advantage is how it can capture and organize rich customer data throughout the sales process. Every interaction, from website visits to email opens, is recorded within the CRM. This provides the foundation for creating highly segmented audiences. Here's why segmentation matters: Personalized Messaging: Instead of generic blasts, you can deliver tailored content, offers, and communications directly addressing the specific needs of a well-defined audience segment. Higher Engagement: Delivering relevant content leads to improved open and click-through rates in your email campaigns and nurtures prospects more effectively. Optimized Sales Efforts: Sales teams can focus their outreach on the most promising leads, increasing conversions and efficiency. HubSpot implementation in 5 Steps Ready to get started in HubSpot? Here’s how you get set up the first time (for free, too): 1. Create your account & connect your email Start your journey with HubSpot for free by visiting https://www. hubspot. com/ and clicking on "Get started free". You'll be guided through a few simple steps to set up your account. HubSpot offers three convenient ways to sign up, including Google and Apple ID. Once you have an account, your first step should be to connect your business’ email (Gmail, Outlook, etc. ) to it. This brings all your customer conversations directly into HubSpot, and more crucially, empowers you to send email campaigns, track engagement, and even use personalized email templates – all from within HubSpot. Make sure to connect your domain so that all your content is housed on your brand domain. 2. Import your contacts Transfer your existing contact list from spreadsheets (CSV files) or other CRMs. HubSpot offers clear guides on how to format and import your data. HubSpot's knowledge base has detailed guides on the entire import process: https://knowledge. hubspot. com/import-and-export/set-up-your-import-file https://knowledge. hubspot. com/import-and-export/import-objects 3. Define deal stages To really get the most out of HubSpot, you should make sure you're set up to track leads and sales. This starts when you define your deal stages. Map out the various stages in your sales pipeline (e. g. , Prospect, Qualified Lead, Negotiation, etc. ). This helps visualize and track where your deals are at in the sales process. Here’s a few common examples: Prospect Qualified Lead Meeting Scheduled Proposal Sent Negotiation Closed Won/Closed Lost 4. Optional: install the HubSpot tracking code Add this code snippet to your website to track visitor behavior and gain insights. You can find your code inside your HubSpot account when you navigate to the tracking code section (check your settings). How you add the code to your site will depend on how your website is built. But if you’re using a CMS like WordPress, most platforms have places to add header/footer code. Paste it there! 5. Set Up Lead Capture Forms A great HubSpot implementation focuses on making the most of its top tools. Lead capture forms are a huge advantage of using HubSpot. Forms are essential for converting website visitors into identifiable leads, and HubSpot makes it fast, easy, and beautiful. Start with HubSpot's form builder to easily create forms for embedding on your website. Use their powerful tools to customize the forms for your brand and messaging. This allows you to... --- ### How to Design Stunning Nonprofit Annual Reports > Wondering how to make your nonprofit’s annual report standout? Explore our guide on how to design a stunning nonprofit annual report. - Published: 2024-04-10 - Modified: 2025-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-annual-report/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: annual report, design inspiration, nonprofit marketing A well-crafted annual report can be a powerful asset for your organization. With a clear message and inviting design, your nonprofit annual report can foster new connections with potential donors, sponsors, volunteers, and community members, while simultaneously expressing deep gratitude to those who supported you this past year and encouraging previous donors to give again. Read on for all of our tips on how to design an annual report that’s sure to stun! While it may be tempting to see the annual report as just another box to check in the long reporting to-do list for your nonprofit, a well-crafted annual report can actually be a powerful asset for your org. With a sharp, clear message and inviting design, your nonprofit annual report can foster new connections with potential donors, sponsors, volunteers, and community members, while simultaneously expressing deep gratitude to those who supported you this past year and encouraging previous donors to give again. This combination strengthens existing relationships and inspires continued collaboration towards your mission. And like any piece of content you create for your nonprofit, you can share it across multiple channels in bite-sized pieces, including using infographics on your socials, including the report as part of an email campaign, and more! Read on for all of our tips on how to design an annual report that’s sure to stun! What is a nonprofit annual report? Also called an impact report, nonprofit annual reports are voluntarily released documents that provide a financial and achievement-snapshot for the previous year. The annual report showcases the accomplishments made possible by the support of a nonprofit’s donors, partners, sponsors, and the community. By using engaging visuals and design, you can breathe life into your nonprofit org’s data, stories, and milestones, making the annual report a clear and captivating part of your communication with stakeholders. Your annual report can demonstrate to both past and future donors that their dollars will contribute to an important outcome - advancing your nonprofit’s mission and benefiting the community you serve. Sample Nonprofit Annual Reports For an example of what we mean, check out the 2023 impact report we produced for the Pinellas Education Foundation, a coalition of business leaders and community members in Pinellas County, FL who collaborate to drive excellence in education. Here’s another example: the 2022 annual report for Volunteers of America Southeast, a nonprofit that works with low-income seniors, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and people experiencing problems with homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse. What key elements should be included in a nonprofit annual report? A nonprofit annual report is a communication to your donors, community members, and stakeholders. Make your communication clear and relevant by including the following key elements in your report. 1. Storytelling Framework While the individual impact stories that you tell in other kinds of nonprofit marketing - such as email newsletters, social posts, or blog articles - don’t fit into your annual report, you still want to keep storytelling in mind as you craft your messaging. In other words, ask yourself how you can present your org’s current financial picture and your achievements from the past year in a way that fits into the overall story you tell throughout your marketing and campaign efforts. Frame your ongoing goals and new initiatives within this same narrative arch to create excitement and urgency. If you missed the mark on one of your previous goals, this can be part of the story as well - you can mention what you learned from the challenge and what changes you’re making to achieve new goals next year. 2. Message from Leadership Your nonprofit’s annual report is a chance to connect with donors, stakeholders, and community members. A message from leadership can include a concise reflection on the past year’s achievements and a brief mention of challenges and how they were overcome. The message should express gratitude to the donors, volunteers, and other collaborators that make your org’s work possible. Finally, a message from leadership is a chance to set the tone for the upcoming year - mention the projects or initiatives that your org is excited to pursue next. 3. Mission Statement Always include your org’s mission statement in the report. It reminds readers of your cause and draws attention to how your impact over the last year has benefitted your constituents and advanced your mission. 4. Achievements from the Past Year Highlighting your achievements from the past year is arguably the most important part of your annual report. Since the report is a voluntary communication and not a required financial document, demonstrating the impact you’ve had on your constituents can be the star of the... --- ### Free Graphic Design Software for Beginners > Unlock your creative potential with free graphic design software for beginners. Discover tools you can actually use without spending a dime. - Published: 2024-04-10 - Modified: 2024-08-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/free-graphic-design-tools/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: design tools, free design tools Free online design tools give those who aren't experienced designers the power to create visual content for blog posts and social media posts. These are four of our favorite free tools. Dive in and play! By now, you know that visual elements are part of a compelling digital marketing strategy. But what happens when you don't have design software or expertise at your disposal? Free and easy graphic design software gives those who aren't experienced designers the power to create visual content for all kinds of content, including blog posts, social media posts, webpages, and more. 6 (Actually) Free Graphic Design Software Tools for Beginners We know that one tool may not be quite enough to get the job done. Our top 6 list of free graphic design software spans a wide variety of project types, from social media posts to infographics to photo editing. They're also actually free! 1. Canva Canva is a versatile, free graphic design tool that's perfect for social media design elements. Canva's templates take the guesswork out of appropriate sizes for each social media platform. Canva is great for simple graphic design projects that give your social media posts a creative boost. They even offer a fantastic one-page website builder if you're looking for an easy way to get started with web design. See what we did for Stetson University College of Law >> As with any free tool, the options are limited if you're creating a large number of graphics or you need them to be highly customized. But the amount of free material available through their design app is surprising. You can use just about every feature of Canva for free, including animations and any template. There's also a huge collection of free illustrations, photographs, and fonts. Canva is an excellent tool for a number of digital design use cases, including creating Facebook or Pinterest graphics to promote your blog content. Their template library contains a wide range of sizing options you can search using the names of your favorite platforms. You can also use it to create event flyers and posters. Some people even use Canva for website design. 2. DesignWizard DesignWizard is similar to Canva, but includes all of its available tools in the free version. With over 10,000 free templates, you can easily create digital items such as social media posts and YouTube channel art, as well as print items like gift certificates and sales posters. DesignWizard has a library of over 1. 2 million images, videos, illustrations, and graphics for your use. You can also upload fonts, photos, and logos, create custom color palettes and resize designs so every final product is unique to your brand. 3. Piktochart Infographics are powerful and shareable. Infographics are "30 times more likely to be read than an article with the same content. " Piktochart gives non-designers the ability to create basic infographics without relying on powerful design software like InDesign. Choose from 400 templates, icons and graphics to get your message across. While nothing can replace the expertise of a designer when it comes to creating a compelling infographic, Piktochart is a solid platform to start learning on if you want to understand what goes into the creation of an infographic. Here's an example of an infographic created in Piktochart. 4. Pixlr Pixlr's free online image editor allows you to edit your photos with over 600 overlays, effects and borders. It’s available as an application on iOS and Android. It's popular with Instagram users and photography buffs who haven't quite leveled up to using pricey photo editing software. You'll get the most out of this tool if you enjoy editing photos before you share them, but it isn't the most powerful option if you're building shareable graphics. Keep in mind that free doesn't mean easy. Don't get frustrated if you struggle to make the most of these online tools. They're best-suited to those who have basic design or photography experience. 5. Fotor Fotor is a longstanding photo editing tool that has grown rapidly over the years. In addition to traditional editing features like crop, resize, and touch-up, Fotor now also offers powerful AI enhancements. It's AI features are not free, of course, but it's worth taking advantage of it's free trial to find out what it can do. Fotor is fast and available instantly through your browser. It's also very user-friendly. 6. GIMP GIMP stands for GNU... --- ### Healthcare Website Design: 10 Inspiring Examples (+ Tips) > Wondering if your healthcare website design needs an overhaul? Check out our examples and tips for creating an inspiring healthcare website design. - Published: 2024-04-04 - Modified: 2025-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-website-design/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: building a website, healthcare, website redesign The number of patients using online research for healthcare needs and online healthcare management will only continue to grow, yet designing a beautiful, informative, user-friendly, SEO-driven, and HIPPA-compliant website is no mean feat. In this blog post, we will take a look at some of our favorite healthcare website designs to see what makes them stand out. Whether you’re looking for a deep dish delivery or a new doctor, what do we all do first these days? Whip out the smartphone. According to a CDC report, almost 59% of US adults used the internet to look up health or medical information in the second half of 2022, and almost 42% used it to directly communicate with a doctor in the same time frame. In coming years, the number of patients using online research for healthcare needs and online healthcare management will only continue to grow. Yet designing a beautiful, informative, user-friendly, SEO-driven, and HIPPA-compliant website is no mean feat. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite healthcare website designs to see what makes them stand out. 10 Healthcare Website Designs We Love 1. Mayo Clinic We love Mayo Clinic’s clean, bold design and user-friendly navigation. Check out the fascinating, sometimes abstract videos playing behind a few simple pieces of text that lay out both the Mayo Clinic’s mission and a few key calls to action in the hero section. As a well-known and respected research institution and world-class care center, the Mayo Clinic highlights both of these aspects of their work: “Learn how we drive innovation” takes users to another page that highlights research breakthroughs, while “Request Appointment” allows users seeking care to find the right page immediately. Behind the scenes, Mayo’s outstanding SEO strategy captures traffic from internet searchers looking for trustworthy healthcare insights. The website’s use of structured data, together with its approach to information architecture, allows the website to serve Google an experience that is also great for searchers, so that no matter how you arrive at Mayo’s website, you find the information you need. Overall, the Mayo Clinic site marries clean, user-friendly design with a clear emphasis on their strengths as a highly trusted source of medical information, research, and care. 2. Cleveland Clinic As an example of a patient-centered web design, the Cleveland Clinic does an excellent job of anticipating the most relevant information to present to current and potential patients. When you land on the site, just beneath an inviting, high-quality banner image, you see three graphic options that allow users to find a doctor, to view directions & locations, or to schedule an appointment. Again, much like Mayo Clinic, a user-centric navigation experience is also bolstered by a strong organic search strategy that brings users to many deeper pages that aren’t immediately visible in the menu. Overall, the Cleveland Clinic website is effective because it is patient-centered, emphasizes staff expertise and focuses on innovation and research. 3. Planned Parenthood Unlike many healthcare sites, Planned Parenthood doesn’t overwhelm users with information at first glance. Instead, the site does an incredible job emphasizing their trustworthiness as a healthcare provider and a source of information on sexual and reproductive health with a few key call outs. With that, we see a menu that puts educational information at the very front of its options, as “Learn” is the first tab you can choose from. The bold background colors with white text call users attention to important information about booking appointments, learning how to access safe and legal family planning, and accessing 24/7 chat with sexual health. The website communicates to users that they can trust the organization to provide trustworthy information and in-person services and care. 4. Smile Design With clear, bold text and color choices, Smile Design Dentistry invites users to make an appointment, fill out a new patient form, and learn about ongoing specials. This website achieves that patient focus we have seen on other sites in part through beautiful, high-quality images of big smiles to engage visitors and remind them of one of the reasons high-quality dental care matters. Under the fold, the site emphasizes the multiple services and benefits of Smile Design through a mix of easy-to-read text and simple graphics. By featuring a positive review in large text, the site encourages new patients to learn more about Smile Design’s offerings. 5. LED Technologies Inc. LED Technologies Inc. demonstrates how a site can act as both an online storefront and educational hub. Light therapy products and their uses are still unfamiliar to many, so LED Technologies foregrounds potential... --- ### Top 5 Priorities for a Small Nonprofit Marketing Budget > Get expert advice for creating priorities when you are working on a limited nonprofit marketing budget so you can make the most of your resources. - Published: 2024-04-04 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-marketing-budget/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Expert advice for creating priorities when you are working on a limited nonprofit marketing budget so you can make the most of your resources. Small nonprofits have it tough. Where larger organizations can afford to hire lots of people working in highly specialized roles, employees at small nonprofits are used to wearing several hats at the same time. One day you’re mailing out thank you cards to big donors, the next day you’re posting on Facebook and planning a general awareness campaign, the next day you’re setting up tables for a luncheon and calling to make sure the caterers show up on time. When there’s always something else to do, marketing is usually one of the first areas to suffer. It’s a tough economy. Everyone’s trying to make do with less. Unfortunately, that can lead nonprofits to underinvest in their marketing budget. The Stanford Social Innovation Review calls it “the nonprofit starvation cycle”: when nonprofits underinvest in overhead costs to devote more money to their mission, only to find that cutting the overhead starves the organization of the resources it needs to fulfill its mission in the first place. “A nonprofit can’t thrive if it doesn’t have community support,” says Justine Burke, Vice President of Marketing at Metropolitan Ministries, one of Big Sea’s nonprofit clients. “If we just sat here and waited for people to send in money we wouldn’t be able to execute our programming. ” But figuring out just how much to spend on marketing can be tricky for small nonprofits. A lot of nonprofit boards are used to an older paradigm that stipulated that every cent that could go toward programming, should go toward programming. This way of thinking has been reinforced by online charity rating sites that equate low overhead with a well-run organization. But the truth is more complicated. Read on to find out how much nonprofits should spend on marketing and what areas you should prioritize in your budget. How much do nonprofits usually spend on marketing? Nonprofits should spend somewhere between 5 and 15% of their overall budget on marketing. That’s the rule of thumb. But how much should your organization spend? Five percent? Fifteen? That depends on the scale of your nonprofit. Let me explain. If your nonprofit has a budget of $140,000, 5% is just $7,000. That’s not gonna go very far. A few direct mailers, an ad in the paper, and poof, that’s gone. But if your nonprofit’s budget is $1 million, 5% is $50,000. That’s a lot more to work with. So the lesson here is that smaller organizations should be open to spending a larger percentage of their budget on marketing — closer to 15% than 5%. The numbers may hurt at first, but it’s an investment in the long term goals of your organization. That right there is also a good example why strict percentage guidelines can be misleading. Instead of focusing on spending no more than a certain percentage, your nonprofit should focus instead on what specific, measurable goals you want to accomplish with your marketing. Set a goal, determine how to measure success, and allocate a certain amount of money to achieve it. If you don’t hit those goals, before you spend more money, focus on figuring out why you weren’t successful. Are there other channels you could have used? Is there a better way to spend that same amount that will yield a better return on investment? Once you’ve set your goals and tested a few ways to achieve them, then you’ll have a better view of the big picture for your marketing budget. As Dan Pallotta at the Harvard Business Review writes, many nonprofits resist advertising from “a reactionary disdain for anything that smacks of commercialism” and due to “public pressure to maximize short-term program spending without regard for building scale or long-term problem-solving. ” But building scale to have a bigger impact on the problems you were founded to address is exactly what most nonprofits are aiming at. 5 Priorities for a small nonprofit marketing budget Okay, so you know about how much you should spend and you’ve got a plan for how to measure your spending. Now... what should you prioritize? Here are five items you should prioritize in your marketing budget (plus an extra honorable mention, just for good measure). 1. Software solutions for... --- ### How to Build a Donor Pipeline for HNWIs and Legacy Donors > A lot of nonprofits understand the urgency of building a donor pipeline for HNWIs and legacy donors, but how do you get started? Read on to find out. - Published: 2024-03-26 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/donor-pipeline/ - Categories: Fundraising - Tags: donor pipeline, fundraising, legacy donors If your org receives individual donations, you already have a donor pipeline, but you might not be leveraging it as effectively as you could to court major donors. Legacy donors have the potential to transform your organization with major and multi-year gifts. While they can bring major resources to your org, you’ll also need to invest resources to build the personal relationships required for this demographic. We will give you the full story on how to build a donor pipeline for HNWIs and legacy donors in this blog post. For financial sustainability, many nonprofit orgs rely on both grants and ongoing donations for a majority of their revenue. If your org receives individual donations, you already have a donor pipeline, but you might not be leveraging it as effectively as you could to court major donors. In the most basic sense, a donor pipeline is a structured way for your org to turn potential donors into current donors, and then to secure more generous support from current donors. A strong donor pipeline also allows you to forecast donations, giving your organization a stronger base to work from to achieve your mission. So what’s unique about building a donor pipeline for high networth individuals (HNWIs) and legacy donors? We’re so glad you asked. These individuals have the potential to transform your organization with major and multi-year gifts. While they can bring major resources to your org, you’ll also need to invest resources to build the personal relationships required for this demographic. Read on to get the full story on how to build a donor pipeline for HNWIs and legacy donors. What is pipeline management in fundraising? Pipeline management is the strategic process of identifying, engaging, and nurturing potential donors, ultimately converting them into supporters. It involves tracking their progress through different stages of the fundraising journey, from the first time they hear about or engage with your org, all the way to their final contribution. Staying tuned in to where specific donors are located in the pipeline allows you to manage limited resources more effectively because it allows you to . focus your attention - at the right time - on those donors most likely to contribute. What is unique about HNWI and legacy donors? HNWIs often seek complex giving strategies like planned giving options or impact investments, and they often rely on wealth managers or advisors to manage their giving. As a result, before you begin prospecting HNWIs, make sure your org is ready to take on the specialized communications and collaborations often necessary for soliciting HNWIs. Legacy donors are focused on a long-term perspective — they want to leave a lasting impact beyond their lifetime, often through bequests or endowment gifts. They may involve family members in their giving decisions, requiring multi-generational engagement and communication. Legacy donors often value naming opportunities to cement their legacy. Both HNWIs and legacy donors often have busy schedules requiring sensitive, personal communications, have specific interests for giving, and have tax implications as part of their giving strategies. Both require a relationship built on trust and understanding with organizations they support with major gifts. What are the stages of the HNWI donor pipeline? The stages of the HNWI donor pipeline are similar to any major donor pipeline, but with some key considerations specific to this donor segment. 1. Identify As with all donor prospecting, you’ll want to search within your network and associated networks for people who have a demonstrated affinity for your organization’s cause. When you are first identifying HNWIs, you’ll need to take an extra step to screen for wealth indicators as well. Wealth screening tools can do this for you by pulling publicly available indicators of wealth (such as property deeds and vehicle/aircraft registrations) and compiling a database. You can compare this data with your own network to start to find connections and potential donors. 2. Qualify Reaching out to every prospect you identify in step one is an option, but most nonprofits work with limited staff, budgets, and resources. Contacting every potential HNWI you’ve identified is not the most strategic use of your org’s limited resources, especially when you consider that many HNWIs have extremely limited time and attention themselves, making connecting a challenge. So before you try to make contact, take some time to qualify your potential donors. You can think of this step as akin to sorting or ranking your initial prospects based on their potential affinity with your cause. You’ll need to carefully analyze the data you used to identify prospects in step 1 as you qualify your prospect pool. Use publicly available information to determine donors’ philanthropic interests so that you can determine which prospects are most likely to become supporters of your org. For... --- ### What Is a Legacy Donor? > A legacy donor is someone who plans to leave a nonprofit a monetary gift after their death. Learn about legacy donors and setting up a legacy donor program. - Published: 2024-03-25 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/legacy-donor/ - Categories: Fundraising - Tags: fundraising, legacy donors Legacy giving is a form of charitable donation that allows individuals to extend their support for your organization well beyond their lifetime. Legacy donors, as they're called, choose to include your nonprofit in their estate plans, designating gifts like cash, property, or investments to fuel your mission after they're gone. In this article, we'll explore how legacy giving works, what it can achieve for nonprofits and their donors, and we’ll explain how you can set up a legacy donor program for your nonprofit. Has your nonprofit considered the power of legacy giving? Legacy giving is a form of charitable donation that allows individuals to extend their support for your organization well beyond their lifetime. Legacy donors, as they're called, choose to include your nonprofit in their estate plans, designating gifts like cash, property, or investments to fuel your mission after they're gone. In this article, we'll explore how legacy giving works, what it can achieve for nonprofits and their donors, and we’ll explain how you can set up a legacy donor program for your nonprofit. Plus we’ve thrown in some tips for how to successfully connect and build relationships with potential donors. What are the benefits of legacy donations? Legacy giving is a win-win for both nonprofits and donors. By encouraging legacy giving, nonprofits can secure their financial future and ensure their continued ability to fulfill their mission for generations to come. As for the donors, they get the opportunity to leave behind a meaningful legacy that will continue to reflect their values and beliefs long after they pass. We all want to feel like we’ve made a lasting impact on the world, and legacy donations are one way for people to ensure that their contributions will live on after them. Legacy donations offer nonprofits a stable and predictable source of funding that can be used to support long-term projects and initiatives. A legacy donation program can help you build stronger relationships with your donors and their families. Legacy giving also provides tax advantages for donors and their estates: it helps them minimize tax liabilities while maximizing philanthropic impact. What types of legacy donations are there? When it comes to supporting nonprofits beyond one's lifetime, there are lots of avenues for donors to explore. Different types of legacy donations cater to different financial situations, philanthropic goals, and personal preferences. Here are some of the most common ones. Bequests Bequests are a way for donors to leave money, property, or assets to a nonprofit in their will. Donors can designate a fixed dollar amount, a percentage of their estate, or specific assets to be transferred to an organization upon their passing. Bequests are one of the most common and straightforward forms of legacy giving because they provide donors with the flexibility to support causes close to their hearts while ensuring their wishes are carried out after they're gone. Charitable Gift Annuities Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs) allow donors to make a gift to an organization in exchange for receiving fixed payments for life from the nonprofit. Donors transfer assets to the charity, which then pays them a regular income stream starting either immediately or at some point in the future. Upon the donor's passing, the remaining funds are used by the charity to support its mission. CGAs offer donors a way to support causes they care about while receiving financial benefits during their lifetime. They provide a win-win scenario by combining philanthropy with financial planning. Retained Life Estates With a Retained Life Estate, donors transfer ownership of a property, such as a home or piece of land, to a nonprofit but retain the right to live in or use the property for the duration of their lives or for a predetermined amount of time. This arrangement allows donors to receive an immediate charitable income tax deduction based on the present value of the property's remainder interest. The donor is responsible for taxes, maintenance, and upkeep while they still live on the property, but upon their passing, full ownership transfers to the nonprofit for their use or sale. Retirement Funds Donors can also name a nonprofit as a beneficiary of their retirement accounts, including Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), 401(k)s, 403(b)s, or pension plans. This method of giving avoids the complexities of will or trust modifications and offers tax advantages: for instance, unlike distributions to heirs, these gifts typically pass tax-free, maximizing the amount that goes to the charity. Donors also retain full control and access to their retirement savings throughout their lifetime, ensuring their security while still supporting their chosen cause and leaving a lasting impact after they’re gone. Life Insurance As with retirement funds, Donors can also name nonprofits as beneficiaries of their life insurance... --- ### Facebook Fundraisers: A Complete Guide for Nonprofits > Check out our 2024 guide to creating a Facebook fundraiser and discover how to use the platform to attract donors and spread your message. - Published: 2024-03-18 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/a-guide-to-nonprofit-facebook-fundraising/ - Categories: Digital Marketing, Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: facebook ads, fundraising, Nonprofit, nonprofit marketing It’s never been easier to get the word out about your organization without breaking the bank, but there’s so much you need to know – and so many other nonprofits to compete with – to accomplish that. Individual donations bring in billions of dollars for nonprofits just like yours. In 2021 alone, 35 million people donated over $2. 7 billion on #GivingTuesday. That’s a 9% increase from the previous year. Meta, Facebook’s owner, even began limited donor matching for eligible nonprofits. That’s why we’re here to show you how to promote your organization on that 800-pound gorilla of social media platforms: Facebook. If you do it right, a smart Facebook strategy will draw new donors, encourage new volunteers, spread awareness, and best of all: get ordinary people raising funds on your behalf! Why use Facebook for fundraising? With 3 billion users worldwide and 240 million in the United States, Facebook draws a lot of eyeballs every day, and we’re all fighting for our share of ‘em. Since 2015, Facebook fundraising has generated over $5 billion in donations, the majority in amounts under $25 raised through these kinds of opportunities. But by far the most popular way that people donate to charity on Facebook is through campaigns set up by regular users on behalf of nonprofits, not by the nonprofits themselves. Some nonprofits – especially smaller ones – have avoided using these because the process can be a little confusing if you’re not familiar with it. But we’re here to tell you: embrace it. How to create a Facebook fundraiser Facebook users can start a fundraiser any time, but how do they set one up on your behalf? Here are the steps for them to follow. Keep in mind, Facebook does change their user interface from time to time, but right now, the steps are: First, go to “Fundraisers” in the menu bar or search up "fundraisers" inside of the app. Click "Raise money" or “Create a fundraiser” and you'll be shown a list of nonprofits you can fundraise for. Search for the nonprofit organization you want to support. Choose a photo and write an encouraging message. Set a target dollar amount and ending date. Hit “Create” and... BAM! How to promote a Facebook fundraiser You still have an important part to play in this process: you need to remind your donors that they can do this and make it as easy as possible for them to navigate the process. Some best practices include: Provide answers to questions about Facebook fundraising options on your website’s FAQ page. Offer people a step-by-step guide to setting up a fundraiser on their page. (Like the one we just gave you – steal it! We won’t tell). Provide some recommended messaging for people to include in their fundraising posts to help the whole thing stay on brand. Encourage your followers to say a little about the cause and the organization so their friends understand their connection. Get in touch with individual fundraisers through Facebook Messenger. This way you can find out more about them, and give them additional fundraising tips. Thank everyone! You can use the “Sort and Filter” tool on your Facebook nonprofit page to view people who’ve created a fundraiser for your organization. Be sure to thank them publicly in a post. Are there fees for Facebook fundraisers? One of the major benefits of Facebook fundraising is that there are no fundraising fees. Most other fundraising platforms can deduct anywhere from 2% to 6%. However, what payout channel you choose will have a significant effect on how quickly you get the money that your followers raised on your behalf. How long does it take to receive money from Facebook donations? For nonprofits in the U. S. , Facebook's Meta Pay makes payouts every two weeks beginning ten days after the end of a set accrual period. Of the four payment options Facebook provides – Meta Pay, Network for Good, PayPal Giving Fund, and Razor Pay – we recommend going with Meta Pay, because it’ll get you your money the fastest. This can make the difference between getting your money in 2 weeks rather than 6 to 8 weeks. Other Facebook fundraising tools for... --- ### 6 AI Video Editors That We Love [2024] > Struggling with video editing? Explore 5 AI video editors we love that will simplify the process, save you time and effort, and elevate your content. - Published: 2024-03-14 - Modified: 2024-09-12 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/ai-video-editors/ - Categories: Video Marketing - Tags: AI, video editing, video marketing In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, creating engaging video content consistently can be a challenge. But what if there was a tool that could automate repetitive tasks, free up your editors for their creative work, and even help you pump out quality videos more quickly? AI-powered tools are revolutionizing how content is created. At Big Sea, we've been diving deep into the world of AI video editors, and we're excited to share some of our favorites that can help you take your video marketing to the next level. In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, creating engaging video content consistently can be a challenge. But what if there was a tool that could automate repetitive tasks, free up your editors for their creative work, and even help you pump out quality videos more quickly? Enter the age of the AI video editor. AI-powered tools are revolutionizing how content is created. At Big Sea, we've been diving deep into the world of AI video editors, and we're excited to share some of our favorites that can help you take your video marketing to the next level. So, without further ado, here are 6 AI video editors that we love at Big Sea. 1. Runway ML Cost: The standard plan is $12 a month for 625 credits. Plans range from free to $76 a month for unlimited and enterprise offerings. The free plan includes 125 credits. Great feature: Training for custom AI generators Runway ML stands out as a video editor because It offers over 30 AI-powered creative tools for manipulating content, generating new scenes, and adding special effects that can be applied to both photos and videos. From style transfers to motion tracking, Runway ML empowers content creators to infuse their videos with AI-driven enhancements. Designed to be accessible, even for those with little editing experience, Runway ML's tools are great for exploring creative possibilities and generating unique content. Runway ML is a compelling option for creators and marketers who want to explore the potential of AI in their video content. But because its focus is on experimentation, it isn’t always the best option for those looking for a professional-grade video editor. However, If you're looking for a user-friendly platform to experiment with creative video editing and infuse your content with special effects, Runway ML is definitely worth checking out. To show how easy it is to use (and that you really can create video with their “free” version), we took an extremely simple prompt and produced this cool 4 second clip, which you can view on RunwayML’s platform. Our prompt was simply “Please prepare four seconds of an introduction to an advertisement for the rainforest. ” 2. Descript Cost: Plans range from free to $24 a month for pro and enterprise offerings. The free plan comes with 1 hour of transcription & 1 hour of recording. The creator plan is $12 a month for 10 hours. Great feature: Powerful text-based video editing and podcasting Descript is an AI-powered platform that really shines when it comes to text-based editing. Editing a video with Descript is like editing a document. You can see the words spoken in your video and change them directly. This is different from most video editors where you have to move clips of video around on a timeline. It's a faster and more intuitive way to make cuts, rearrange sections, and fix mistakes. Descript also utilizes AI to streamline audio editing tasks like removing silences or background noise reduction. As a bonus, editors using Descript can record themselves or their screens directly within the program, collaborate easily with team members, and publish and integrate video within existing platforms or marketing tools. There is a bit of a learning curve to mastering all of Descript’s features, however. If you’re looking for a streamlined workflow, powerful audio editing tools, and easy collaboration features, Descript could be the ideal AI editor for you. 3. Synthesia Cost: Plans range from $22 a month to enterprise offerings. The starter plan comes with 1 editor, 3 guests, and 120 hours of editing per year. Great feature: Custom AI avatars Synthesia is a game-changer in the AI video editing sphere, particularly for its ability to create over 160 AI-powered avatars. With its user-friendly interface and dynamic features, Synthesia empowers creators to produce stunning videos effortlessly. In addition to its digital avatars, Synthesia excels at text-to-speech generation, allowing you to deliver your message in your preferred language, accent, and tone of voice. Starting Synthesia is as easy as typing your text script. While integrating Synthesia with your existing marketing tools is no problem, it’s important to remember that the best use of this tool is in generating script-based videos. You can incorporate your own... --- ### Google Gemini for SEO: 5 Strategies That Work > Using Google Gemini for SEO can save you time, energy, and effort. Learn our agency’s top five strategies for making our lives easier with AI. - Published: 2024-03-07 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/google-bard-seo/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Google Bard, SEO Using Google Bard for SEO can save you time, energy, and effort. Learn our agency’s top five strategies for making our lives easier with Google Bard. As digital marketers, we constantly strive to stay ahead of the curve and embrace new technologies that can enhance our strategies and save us time. The advent of AI tools has undoubtedly revolutionized the SEO landscape, and Google Gemini (formerly Bard), Google’s AI-powered tool, has been a game-changer in AI content marketing for us at Big Sea. Not only can Gemini automate routine tasks, such as keyword research and content optimization, it also enhances user experience by personalizing content recommendations and improving website interactions. With its direct connection to Google Search, Gemini provides us an incredibly powerful tool for insights into search trends and algorithm updates, empowering us to make informed decisions that align with Google’s latest guidelines for SEO. Since we’ve successfully incorporated Gemini into our own SEO strategies, we’d love to share our favorite tips and tricks for using Google Gemini to help you elevate your organization’s SEO efforts and efficiency. This article takes you through strategies we use regularly to supercharge our marketing efforts. Please note that since the launch of Google's AI Workspace package, there are now free and paid versions of Gemini. While we will sometimes make reference to Gemini Ultra (paid version), we try to stick to suggestions that people using the free version of Gemini can try as well. Without further ado, here are our 5 proven strategies for using Google Gemini for SEO. 1. SERP Feature Assistant At Big Sea, we've discovered a highly effective SEO strategy that utilizes Gemini as our personal Search Engine Results Page (SERP) feature assistant. It turns out that Google Gemini is great for helping us generate People Also Ask (PAA) style questions and help generate ideas for Featured Snippets. We’ve found that putting Google Gemni to work for us in this way helps us zero in on and create and optimize content that ranks for our clients’ targeted keywords. Generate People Also Ask questions So how do you get Google Gemini to generate PAA-style questions for your keyword? Simply ask Google Gemini the following questions, substituting in your chosen SEO keyword: “Could you please use what you know about People Also Ask responses to generate a list of questions that searchers might have on the topic ? ” “Generate 6 frequently asked questions and answers related to ” After inputting your request for PAA questions, you’ll find that Gemini responds with a series of questions that are ideal for optimizing for SEO. Google Gemini generated PAA questions can help you develop an outline of relevant queries to address in your content. Because the content you create is based off of possible PAA questions, you’ll have a better shot of seeing that content picked up as in an actual PAA box or even as a featured snippet. Get help with Featured Snippets Gemini can also be a valuable tool for optimizing your content for featured snippets. Here are some ways that we use it: Optimizing for featured snippets Gemini's ability to understand search intent and optimize content for featured snippets is a particularly valuable writing skill. To create content tailored for featured snippets, simply ask Google Gemini for a description of your topic that aligns with Google's featured snippet guidelines. For example, you could ask: "Write a description of that you think could win a featured snippet in Google's search results. " Google Gemini will then generate a concise and informative description that has a high likelihood of appearing as a featured snippet, boosting your content's visibility and credibility. Other ways to generate featured snippet content Other options for getting Google Gemini to generate content that is specifically designed to appear in featured snippets include asking for things like definitions. You can get other kinds of Featured Snippet responses by giving Gemini prompts like: “Write a definition for . ” “Summarize the process. ” “Please answer the following question: . ” Get feedback on your featured snippet content Once you've written your featured snippet content, you can ask Gemini to give you feedback on it. This can help you identify any areas where you can improve your content, so your chances of it being picked up by Google are improved. For feedback, try this prompt: “Can you... --- ### Bing Image Creator for Designers and Marketers: A Guide > Discover how to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer with this easy guide, including expert tips for how to make the most out of the tool. - Published: 2024-03-05 - Modified: 2025-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/bing-image-creator/ - Categories: Tech & Code - Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Design, graphics With the advent of AI-technology, the potential opportunities for digital marketers and web designers to elevate their content have exploded. As we seek innovative tools to enhance visual content, the spotlight is turning towards Image Creator from Microsoft Designer. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the functionalities and benefits of Image Creator, shedding light on how it can be a game-changer for both designers and marketers alike. We’ll also offer you some of our best tips for getting the most out of this innovative AI resource. As marketers and designers continually seek innovative tools to enhance their visual content, the spotlight is turning towards AI generated images. For those who want to get up and running fast, Image Creator from Microsoft Designer, formerly Bing Image Creator, is a great place to get started. This AI tool, powered by DALL-E 3, lets you conjure up unique images based on mere text descriptions, catering to the creative needs of designers and the strategic arsenal of marketers, all inside a browser. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the functionalities and benefits of Image Creator, shedding light on how it can be a game-changer for both designers and marketers alike. We’ll also offer you some of our best tips for getting the most out of this innovative AI resource. What Is Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (Formerly Bing Image Creator)? Image Creator is a fast, easy way to use AI inside of your browser to generate digital images that you can anywhere online. Unlike stock images, which must be licensed, these images are free and available for both fair and commercial use. They are also unique, representing a combination of the AI model’s training and your ability to direct it through prompt engineering. Furthermore, Image Creator allows you to edit and share within the interface as well. This is key because, as we will discuss, using AI images responsibly requires you to be an involved and thoughtful editor. Whether you need images for website design, social media content, or ad campaigns, Image Creator empowers you to translate ideas into captivating visuals. How to Use Image Creator Image Creator is easily accessed from any browser, or native to Microsoft’s Copilot tool. In either case, accessing and getting started with this popular AI tool is surprisingly simple, and it all starts at bing. com. 1. Sign Up and Sign In Navigate to https://www. bing. com/images/create in your browser. If you don't have a Microsoft account, create one for free. Otherwise, log in with your existing credentials. Another way to access Image Creator is through Microsoft Copilot. Copilot GPT-4, formerly Bing Chat, has Image Creator built in, so you can easily generate images by entering your prompt directly into the chat feature. 2. Enter your Prompt In the designated text box, describe your desired image with clarity and detail. Think about style, objects, colors, and overall mood. The more specific, the better! Example Image Creator Prompt A portrait of a young woman holding a red apple, reminiscent of the vibrant colors and brushstrokes of Frida Kahlo. Background of lush green jungle leaves Subject wearing a traditional Mexican floral dress with prominent jewelry Style: Surreal, dreamlike, and symbolic 3. View Your Images Click "Create" and witness AI work its magic. Image Creator will generate several potential images based on your prompt. 4. Refine and Reimagine If the results aren't quite what you envisioned, refine your prompt with more details or try different keywords. You can also select and customize specific generated images through Microsoft Designer. Experimenting with the prompts you use to create an image can make a big difference in generating the best images for your purpose. The best way to do this is to go beyond basic descriptions. Here's how: Use keywords strategically: Specific keywords can influence style, objects, and mood. Example: "a retro poster advertising a space adventure movie. " Get descriptive: Mention colors, textures, lighting, and composition for precise visualization. Example: "a close-up portrait of a cat with fluffy white fur, bathed in warm sunlight filtering through leaves. " Use reference images: Search for and reference visuals as inspiration for specific styles or details. Combine styles: Fuse different artistic styles for unique effects. Example: "a classic renaissance painting reimagined in a neon cyberpunk aesthetic. " Be nice: Preliminary studies show that being polite to ChatGPT could actually improve responses, so it’s definitely worth it to add “please” and “thank you. ” Remember, the more creative and detailed your prompts, the more unique and stunning your generated images will be. 5. Save and Download Once you have the perfect image, be sure to save it and/or download it for use in your marketing campaigns, website, or social media content. Pro-Tips... --- ### Cannabis Marketing: Everything You Need to Know in 2024 > In this article, we'll unpack the unique challenges facing cannabis marketing and equip you with a map of innovative strategies to conquer them. - Published: 2024-02-29 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/cannabis-marketing/ - Categories: CBD, Digital Marketing - Tags: cannabis, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing Cannabis Marketing in 2024 The legal cannabis market is booming, with global sales projected to reach $55 billion by 2027. While the slew of U. S. states adopting medical and recreational legalization in recent years has opened the cannabis industry to reach these exciting heights, navigating the cannabis marketing landscape can still be challenging for growers, brands, and dispensaries. A sometimes-confusing patchwork of federal and state regulations determine how and where cannabis can be marketed. As a result, cannabis brands can forget billboards and TV commercials — many traditional media advertising avenues are off-limits. Many social media platforms also have strict policies, paid advertising options are in short supply, and visuals depicting product use are often a no-go. But fear not! While cannabis marketing currently requires pivoting away from conventional tactics, as well as fighting lingering stigmas surrounding cannabis, these challenges can actually open the space for new and creative marketing solutions. In this article, we'll discuss cannabis marketing tactics that can leverage organic reach, build thriving online communities, and harness the power of content to attract, engage, and convert your target audience. 1. SEO & Content Marketing While traditional advertising avenues remain largely closed for cannabis, a powerful option remains in SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO offers a cost-effective, long-term marketing solution. Instead of paying per click or impression, with an effective SEO plan, your cannabis brand can steadily climb the search engine ranks with relevant keywords, attracting a steady stream of traffic over time. While SEO is a key strategy for all types of digital marketing, it’s especially compelling in the cannabis space, where there’s still an abundance of high-volume, low-competition keywords. Unlike in saturated markets where landing top keyword searches can be an exhausting uphill climb, in the cannabis landscape, there are currently countless opportunities to capture audiences actively searching for expert information, tips, and products. SEO empowers you to become a trusted resource in the cannabis community. As you rank for relevant keywords, you position yourself as an authority on topics like types of strains, medical applications, or safe consumption methods. This type of content creates brand awareness and trust in web visitors, and can ultimately translate into loyal customers and advocates. 2. Digital PR Digital PR lets you connect directly with your audience through strategic online outreach. Engage with journalists, influencers, and industry leaders in the digital space. Consider participating in online discussions, hosting webinars, or partnering on compelling content initiatives. Crucially, digital PR boosts your SEO game as well. Secure placements in relevant online publications, earn backlinks from high-authority sites, and watch your search rankings climb. This organic visibility brings targeted traffic – ideal for a product category often shrouded in misinformation. 3. Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs acknowledge and appreciate your valuable customers. Points for every purchase, exclusive discounts, early access to new products — these tangible rewards show your gratitude and incentivize continued engagement. Remember, small gestures can cultivate great loyalty. But they aren’t just about the rewards for customers; they're also valuable data mines. Track purchase patterns, preferred strains, and engagement levels to understand your customers better. This data-driven approach allows you to personalize offers, recommend relevant products, and tailor your program to cater to individual needs and preferences. 4. Social Media Social media platforms offer a space for open conversations about cannabis, chipping away at outdated stigmas. Users on social platforms like TikTok share experiences and strain reviews, ask questions, and make connections with others, normalizing cannabis use and dispelling unhelpful myths. Forget flashy ads; passionate users are cannabis brands' greatest champions. Social media lets you engage directly with these advocates, fostering loyalty and dialogue. Most importantly, user-generated content can become marketing gold, showcasing your products with authenticity and trust. Finally, the fast-paced world of social media perfectly mirrors the dynamic cannabis industry. Share glimpses of your latest collaborations, showcase product innovations, and participate in industry trends. Savvy social media use keeps your brand at the forefront of the conversation, attracting both consumers and investors. 5. Email Marketing Compared to other marketing channels, email offers unparalleled bang for your buck. Build your email list organically or through targeted campaigns, and reap the rewards for years to come. Email lets you... --- ### Top 3 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Converting (And How To Fix It) > Are you always asking "Why is my website not converting?" Find out the main causes of low conversions and the best solutions. - Published: 2024-02-29 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/3-reasons-your-website-isnt-converting/ - Categories: Digital Marketing, Web Design - Tags: google analytics, online marketing SEO, paid media, SEM, SEMRush, SEO How much organic traffic does your website get per month? Finding that number should be priority #1. Organic traffic (the number of visitors coming through search engine results) is a number you or your marketing team should know off the top of your heads. It’s one of the most powerful assets in your digital marketing strategy, and it’s really the end-all be-all metric for who is coming and going. So you've built an amazing website, and you're ready to rake in the visitors (and conversions). But the visitors aren't arriving, or if they are, they're dropping off, never to be seen again. So what's happening? And how can you fix it? A full-funnel search engine optimization plan with conversion rate optimization will address the vast majority of conversion issues. Read on to find out how. Why is my website not converting? Most sites that struggle to convert don't actually have anyone at the conversion helm, so to speak, meaning no one is in charge of owning conversion strategy. That can result in several common issues such as Misaligned Goals and Strategy: Your website's objectives (e. g. , email signups, product sales, form submissions) should directly support your broader business strategy. If these aren't connected, you're likely measuring the wrong conversions or targeting the wrong audience. Action: Revisit your business goals. What are the most important actions you want visitors to take on your website? Define your primary conversions clearly. Unclear Value Proposition: Visitors need to understand immediately what your product or service offers and why they should choose you. Action: Craft a concise, attention-grabbing headline and supporting text that highlights the unique benefits and pain points you solve for your customers. Friction in the User Journey: Confusing navigation, slow loading times, or complicated checkout processes create hurdles. Trust issues as well, including lack of social proof, secure payment indicators, or contact information, which can erode visitor trust. Action: Analyze your website's flow using heatmaps or analytics tools. Simplify forms, optimize page speed, and ensure a seamless user experience. Display testimonials, customer reviews, security badges, and clear contact details. On top of that, you should do even further research in to the particular nature of the conversion problem you're facing. Targeting where, exactly, the problem is arising on the user's path to conversion is crucial to a successful fix. Here's a few questions you can ask to that end: Why am I getting clicks but no conversions? If your ads or organic search results are getting clicks but not conversions, it's probably because they aren't attracting the right traffic. If you're not choosing the right search terms, people will find your content, but it won't be the people that are likely to convert to customers. This is where a robust search marketing strategy can really shine. Understanding the keywords that resonate with your audience, and aligning both your ad and broader website strategy with those keywords, is going to be key. You need search optimization. Why is my click through rate low? If your CTR is low, it could be a sign that your copy isn't optimized for conversions. If you're worried about CTR for URLs appearing in search results, focus on the title and meta description. You can learn more about conversion rate optimization (CRO) for copy below. Similar rules apply to social media, though you can also use hashtags to boost your visibility. If the problem is CTR for components within your website, focus on headlines, CTA and button text, images, and video. Make abundant use of A/B tests to try out new copy and images to raise CTR. Why do I have users but no sales? When people are coming to your website but not purchasing your products, there are often two main categories that the issue can fall into: you're not getting the right kind of traffic, or your site has a poor user experience. In the first case, a robust SEO strategy paired with a strong Paid Media strategy can turn this problem around. Paid Media allows you to target the right audience with pinpoint accuracy. Learn more about how to harness its power below. SEO is also closely tied to UX as engagement rate plays a key role in ranking. So many SEO design strategies will also improve the usability of your site. Solving Low Conversions on Your Website Now that we've narrowed down the problem and defined your conversion goals, it's time to discuss the best ways to fix these issues. We've broken down solutions into three main categories: search engine optimization, conversion optimization, and paid media. Let's see how each solution can... --- ### Short-Term vs. Long-Term Marketing Strategy > Short-term marketing strategy produces quick business results, while long-term marketing strategy ensures future success. Explore when and how to use each. - Published: 2024-02-19 - Modified: 2024-08-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/short-vs-long-term-digital-marketing-strategies/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Long-term successes drive sustainable growth, but you can't wait for a year or more while those long-term efforts have time to come to fruition. In this guide, we'll cover the most important short-term and long-term digital marketing strategies, including their nuances and approximate timelines. Then, we'll provide helpful tips on how you can prioritize between the two segments (and all the strategies that fall into them) to optimize your marketing budget for a reliable, consistent return on investment. For years, marketers have been trying to answer an age-old question: how can you most effectively spend your budget in a way that drives maximum audience attention and conversion? The answer, of course, isn't simple or straightforward. Part of the problem is that nothing in marketing is ever linear. Long-term successes drive sustainable growth, but you can't wait for a year or more while those long-term efforts have time to come to fruition. What do you do? For many organizations, the answer is short-term marketing investment. Digital ads sound great, can be launched in a day, and get instant attention. But they're also not as sustainable as those longer-term initiatives. So let's end the complications once and for all. In this guide, we'll cover the most important short-term and long-term digital marketing strategies, including their nuances and approximate timelines. From there, we'll provide helpful tips on how you can prioritize between the two segments (and all the strategies that fall into them) to optimize your marketing budget for a reliable, consistent return on investment. What is short-term and long-term in marketing? Short-term strategies: The stepping stones along the way, the immediate gains that support your long-term goals. Think of it as taking smaller steps up the mountain to reach your destination. Imagine these actions: Driving website traffic: Attracting more visitors to your website or landing page. (Examples: Running paid advertising campaigns, optimizing your website for search engines, participating in social media contests). Increasing lead generation: Capturing contact information from potential customers. (Examples: Offering free downloadable resources, hosting webinars, running lead generation campaigns). Boosting conversions: Turning website visitors into paying customers. (Examples: Running limited-time sales promotions, offering special discounts, optimizing your checkout process). Long-term strategies are your destination, the big picture, what you want to achieve over months or years. Think of it as building a strong foundation and climbing a mountain. Imagine these actions: Building brand awareness: Making your brand recognizable and familiar to your target audience. (Examples: Creating engaging social media content, running brand awareness campaigns, participating in industry events). Establishing brand authority: Becoming a trusted source of information in your field. (Examples: Publishing high-quality blog posts, conducting industry research, building relationships with influencers). Nurturing customer loyalty: Turning one-time buyers into repeat customers. (Examples: Implementing loyalty programs, offering personalized recommendations, providing excellent customer service). Key Differences Timeframe: Long-term = Months/years, Short-term = Days/weeks Focus: Long-term = Brand building, Short-term = Immediate results Examples: Long-term = Content marketing, Short-term = Paid advertising Ultimately, long-term goals are what keeps us moving forward. Building your brand's voice, staking your claim as an expert in your industry, and creating engaging content are all long-term strategies. But short-term strategies give us the quick wins, and serve as touchpoints along the way. Getting your content in front of people's eyes, reaching your target audience and bringing them in, and increasing engagement are all short-term wins strategies. What are the goals for short-term marketing strategies? While capturing website traffic, conversions, and engagement are fundamental, let's dive deeper and tailor them to actionable steps for new marketers: Traffic Acquisition Targeted paid ads: Reach your ideal audience through platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads with laser-focused targeting options. SEO updates: Improve already-performing content so that it ranks even higher, raising your website's ability to rank for relevant keywords to attract organic traffic. Social media promotions: Run contests, giveaways, or polls on social media to generate buzz and attract new followers who can convert into website visitors. Conversion Optimization Landing page optimization: Design compelling landing pages with clear calls to action and eliminate distractions to increase conversion rates. Special offers and discounts: Provide limited-time promotions or exclusive discounts to incentivize immediate purchases. A/B testing: Experiment with different website elements like headlines, buttons, and forms to see what drives the most conversions. Personalized offers: Use website visitors' data to tailor your messaging and offers to their specific needs and interests. Engagement Boosting Interactive content: Share quizzes, polls, or live videos to encourage audience participation and build relationships. Community building: Foster discussions and respond to comments on social media to create a sense of belonging. Influencer marketing: Collaborate with relevant influencers to reach a wider audience and build trust through... --- ### Announcing: Adriana Generallo, President! - Published: 2024-02-06 - Modified: 2024-02-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/announcing-adriana-generallo-president/ - Categories: News & Culture We are delighted to announce Adriana Generallo as our new President, marking a significant milestone in our nearly 20-year journey. This appointment ushers in a new era for Big Sea as we continue our nearly two-decade-long legacy of leading in digital marketing and web design across the nation. Adriana began her journey with Big Sea in 2012, initially captivating us with her talents as a digital designer. It wasn't long before her passion for collaboration and leadership shone through, propelling her from spearheading our creative vision to serving as VP of Client Experience. Adriana's philosophy centers on deeply listening to our clients, from solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies, ensuring we fully grasp their unique perspectives and needs. This approach has been key to motivating our account teams to deliver Big Sea's highest quality of service. Renowned for her strategic insight and creative flair, Adriana has been instrumental in driving successful digital projects, fostering significant client relationships, and embodying Big Sea's commitment to community engagement. Her dynamic leadership and unwavering resolve have catapulted Big Sea to new successes, seamlessly succeeding Rob Kane who departed in 2023. On her appointment, Generallo shares, "Leading Big Sea is a privilege and an incredible opportunity for me to bring everything I’ve learned from multiple corners of the business to this position. With my drive to learn and serve others, I have faith that I will build on the success of the past 19 years. I'm ready to drive our growth, cultivate deeper relationships, and craft digital experiences that truly mirror our clients' impact. " Big Sea CEO, Andi Graham, comments, "Adriana embodies the heart and intellect of Big Sea. Her appointment as President is a natural and celebrated choice. She is deeply trusted by our clients and team for her unique blend of skill and empathy. Under her leadership, Big Sea will thrive. " With Generallo at the helm, Big Sea is poised to amplify its impact, guiding community-centric organizations to make even greater waves. --- ### Hiring a Healthcare SEO Agency > This page discusses the benefits of working with a healthcare SEO agency, as well as expert tips about how to hire one, including what questions to ask. - Published: 2024-02-05 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-seo-agency/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Health & Wellness - Tags: healthcare, online marketing SEO, SEO As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the significance of search engine optimization (SEO) in healthcare cannot be overstated. Whether you're a healthcare provider, medical facility, or a related service, optimizing your online strategy is pivotal in reaching and engaging your target audience. In this article, we will explore the key considerations and benefits associated with entrusting your digital visibility to experts in healthcare SEO, and we’ll offer tips on how to find a healthcare SEO agency that aligns with your marketing goals. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the significance of search engine optimization (SEO) in healthcare cannot be overstated. Whether you're a healthcare provider, medical facility, or a related service, optimizing your online strategy is pivotal in reaching and engaging your target audience. However, navigating the complexities of the healthcare sector requires a specialized approach, and finding the right healthcare SEO agency can be its own challenge. In this article, we will explore the key considerations and benefits associated with entrusting your digital visibility to experts in healthcare SEO, and we’ll offer tips on how to find a healthcare SEO agency that aligns with your marketing goals. How is SEO used in healthcare? Unlike the traditional reliance on referrals, today's healthcare consumers increasingly turn to online searches to find medical services. This shift necessitates that healthcare providers have a wide-reaching online presence that is only achievable through a well-implemented SEO strategy. Having a strong SEO strategy not only enhances visibility, but it also fosters trust and long-term relationships with potential patients, meeting their increasing expectations for transparent and mobile-friendly experiences. Thus, effective SEO in healthcare is not just about being visible; it's about being accessible and reliable to those in need of healthcare services. What does a healthcare SEO agency do? Healthcare SEO agencies stand apart due to their specialized knowledge in navigating the healthcare industry. This expertise encompasses an understanding of medical terminology, strict adherence to healthcare regulations, and a keen sensitivity towards patient privacy laws. These elements are crucial in developing an SEO strategy that respects the delicate nature of healthcare information while also effectively communicating it to your target audience. A proficient healthcare SEO agency is adept at balancing these industry-specific requirements with general SEO best practices, ensuring that a healthcare provider's online content is both authoritative and accessible. What are some best practices for healthcare SEO? Healthcare SEO best practices revolve around creating a strategy that is both effective and compliant with industry standards. Some key best practices include: Local SEO Optimization: Focusing on local SEO helps healthcare providers appear in searches by potential patients in their vicinity. Strategic Keyword Use: Implementing medical and healthcare-specific keywords can significantly improve visibility. Creating Trustworthy Content: Developing authoritative and informative content that aligns with healthcare guidelines is crucial. Optimizing for Mobile Users: With a growing number of people accessing healthcare information via mobile devices, mobile optimization is essential. Building Quality Backlinks: Establishing backlinks from reputable sites enhances credibility and boosts SEO rankings. Consistent, Accurate Listings: Ensuring that all online directories and listings are accurate and consistent aids in improving SEO performance. Monitoring and Adapting to Algorithm Changes: Staying abreast of search engine algorithm updates and adapting strategies accordingly is vital for maintaining SEO effectiveness. Implementing these best practices can significantly enhance a healthcare provider's online visibility and patient engagement. Evaluating a healthcare SEO agency's expertise Choosing the right healthcare SEO agency involves assessing their expertise in crucial areas. When determining an agency’s expertise in healthcare SEO, you’ll want to understand their use of search engine algorithms and their proficiency in keyword research and content optimization. It's also vital to ensure they have a strong track record in handling healthcare SEO. Above all, we recommend evaluating an agency's performance through client testimonials and case studies. Doing so can provide you insights into their effectiveness and ethical practices. Evaluating an SEO agency's expertise is an essential step in making an informed decision. Questions to ask a potential healthcare SEO agency It’s important to ask questions that can help you understand whether a potential agency's approach aligns with your goals and how they plan to drive tangible results for your business. Discovering the right questions to ask is key to finding a healthcare SEO agency that meets your needs. Before selecting a healthcare SEO agency, consider asking the following questions to gauge their suitability. 1. What types of SEO services do you offer? Understanding the types of SEO services offered by the agency, especially as they pertain to the healthcare industry, is vital for determining their capabilities and ability to elevate your online presence. Ask about an agency’s specific SEO services: do they cover on-page and off-page optimization, technical SEO, content creation,... --- ### 24 Best Nonprofit Marketing Conferences [2024] > Explore the 24 best nonprofit marketing conferences in 2024 so you can network with other experts and be up to date on the latest trends! - Published: 2024-02-02 - Modified: 2024-08-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-marketing-conferences/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: conferences, fundraising conferences, nonprofit conferences Ready to level up your marketing skills this year? We've scoped out the top nonprofit marketing conferences of 2024 – these are the must-attend events for anyone looking to make a real impact. Ready to level up your marketing skills this year? We've scoped out the top nonprofit marketing conferences of 2024 – these are the must-attend events for anyone looking to make a real impact. Think cutting-edge strategies, unparalleled networking, and insights that could be game-changers for your organization. Let's jump right in and discover where you can make the most valuable connections and learn the tricks of the trade to elevate your cause. Because these are the conferences that we evaluate to attend, they focus on topics related to fundraising and marketing for nonprofits, museums, and cultural institutions. 1. Small Museum Association Conference Location: Richmond, VA Dates: February 19-21, 2024 Cost: $300 The annual SMA conference attracts more than 300 museum professionals, board members, and volunteers from a wide variety of small museums. They attend sessions on topics ranging from collections and education to staffing and board issues. We offer a large Museum Resource Hall and plenty of informal networking opportunities for you to talk with (and get ideas from! ) other small museum professionals and volunteers. 2. P2P Professional Forum Conference Location: Philadelphia, PA Dates: February 21-23, 2024 Cost: $995 - 1,595 depending on membership and type Immerse yourself in the world of peer-to-peer fundraising, celebrating storytelling, relationship building, data analysis, event production, and community engagement. Whether you’re a newcomer to the world of peer-to-peer fundraising or a seasoned pro, the leader of a Top 30 program or manager of a smaller campaign, a front-line fundraiser or part of the national program strategy team, P2PForum24 is designed for YOU! 3. Northeast Annual Giving Conference Location: Pittsburgh, PA Dates: March 4-6, 2024 Cost: Starts at $249 The Northeast Annual Giving Conference (NEAGC) offers three days of fundraising presentations, forums, discussions and networking with more than 30 sessions, speakers, moderators and panelists. It is known and appreciated for its relaxed, inclusive and fun environment of community sharing, 2024 is the 21st anniversary of the first Northeast Annual Giving Conference. 4. Nonprofit Marketing Summit: The Unthinkable Location: Virtual Dates: March 5-7, 2024 Cost: Free A 100% virtual summit for nonprofit marketers. With speakers from leaders across the nonprofit space, NMS 2024's valuable, actionable content will move your organization's marketing and fundraising needle -- all for FREE! 5. Nonprofit Technology Conference Location: Portland, OR & Virtual Dates: March 13-15, 2024 Cost: $975 - $1075 NTEN’s conference — often referred to as the NTC — is the annual gathering of people who want to make the world a better place through the skillful and equitable use of technology. At the NTC, you'll learn essential nonprofit technology best practices while connecting with a community that shares your commitment to social change. This year’s NTC is a hybrid event, so you’ll enjoy a full experience whether you attend in Portland or virtually. 6. 2024 Mid-Year Meeting for Association of Zoos & Aquariums Location: Memphis, TN Dates: March 16-21, 2024 Cost: $315 - $555 depending on membership and timing Features education, networking, and social events for zoo and aquarium professionals. Peer-developed program meetings, roundtables, and workshops in an interactive format challenges attendees to collaborate with one another and promises ample opportunity to learn and discuss issues critical to institutions. 7. Nonprofit Fundraisers Symposium Location: Washington DC Dates: March 20-22, 2024 Cost: $999 - 1,199 depending on membership The Nonprofit Fundraisers Symposium is produced by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW) and The Nonprofit Alliance Foundation (TNPAF). Come gather with professionals like yourself – with 10+ years in fundraising and marketing – and join the discussions addressing the burning questions of our sector and examining the horizon to create thoughtful paths toward solutions and a thriving future. 8. Create Good 2024 Location: Durham, NC Dates: April 3-5, 2024 Cost: $175 - $275 depending on timing An event for nonprofit communicators passionate about creating positive change. We will be talking about owning comms channels, leadership, the power of planning, AI and more. 9. AFP ICON 2024 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Dates: April 7-9, 2024 Cost: $1,299 - $2,249 depending on membership and timing AFP ICON is the world’s No. 1 fundraising conference, attracting more than 3,000 fundraising professionals each year. Join us in Toronto in April for an unparalleled... --- ### What is Information Architecture? A Beginner's Guide > Learn the basics of information architecture needed to build a great website. Utilize IA for a better online experience that benefits your bottom line. - Published: 2024-02-01 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/information-architecture-101/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: information architecture, user experience, UX You want a great website. That's the easy part. It's also natural to learn that a great website is more than just a great design. But exactly what do you need? What hidden components of your website planning and building help make it successful, both for your organization and your users? In your search for those components, you'll probably come across the term information architecture. Often shortened to IA, it's as crucial to your website as blueprints are to new construction. You want a great website. That's the easy part. And you probably realize that a great website involves more than just web design. But exactly what do you need? What hidden components of your website planning and building help make it successful, both for your organization and your users? In your search for those components, you'll probably come across the term information architecture. Often shortened to IA, it's as crucial to your website as blueprints are to new construction. In this beginner's guide to information architecture, you'll learn all the basics so you can build a great website. What is Information Architecture? Just like a building needs an architectural design that places all the rooms, connects the rooms to one another, and ensures the space flows well, your website needs a basic structure behind it that makes sense to both human visitors and search engine crawlers. That structure is Information Architecture. Or, as The Information Architecture Institute explains it: Information architecture is the practice of deciding how to arrange the parts of something to be understandable. Perhaps even more so than a house, thinking about a library also serves to explain what IA is. The way the catalog is structured, and then laid out across shelves and rows, is similar to how information architecture actually works. Furthermore, libraries also utilize signs that tell you where to go, making your experience as a visitor much smoother. Applied to your website, information architecture is how all the information is structured both on the front and back-end of your website to benefit you and your audience. 4 Examples of Information Architecture In practical terms, information architecture includes elements like Sitemap: A list of all of the pages on your website, usually that indicates how the folders separate pages out into different categories. It allows you to view all of the categories and organize on a macro-level. Navigation: The menus and other elements that visitors use to move around your website. Footer design: Usually just one part of the overall IA process, but like navigation, the footer design helps users find important parts of your site, and is particularly useful for search engines. IA Diagram: A comprehensive document that includes all the elements of the IA process, most commonly the sitemap and the navigation. What are the 4 Components of Information Architecture? In their foundational book Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville broke down four core components of IA that should be considered in any website build: 1. Organizational Systems Organizational systems outline how the information will be divided. The three most fundamental systems in this category are hierarchical, sequential, and matrix-based. These systems provide the conceptual backbone for general categorization of information on your site. Examples of this include topical filtering for a blog segment, clusters of landing pages, subfolder structure, or organizing a section by date. 2. Labeling Systems Labeling systems are for representing data. These are the most visible components of the IA structure. Labels, such as a "contact" button to encourage a conversion event, intuitively tells your audience what to do and expect. Text within a menu is also part of the labeling system, as are anchor text for links and even headings on a page. Consider how this blog is outlined, for instance. We use headings as a labeling system to help you navigate through the information. 3. Navigation Systems Navigation Systems are the primary means by which users move through your site. That might include the traditional website menu, and how you design that menu to either expand or limit the users choices for moving through the entirety of the site. Maybe you want your visitors to be able to access all of the categories in your blog segment from your homepage. Or maybe you don't. You decide that when you design the navigation system. Navigation systems also include things like where you will locate calls to action in a menu or on a page. 4. Search Systems Search systems range from a search box at its most basic to a complex filtering system for larger websites. It's a way for the user to skip the navigation and go straight to their... --- ### Donor Retention: A Nonprofit Marketer's Guide > Donor retention describes how many donors give to your organization repeatedly. This page explains how to calculate and improve your donor retention rate. - Published: 2024-01-24 - Modified: 2024-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/donor-retention/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: donor retention, Nonprofit, storytelling For a long time, the nonprofit sector worked without the benefit of big data. This meant that a sense of accomplishment came with continuously recruiting new donors to the cause. We now have the benefit of a few decades of major reporting and analysis of nonprofit financials and as it turns out, constantly finding new donors usually cost nonprofits money. We also know that far fewer donors return for repeat donations than many orgs expected. So, how do we fix this problem? For a long time, the nonprofit sector, like many industries, worked without the benefit of big data. For nonprofits, this meant that a sense of accomplishment came with continuously recruiting new donors to the cause. With each new donor relationship, the org was ensuring its future, right? Unfortunately, that intuitive sense of forward momentum was wrong. We now have the benefit of a few decades of major reporting and analysis of nonprofit financials from organizations like the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. It turns out that new donors usually cost nonprofits money, and far fewer donors return for repeat donations than many orgs expected - the average is less than 50%. Effective donor retention can determine the financial stability and sustainability of a nonprofit organization over both the short and long term. If your organization can build a strong donor retention rate, you will have a base of loyal supporters that not only contribute to financial sustainability, but also amplifies your mission and fuels long-term impact. But with donor retention declining across the nonprofit sector, how can organizations ensure that their investment in courting donors translates into a long-term relationship? In this article, we’ll look in depth at donor retention rate, learn how to calculate it, and discuss various strategies to increase it. Get ready to turn your donor base from fleeting contributors to lifelong partners, building a powerful force for good in the world along the way. What is donor retention? Donor retention is a metric that captures how many donors give to your organization repeatedly. As a marketing strategy, it means focusing on maintaining relationships with existing donors, and encouraging them to continue giving month after month or year after year. By focusing on donor retention, you can increase your organization’s funds and offset the high costs associated with a strategy that focuses more on new donor acquisition. Organizations with low donor retention are forced to use a lot of time and resources on courting new donors and impactful one-time gifts. On the other hand, organizations with high rates of donor retention can create a bigger impact and make long-term plans that only come with the relative financial stability provided by ongoing, repeated donor support. How do you calculate donor retention rate? To calculate your rate, simply divide the number of repeat donors in a given year by the total number of donors from the previous year, and multiply by 100. Donor retention rate = Return Donors in Y2 / All Donors in Y1 For example, if you had 100 donors in 2023 and 75 of them donated again in 2024, your retention rate would be 75%. What is the difference between donor acquisition and donor retention? While both donor acquisition and donor retention are crucial for fundraising success, a strategy focused on acquisition, or finding first-time donors, is costly. Donor retention instead focuses on encouraging previous donors to give again. Acquisition involves raising awareness, generating leads, and converting interest into that first-time gift. Retention, on the other hand, is about stewarding existing relationships, providing exceptional experiences that deepen loyalty, and therefore inspire repeat donations. The allure of a fresh pool of potential donors can be tempting, but neglecting retention efforts is costly. It's more expensive to acquire new donors, and a high donor retention rate can be a key indicator of your organization’s future financial stability. Why donor retention matters Donor retention is not just about financial sustainability; it's about building a powerful community of dedicated advocates for your cause. Here's why it matters: Increased ROI: Retaining existing donors is significantly cheaper than acquiring new ones. This frees up resources for mission-driven activities and amplifies your impact. Increased unrestricted/special project funds: While first-time donors often give based on their specific interests and motivations, once a long term donor/organization relationship is established, donors’ giving is more influenced by the nonprofit’s needs and asks, which means you’ll have a much better chance of fundraising for special projects or initiatives with a long-term donor base. Greater stability: A loyal donor base provides predictable income, allowing you to plan for the future and weather inevitable fundraising challenges. Amplified impact: Repeat donors often give more over time, contributing significantly to your financial stability. Their... --- ### 16 Best Museum Websites in 2024 > Discover sixteen of the best museum websites in 2024 for design and marketing inspiration broken into popular types of museums. - Published: 2024-01-24 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/best-museum-websites/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums, Web Design The centerpiece of any organization’s online activities is always first and foremost: its website. Your museum may close its doors each night, but your website is open 24/7, and it’s the first place people are likely to go when they hear about you for the first time. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 15 of the best museum websites to give you some design inspiration and show you what’s possible. For museums and educational institutions all over the world, Covid-19 was a crash course in the importance of using the internet. Nearly 77% of museum professionals report that the lockdown forced them to reconsider their digital strategy. For some, this meant rethinking their approach to social media. For others, it meant investing in new ways to reach out to potential visitors through email marketing. But the centerpiece of any organization’s online activities (and digital marketing strategy) is always first and foremost: its website. Your museum may close its doors each night, but your website is open 24/7, and it’s the first place people are likely to go when they hear about you. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 16 of the best museum websites to give you some design inspiration and show you what’s possible. What Makes a Good Museum Website? A good museum website should show new visitors what it’s like to go to your institution for the first time. It should give them opportunities to explore, donate, and plan a visit. The homepage in particular should capture the feeling of your museum with eye-catching visuals of your exhibits and your interiors. There should be enough content that you can start to satisfy visitors’ curiosity while reminding them how much more there’ll be to see in person. Our Top Museum Website 1. The National Museum of Natural History What can we say? This one’s a stunner. The photo on the National Museum of Natural History’s homepage conveys a sense of scale and grandeur that instantly makes you want to see it for yourself. The human subjects in the background on the second-floor balcony are dwarfed by the 11-ton, 13-foot-tall elephant in the rotunda. A good museum homepage should welcome you to the institution in digital form and beckon you to go exploring in any number of directions. This page does exactly that — just click on the “Exhibitions” tab in the top-of-the-page navigation bar to see how many paths there are to go down. A page called “Objects of Wonder” takes users behind the scenes to one of the museum’s support centers and features an interactive map darting back and forth across the globe as you view particular objects from the collection. The web design is also kid-friendly without seeming too child-centric: photos foreground the way children can interact with the exhibits, and the simple white and teal color scheme and the large Helvetica fonts emphasize clarity and quick comprehensibility. The Best Museum Websites for History Buffs 2. The New York Historical Society Begun over 200 years ago by founders who had lived through the American Revolution and the British occupation of New York, the New York Historical Society Museum and Library preserves and displays over 400 years of the city’s history. The rotating banner at the top of the page announces the organization’s mission “Because history matters,” and rotates every few seconds between clear, high-quality images of ongoing exhibitions ranging from a history of Jewish delis, contemporary art that recontextualizes 19th-century illustrations of the Civil War, and an online virtual tour of the museum’s exhibit about Black dolls. The site’s resources are rich and the homepage moves smoothly from featured exhibitions, to a calendar of events, to programs and events and opportunities to donate. 3. The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History At first glance, the website for Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has a similar color scheme to the Funeral History Museum’s — the home page is mostly dark gray, and brownish beige fills most of the home screen. But bright pops of rust, teal, and parchment on the navigation bar’s drop-down menus suggest a muted version of the pan-African colors of red, green, and yellow. Clearly laid out and easy to navigate, the page draws visitors to the site’s numerous online exhibits, including installations about the musical legacy of Detroit’s musicians, African American resilience from the Middle Passage through the Civil Rights movement, and the stained glass portraiture of Samuel A. Hodge. 4. The Tampa Bay History Center The homepage for the Tampa Bay History Center leans into the exciting nautical history of the Florida coast, where pirates... --- ### How SEO-Focused Content Strategy Grew Traffic 597% Year Over Year > Content strategy grew a local medical practice exponentially year over year. By positioning as a resource, they attracted more patients. - Published: 2024-01-03 - Modified: 2024-01-03 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-content-strategy-roi/ - Categories: Case Studies, Health & Wellness Florida Physical Medicine, Tampa Bay's premier automobile injury medical practice, came to Big Sea with a problem: Locals didn't know who to turn to after getting hurt in a collision. They knew they needed a new website, but we knew they needed more than that. They needed to be a resource to people in pain and stress after a car accident. And to achieve that, they needed a content strategy. Florida Physical Medicine, Tampa Bay's premier automobile injury medical practice, came to Big Sea with a problem: people don't know who to turn to after getting hurt in a collision. Dealing with auto insurance is a very different process than typical medical insurance situations, so people in need are often turned away from their own doctors who don't treat auto injuries. The smart team at Florida Physical Medicine knew they needed a new website, but we knew they needed more than that. They needed to be a resource to people in pain and stress after a car accident. And to achieve that, they needed a content strategy. Developing a brand story and content strategy from day one We began our engagement by meeting with the core team of physicians across Florida Physical Medicine's four locations in Pinellas County. This gave us crucial insight into not only how their practice operates, but how they personally feel about treating patients. We could tell right away that these physicians cared deeply about helping people get back to their everyday lives after pain and injury. We quickly identified a need for new photography and video to move away from tired stock photos and help locals get to know the warm, welcoming physicians that sat around the table with us. Florida Physical Medicine had a story to tell — a story about healing. We collaborated on brand messaging that made it clear that their practice was not predatory but genuinely helpful to those navigating insurance woes and injuries. Creating a user-centric website flow During our kickoff and brand workshop, we determined what potential patients needed to accomplish upon visiting the site. By developing user personas and digging into pain points, we also uncovered multiple entry points — all of which needed full content strategies to support not only SEO but genuinely providing the information patients needed to feel better faster. It was clear that issues like neck pain, PTSD, and headaches plagued many victims of car and motorcycle accidents. A beautiful website that attracts relevant traffic won't get you anywhere without effective lead generation tactics. Building a stronger presence on social media Many physicians are too busy to engage on social media, and they miss the boat on an effective way to boost medical practice marketing. We identified which members of the team had an interest in contributing and provided consulting and initial setup to get them more involved on LinkedIn. We set up a LinkedIn page, a Twitter account, and a Facebook page for the practice. We also tapped those who wanted to contribute articles and video content to the website. Our content strategy dictated what to share on social, from traffic updates to tips for recovery. Establishing strong lead generation tactics A beautiful website that attracts relevant traffic won't get you anywhere without effective lead generation tactics. Content strategy must pair with thoughtful methods to get users into the funnel. High contrast call-to-action buttons, easy appointment request forms, and multiple points of entry for new patients gave Florida Physical Medicine the power to not only attract leads, but convert them into patients. We implemented heat mapping upon launch to optimize conversions month over month as traffic began to grow. Kicking the content strategy into high gear Thanks to a rapid-fire growth driven design process, we were able to quickly launch a sleek MVP for the practice. That freed us up to develop microsites, pages, and blog posts focusing on major symptoms and injuries resulting from car accidents. It was incredible to learn how many symptoms can arise directly after — and long after — a car accident. We tapped into the caring processes at Florida Physical Medicine to write content to help patients quickly identify ways to get help. Long-tail keyword research informed every step of the process, and within weeks of launch, the needle began to move. Whiplash after car accidents and headaches after car accident keywords deliver in the most traffic — and subsequently the most patients. As leads rolled in, we had the satisfaction of knowing they'd be in good hands. The results In Q3, at the beginning of our engagement, the client had 1,902 sessions. In Q3 the following... --- ### How to Respond to Negative Reviews: 8 Tips > Negative reviews happen to everyone. Learn how to respond to negative reviews so you can turn a negative outcome into a positive one. - Published: 2023-12-21 - Modified: 2024-05-01 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-respond-to-negative-online-reviews/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: negative PR, online reviews, Social Media, social media marketing The number one rule when responding to all criticism, even the negative type, is to stay positive. Adding more negativity to the conversation by letting yourself be drawn into a fight with a customer or user will only reflect poorly on your business. If you know you're doing the right thing and doing it the best way you're able, integrity always comes out on top. There are so many places your business can be reviewed online — Google, Yahoo, Yelp, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn — the list is long and always evolving. If you're doing something right (or seriously wrong), you're sure to have at least a few reviews out there. People are more likely to post online reviews in extreme cases — either they've had a really great experience, or something went horribly wrong. A waitress was having a bad day; a hotel room smelled like smoke; a project didn't flow the way it should have. Whatever the reason, now you've got a negative review out there and you can't do anything about it. 8 Tips for Responding to Negative Reviews Don't stress too much about bad reviews. Bad reviews may actually increase conversion rates. They definitely won't destroy your business. Still, you should have a plan for how to deal with them. Here are some tips for handling negative reviews so that you can turn them into positive feedback in the future. 1. Be thoughtful about your timing To demonstrate that you take reviews seriously, your response should be punctual, but not so immediate that it seems reactionary. In order to do be punctual, you have to know when online reviews come in. Get Google alerts for your company name, your name, and if you're brave or interested, your competitors. Start watching what's published out there about you and your industry. If you're a HubSpot customer, you can use your Social Inbox to keep track of what's being said about you on Twitter — and what people are saying about your competitors as well. 2. Respond - don't react - to negative reviews If you happen upon a negative review, don't react immediately with snappy retorts. Wait until the initial surprise of the review has passed, and you're ready to consider what aspects of the review have merit. Whatever you do, don't tell future customers about your negative reviews and complain about their inaccuracy. Especially when you haven't fixed the problem. 3. Look at each review as a chance to get it right Reviews are invaluable feedback that you would never get by simply asking. Use that information to fix what's wrong. Then, respond to negative reviews (some sites let you respond as the business owner directly to the reviews) with a detailed list of how you addressed the issue. 4. Ask for another chance If you can identify the customer, see if he or she will give you the opportunity to resolve the issue offline, then ask them to update their review. You’ll find when you satisfy a previously unhappy customer you’ll be creating one of your strongest advocates. 5. Do nothing We can't always be perfect — and that's ok. There are times when responding can turn a small blip into a big problem. In those cases, you've done everything you could on your end to rectify the issue, but the client or customer still isn't happy. Just let it go — these things happen in business. 6. Get more good reviews Encourage your customers to post reviews on the above-mentioned sites. I've seen tour groups give out a card at the end of the tour asking for TripAdvisor reviews; restaurants who ask for Yelp, Google or Zomato reviews after a customer finishes dining. Don't be afraid to ask — many satisfied customers are happy to share their experience online. 7. Take it in stride If the reviews are piling up, you have some work to do. Take them seriously. But if you're finding one or two among a pile of happiness, then let it roll off your shoulders. Consider an appropriate response but don't stew over it. Move forward and do the best you can to remedy the problems and get more good reviews. 8. Most importantly, don't hide from negative reviews Regularly check out your listings on the sites mentioned in this post and make sure you know what's going on with your brand image; how people feel about you. As a small businesses owner, it’s your responsibility to use these bits of public information to build relationships, improve customer service and enhance your products. Is it really that important to... --- ### 8 Ways to Avoid Death by Committee > "Death by committee" describes the slow death of an idea due to excessive bureaucratic attention. Learn more about how to avoid it in this guide. - Published: 2023-12-20 - Modified: 2024-09-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/8-ways-avoid-death-committee-champion-successful-digital-projects-inside/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: Consulting, lessons learned Working with a committee or a board — or even a team of executives — can be painful and challenging, both politically and intellectually. The good news is that with the proper approach and tempered tenacity, we can keep your initiatives on the rails and moving forward. “Death by committee” describes the slow, painful death of an idea, initiative or project from the stifling effects of the bureaucratic process. It’s suffocation from too much well-intentioned attention. It’s also a death we’ve witnessed firsthand on more than one occasion. Whether it’s a non-profit organization, a municipal agency, or for-profit company, there is usually a group of executives or board members who need to see and approve the work we do, and we know that organizations must make intentional efforts to attenuate the negative impact of long approval and review processes. 8 Tips for Avoiding Death By Committee Working with a committee or a board — or even a team of executives — can be painful and challenging, both politically and intellectually. The good news is that with the proper approach and tempered tenacity, we can keep your initiatives on the rails and moving forward. 1. Understand the overall goals of the board. The outcome or deliverable of our work together is not always the long-term goal of the board. How do you avoid this? You need to get the lay of the land. What problems is your digital agency pulled in to solve? A new shiny website isn’t usually the end-game. There’s always something under the surface. Make sure everything you have planned, from the actual project assets right down to the way ideas are presented and work is prioritized, aligns with their vision and addresses their true grievances. 2. Get buy-in early. Don’t wait until you have a full homepage mockup or a marketing strategy to share with the board. Bring the board in early, and get their buy-in to the high-level approach of the project or program. Work with your content or marketing strategist to put together a list of goals you’re going to achieve, and the myriad ways you’re going to try to tackle them. That includes an approach to voice and tone, some design and aesthetic mood boards, and perhaps some ideas of campaign elements. Your digital agency should be able to create whatever you need to be able to present the problems and proposed solutions without getting too specific. 3. Make sure everyone knows the timeline. A good agency’s production schedule works like a well-oiled machine, but unexpected directions can throw a wrench in the gears. Work with your board and your digital agency to establish exact milestones and deliverables that the board needs to see and approve prior to starting the project. If the project plan changes, reconfirm the production schedule with the board rather than surprising them with either more or less than they’re expecting. Share and re-confirm the agreed timeline throughout the project lifecycle. When someone starts to stray too far, ask if this new direction is worthy of the time (and money! ) it may cost your organization. 4. Bring your agency to the table. You don’t have to go it alone — that’s why you hired a digital agency! You should never be presenting strategic approach or design solo. Having experts by your side when you’re showing the work helps fortify the position and allows the agency to show their thinking. When you plan your milestones and meetings, be sure to give the agency a seat at the table. Our job is to make you look good, and to sell the decisions we’ve made together along the way. Let us do our job. 5. Ask, “Does it work? ” When reviewing assets it’s not a question of, “Do you like it? ” but, “Does this work to fulfill the goals we’ve agreed to? ” If you’ve done your job, you’ve already sold the higher-level goals of the project to the board so now, we’re just presenting the tools that will get the job done. But that doesn’t mean that everyone (and their mothers) won’t have an opinion to share. You’re going to hear, “I don’t like that color” or “The woman in that photo is too clinical” or “I can’t stand vertical lines. ” Steer the conversation away from likes and dislikes, which are subjective, to whether or not the design or content fulfills the overall goals of the project. Remember #4? Your digital agency likely did a... --- ### The Best Holiday Campaigns of the Last Century > Holiday campaigns can be some of the most memorable and effective advertising there is. See the best holiday campaigns of the last 100 years! - Published: 2023-12-20 - Modified: 2023-12-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/our-favorite-holiday-campaigns/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: ad campaigns, holiday commercials, paid ads, paid media 'Tis the season of giving … and holiday ad campaigns. What better way to celebrate than to look back on the best campaigns of the past century? Whether you nerd out on history and love seeing how advertising has changed over the last 100 years, or you just want a fun look down memory lane, check out some of the best holiday ads and campaigns for every decade since the 1920s—complete with links to the original ads, of course! 'Tis the season of giving... and holiday ad campaigns. What better way to celebrate than to look back on the best campaigns of the past hundred years? Whether you nerd out on history, you love seeing how advertising has changed over the years, or you just want a fun look down memory lane, check out some of the best holiday ad campaigns for every decade since the 1920s! Holiday Campaigns of the 1920s Let’s start with the Roaring 20s, when prohibition made eggnog a no-no (at least the fun kind) and ad campaigns were (mostly) limited to print and radio. During this period, companies started getting more creative in how to reach their audiences. Overland Sedan (1920) Seen in publications like The Saturday Evening Post, this ad was one of many that promoted the massive growth of the automobile. This particular ad also fosters the acceptance of women driving, in that cheery, condescending way. "... it's a woman's car in the sense that it is simple to operate and easy to control. " We just know some toxic folks were behind this one. The ad encourages husbands to "put your wife's initials on an Overland sedan" in order to "give her a sense of proprietorship. " Gross, but it tracks, historically speaking. Think of it as the great-grandparent of all those ads where married couples inexplicably gift each other new cars with giant bows on top. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1924) To celebrate the opening of the largest department store, Macy's started the tradition of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Of course, this particular campaign doesn't really have anything to do with Thanksgiving. It's supposed to get consumers excited for Christmas and prompt holiday shopping sprees. And with the parade just celebrating its 99th year, it's safe to say this ad campaign is chock full of staying power. Holiday Campaigns of the 1930s The early 1930s were a difficult time for advertising—and everyone else, for that matter—due to the Great Depression. But the latter part of the decade picked up as countries began to recover economically, and the US saw the end of Prohibition. (Let's drink to that! ) Coca Cola’s St. Nick (1931) Did you know that our modern-day image of Santa was largely shaped by Coca-Cola? Prior to 1931, Jolly Old St. Nick was portrayed as everything from a gaunt man to a very spooky-looking elf. Haddon Sundblom, the artist behind the modern-day Santa, drew his inspiration from the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas," also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas. " He created the Santa Claus we know today (and cemented the association with Coca-Cola's signature red and white colors). Budweiser’s Clydesdale Beer Wagon (1934 Campaign) Developed as a campaign to celebrate the end of Prohibition, the Budweiser Clydesdales are now known around the world, and have been used in different ad campaigns since their introduction in 1934. Part of the genius of this campaign? Using the horses to deliver beer to Gov. Alfred Smith in NYC and to President Roosevelt in Washington DC. In addition to various Budweiser ads throughout the years, the Clydesdales—and the Dalmatians that accompany them—are almost always featured in a Super Bowl ad. Montgomery Ward’s Rudolph (1939) He began as a coloring book character created by a copywriter as a "promotional gimmick," but he became one of the most recognizable symbols of Christmas, second only to St. Nick himself. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer—indeed the most famous reindeer of all—was born when Montgomery Ward’s marketing team decided to create their own coloring book to give away to customers, instead of buying a different coloring book to give away each year. It's a great reminder that creative direction can be the bright red nose that guides your marketing team to sleigh the competition. And the rest, as they say, is history. Holiday Campaigns of the 1940s World War II followed on the heels of the Great Depression. Even though advertising was beginning to recover, the war influenced the tone and messaging of most ad campaigns, even during the holidays. Royal Portable Typewriters (1940) This ad showcases the Christmas gift every child dreams of ... a career. Added benefit? Kids, it helps with your... --- ### How to Submit a Bug Ticket (That Resolves Your Issue) > Learn how to submit a bug ticket that actually communicates what's wrong to your team so you can get on the road to repairing your website! - Published: 2023-12-18 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-submit-a-bug-ticket/ - Categories: Tech & Code In a perfect world, you’d never need to submit a bug ticket. Everything would work perfectly 100% of the time. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world. When something isn’t working, you want it fixed pronto. Here’s how to make that happen. In a perfect world, you’d never need to submit a bug ticket. Everything would work perfectly 100% of the time. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world. When something isn’t working, you want it fixed pronto. Here’s how to make that happen. Submitting a solid bug ticket can cut down on the back-and-forth email rigamarole you’re probably all-too familiar with. Sharing the right information in your bug ticket upfront will help your developer identify and resolve the problem swiftly, meaning you can get back to work, safe in the knowledge that we are fixing your issue. By the end of this post, you will be fluent in bug ticket and free to get back to your real work! How to submit a bug ticket (that's actually useful) The key to a great bug ticket is communicating not only the problem, but the context in which the problem occurred. Like all problems, the best starting point is to articulate what the problem is, but then to follow up with what happened before (and after) the issue. The more details you can provide, the better. Don’t worry about oversharing. We will take all the details you can offer, and we will use that information to prioritize our theories and investigations. Imagine we are blindfolded and you are explaining what you see and experience step-by-step to us. The result is a comprehensive, clear explanation of the issue plaguing your website. Structure helps too. Here are the key details we need from you to get started without having to reach out with questions. If you want to get super fancy, you can follow the structure below. What should you include in a bug ticket? Here are the main components of any good bug ticket. With these, your team will have a much better sense of what's wrong (and how to help). The tech details Mobile or desktop? If mobile, what kind of phone? Operating system (Mac or PC) and version Browser type (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer) and version The steps that resulted in the issue Walk us through it step-by-step. What had you been trying to accomplish, and what was the outcome? List the pages or links on which you found errors. Cite any content, images or forms missing, if known. Include any error messages you picked up along the way. Screenshots - Always! If you can take a couple of images of what you see, attaching those will literally save you a thousand words. Take a screenshot even if you aren't sure how helpful it will be. You might be surprised at the visual information that developers can use to solve issues. The more complicated the website, the more errors you can expect. What is an example of a good bug ticket? Browser: Google Chrome 63 Operating System (OS)/Device: Mac OS X10. 9, iMac 7 Reproduction: Tried to purchase two items, click checkout. No confirmation message or email sent. Small one line error message received at top of page. Checked credit card — all valid. Problem: The purchase won’t go through, despite repeat inputs. It just goes back to the original payment input screen. In the case above, it could be a setting in the payment processor that is causing the problem (for example, expiration date settings), or perhaps a coding issue following a software update. We’ll get to the bottom of it, based on the information you provide. While we’re here, why do websites break? You’ve spent a pretty penny on a slick new site, with lots of clever functionality coded by an experienced team. Shouldn’t it just work? Truth time. You can expect anywhere between 15 to 50 errors per 1000 lines of delivered code — that’s the industry average. And that’s with a QA process. We’re scarily devoted to precision and perfection, but the truth is that some projects simply don’t have the scope to “unit test” every piece of code. The more complicated the website, the more errors you can expect. A lot of things can cause your website to malfunction. We’re talking beyond your website going down because of hardware, hosting, denial of service (DoS) attacks, or DNS issues. Read more: Why You Need to Provide Feedback... --- ### Video Content Marketing: 9 Reasons You Need It Now > Video content marketing is not something any of us can afford to ignore anymore. Discover 9 reasons to start investing in video today. - Published: 2023-12-14 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-your-marketing-strategy-should-include-video-content/ - Categories: Video Marketing - Tags: Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, marketing automation, strategic approach, video, video content Video isn’t simple, but you can’t afford to ignore it. Instead of approaching video as a challenge, think of it as an incredible tool. Today’s incredibly savvy Internet users are listening. Are you ready to speak to them? Let’s be straightforward here: Video content isn’t cheap. That fact alone prevents many businesses from investing in valuable video content. But all it takes is a quick glance at every major social media platform and media hub to know that video is absolutely everywhere. Until recently, it was very hard to make a connection between video and ROI. Now we have solid data that makes it clear that video content boosts site performance and marketing efforts. Why do you need video content marketing? Understanding how video content marketing could help your business is all about grasping the bigger picture. That is, how many people use videos, what kind of impact video content has relative to other media, and where/when you need to post video content to have the biggest impact. 1. You can do more with less Sites using video need an average of 37% fewer unique site visitors to generate a marketing response (Digital Marketing Magazine) 2. Video is increasingly synonymous with web traffic You can't escape the ubiquity of video these days. In 2022, 82% of all web traffic was video traffic. 3. Mobile users love video If phone users love something, digital marketers should probably learn to love it, too. A huge chunk of web traffic browses on a mobile device. Smartphone visits are growing at a rate of 68% yearly. (Recode) 4. Business owners value video 75% of executives watch business-related videos online at least once a week. (Insivia. ) 5. B2B buyers want video Not only do business owners value video, but B2B buyers lean toward it as well. Buyers are looking for short, informative videos to help them make purchase decisions. (Demand Gen Report) 6. TikTok is an in-road with Gen Z Gen-Z can be an illusive audience to capture, but only if you don't take advantage of video marketing. According to Backlinko, TikTok has 50 million active daily users, with over 37% of Gen-Z logging on at least once a month. (Backlinko) 7. Video boosts email campaign performance Simply seeing the word “video” in an email subject increases open rates and reduces the number of opt-outs. (Brainshark) 8. Video has major impact Brands that add video into their content marketing mix show a 66% higher average website conversion rate. (Rocketium Academy) 9. Video boosts your SEO Video is twice as likely to rank high in organic search than plain text. And users are almost twice as likely to click through. (Brainshark) Does this mean you should run out and make a video right away? Not really. As with any kind of content, video requires forethought and strategy. What do you want to achieve with video content marketing? Do you want to educate your customers about a specific product? Do you want to use a creative video to build brand awareness or good will? Will your video content be highly specialized and service-oriented, or are you trying to strike gold with the ever-elusive goal of going viral? Will you enlist the help of a video professional? An agency? Are you planning on shooting short videos with your phone and blasting them out on social media? Video has an amazing ability to influence customer behavior, so it’s very important to know what you want a viewer’s next steps to be. Every business needs a unique video content strategy. Video needs to speak directly to the right audience. Video needs to be crafted around specific business goals. You can’t wing it. Work with a team that understands video content Video isn’t simple, but you can’t afford to ignore it. Instead of approaching video as a challenge, think of it as an incredible tool. Today’s incredibly savvy Internet users are listening. Are you ready to connect with them? If you are, let's talk about how you can reach them today. --- ### 8 Admissions Yield Strategies That Work > It's never too early to think about admissions yield. Get the inside scoop on admissions yield strategies that will help you convert admits. - Published: 2023-12-11 - Modified: 2024-08-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/admissions-yield-strategies/ - Categories: Higher Education It's officially admissions yield season. While colleges and universities naturally hope for deposits the moment they begin to admit their next freshman class, spring is the time when converting admits to deposits kicks into high gear. Ah - admissions yield season. While colleges and universities naturally hope for deposits the moment they begin to admit their next freshman class, spring is the time when converting admits to deposits kicks into high gear. That means plenty of calls with prospects and regular admitted student days that allow your future freshman class to experience your campus. At the same time, digital marketing has to play a crucial role in ensuring that the students you've admitted as your future freshmen turn into the class of 2028. What is an admissions yield strategy? Since yield represents the number of students who actually attend a college, yield strategy is all about targeting accepted students, many of whom have lots of choices in schooling. College marketing and admissions offices across the country realize one thing: you cannot take admitted students for granted. According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), 36% of incoming freshmen apply to seven colleges or more. Almost three quarters, 73%, apply to four or more colleges. In addition, the Pew Research Center found that the majority of colleges and universities accept most of their applicants. Add these reports together, and the average high school student gets admitted to three or more colleges. In other words, the process of positioning yourself as the top choice for your incoming class is far from over. Two additional factors further drive that factor home: High school graduation rates continue to decline, leading to an increasingly small pool of applicants. Getting each applicant to yield as a student rises in importance. NACAC adjusted its ethics guidelines to permit colleges to recruit students even after they've been admitted elsewhere. We've yet to see the full effect of that adjustment, but it's natural to assume that this change will lead to more competitive yield marketing. How Content Marketing Boosts Admission Yield Instead of simply telling your students to make that deposit or attend that admitted student day, it (literally) pays to continue the process of convincing them that your school is the right choice. At its best, that's what content marketing at this stage of the admissions funnel can accomplish. It can take many forms. We'll discuss some of them in more depth below. Most important, though, is the fact that through relevant digital content like email, blog posts, and more, you can build a connection with your audience that helps them virtually see themselves at your institution, making them more likely to pay the deposit. Content Marketing as Admissions Yield Strategy Simply pushing out some emails or publishing some podcasts will not be enough to convince your audience that your school is the right choice for them. Instead, you have to be strategic about the content related to your admissions yield strategies. That's why leading content marketers across industries build a comprehensive content strategy. That strategy, in turn, consists of 7 clearly defined steps: Overarching goals and specific KPIs - in this case, increasing yield before and around the May 1 deposit 'deadline'. A clear definition of the audience - that means not just mentioning admitted students, but understanding their pain points and deducing the topics they want to learn more about. An understanding of your brand voice - it's the way you talk and write. Do you sound like any other school, or do you stand out from the crowd in how you address potential students? A plethora of relevant topics - based on understanding your target audience, these topics can include anything from financial aid to the student experience at your school. A content framework - that includes the channels where you'll post, and how you will develop the content. It might also include the partners you work with to create and publish it. A distribution plan - ranging from your website to social media and far beyond, this plan puts the content in front of your audience at a strategic, systematic level. Tracking and analytics - through a quality control step like this, you can make sure that your students appreciate your content and, if they don't, make adjustments. All of the above need to be developed before you can publish relevant content. The strategy ties together everything you... --- ### Content Refresh for SEO: What It Is + A Case Study Guide > Learn how to boost your SEO performance with strategic content refresh by discovering proven strategies for quick but lasting gains in traffic. - Published: 2023-12-08 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/content-refresh-case-study/ - Categories: Case Studies In the ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimization (SEO), staying ahead of the curve is crucial for maintaining and improving your website's visibility. One powerful strategy that has emerged in recent years is the concept of content refresh. In the ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimization (SEO), providing fresh, helpful content is crucial for staying ahead of the competition and improving your website's visibility. But why is that? If something's done right the first time, shouldn't that be enough? Discover why keeping your content fresh is one of the best things you can do for organic search health (yes -- even when you already have fantastic content). At Big Sea, when our site needed a quick keyword and traffic boost, we used content refresh to jumpstart our new in-house content marketing strategy. Learn why we did it, how we did it, and how our top keyword share skyrocketed. What is a content refresh? Simply put, a content refresh involves updating and optimizing your existing website content to align with current search trends and user expectations. It goes beyond mere cosmetic changes and focuses on enhancing the relevance, value, and overall performance of your web pages. There are a few reasons why content refresh is a powerful strategy, but one of the main is that recency is an important factor in Google rankings. More recent content tends to perform better because Google's algorithm wants to provide users with the latest (and most accurate) information on topics. Keeping your content fresh by renewing your research, improving the user's experience on the page, and adding new data will signal to Google that your content is high quality. What are the benefits of content refresh? The primary reason to refresh your content is to encourage improved keyword rankings in search results and increased traffic. It ensures that your content that's already performing in SERPs is as strong as possible by allowing you to optimize it for the keywords it already has. It also allows you to respond to the way that a search algorithm is interpreting your content so you can take advantages of the topical authority your site has built. Additionally, content refresh helps you keep up with shifting user preferences and search trends, enabling you to provide fresh, valuable information that resonates with your target audience. This, in turn, fosters increased user engagement, longer website visits, and a higher likelihood of conversions. Keep in mind that Google won’t reward pages that simply change their dates without significant revision. Your content updates need to be robust and provide new information/insights on/into the topic. Why does your brand need a content refresh strategy? Most of the time, SEO is a long game. One thing that distinguishes content refresh is the immediate returns you get from relatively small changes. Refresh can produce impressive results in a matter of days. They will also continue to show increased gains over several months. Other SEO strategies rarely yield such direct results. Furthermore, content refresh allows you to build on the strengths of your site, making it an effective and efficient approach to content optimization. By improving on the content that already works, or that worked well in the past, you spend less time and money on higher returns than new content publication. How does content refresh work? Now that you understand content refresh, it’s time to take a closer look at how it works. So let's look at what we did at Big Sea to make quick but substantial changes to our blog in order to kickstart our keyword gains. Here, we're just focusing on the first 30 days so you can have a sense of how quickly this strategy can impact your site. First, we’ll look at the relevant metrics, and then we’ll discuss how we got those results: Top 10 Keywords from January 2023-April 2023 Keyword growth from September 2022-April 2023 30 days to see results 10 refreshed blog pieces 33% more keywords overall 30% more top 10 keywords in the segment we targeted 47% more top 3 keywords overall & 88% in the targeted segment 16% increase in traffic in the targeted segment Here are five steps we took to get these results: 1. Identify top-performing pages Identifying our top-performing pages was the first step we took toward content refresh. By focusing on pages that are already performing well, we maximized the impact of our updates. Here’s how we broke it down: a.... --- ### 7 Admissions Marketing Video Strategies that Work > Explore 7 admissions marketing strategies that use video to grab potential students' attention. Get tips for using video at every point in the admissions funnel. - Published: 2023-12-04 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/higher-ed-admissions-marketing-video-ideas/ - Categories: Higher Education - Tags: video If you want to increase your exposure and conversions, you have to leverage video in your higher ed admissions marketing. That means more than just posting a few fun snippets of your tour guides or producing a high-gloss campus beauty shots that just happen to be moving. It means building a culture of video across all of your marketing channels, at every stage of your prospective student journey. If you're like me, you remember a time not long ago when getting a thick, well-produced glossy photo admissions booklet in the mail from a university was the gold standard for higher ed admissions marketing. That was back when the internet was something you accessed for a couple hours each night — or at least you could once your sister got off the computer! It's a different world now, and higher ed marketers have bigger challenges when it comes to grabbing and holding potential students' attention. That's why we're here to show you 7 video marketing strategies for each part of the admissions funnel that work for Gen Z and that will get results for your institution. Why admissions marketing is important for universities Admissions marketing is critical for higher ed institutions because they have to compete for incoming students the same way businesses have to compete for customers. Effective admissions marketing builds general "brand awareness," it attracts and engages prospective students, it helps universities reach out to parents who are paying at least part of the bill, and it helps maintain communication channels with alumni, whose donations are important for funding and for years mattered for ranking in publications like U. S. News and World Report. But higher ed admissions marketing is getting crowded. High school graduation rates are flat, and college enrollment has dropped by 11% since 2011. Any institution looking to recruit more and better students has to get creative to stay ahead of the curve. What admissions marketing works best for students That means delivering your value proposition in ways your audience wants to receive it. As it turns out, that's impossible to do without embracing video. As outlined in a Forbes article earlier this year, It's video or vanish for companies attempting to lure Gen Z consumers... Despite the demand for pretty pictures, video has comes to rule the social media landscape. It's a richer form of content than just text or photos and it's more versatile as well. Higher ed admissions marketing experts are catching on, recommending video as a best practice for institutions of any size and shape. It is, stated quite simply, the new reality in this industry. If you want to increase your exposure and conversions, you have to leverage video in your higher ed admissions marketing. That means more than just posting a few fun snippets of your tour guides or producing high-gloss campus beauty shots that just happen to be moving. It means building a culture of video across all of your marketing channels, at every stage of your prospective student journey. Innovation is key. As schools are flocking to video by the hundreds, you have to stay at the cutting edge of the concept. Through these 7 steps, you can improve your higher ed admissions marketing success throughout the enrollment funnel, from building your inquiry and application pool to yielding your admitted students. Admissions Marketing TOFU Videos Looking for the initial interest? Video can help. If you know how to use it, this tactic is almost tailor-made to drive inquiries and applications by breaking through the noise of social media and other digital channels. Two tactics are especially relevant here: OTT ads and VR capabilities. 1) Over the top video ad buying You might already use video in your digital ads. It's time to dig deeper than simply hoping to place a short commercial in the news feeds of a broad audience. In the age of limited higher ed marketing budgets, every exposure counts - and you have to make sure your video gets in front of the right eyes. Enter Over the Top (OTT) video ad buying. At its core, it's a better way to target your ads, focusing not just on a specific channel but digging deeper into specific audiences and demographics that become likely applicants and students. OTT ads are videos placed in front of streaming channels like Hulu and Roku TV. They allow you to reach the same audience types as traditional TV, but with far more narrow targeting possibilities: Limit your geographic reach to specific zip codes and neighborhoods. Focus on specific age groups. Build your audiences based on the TV shows and... --- ### What Are Wireframes and Why Do I Need to See Them? > Looking to learn more about website wireframes? Find out what they are, see some examples, and learn why they're a crucial component in any web project. - Published: 2023-12-01 - Modified: 2023-12-05 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/understanding-website-wireframes/ - Categories: Web Design A wireframe is a way to display the structure and hierarchy of a webpage using basic shapes, lines and, in our case, actual copy. There isn’t much design in a wireframe, just various shades of gray. (And if we’re feeling crazy you may see a star standing in for your custom icon.) But in large part, we don’t want design to distract from the purpose of the wireframe. Here are three things you should know so that the next time you reach this milestone of your project you better understand its importance and don’t just see a page of shapes. As a deliverable in the web development process, wireframes can be easily misunderstood. But prepare to make fast friends with wireframes — they have your best interests at heart. What is a website wireframe? A website wireframe is like the X-rayed skeleton of a website: it's a way to display the structure, hierarchy, and user flow of a webpage using basic shapes, lines, and limited images and copy. Typically there isn’t much design in a wireframe, though they can vary from a simple sketch to something more fleshed out. Usually the goal is to keep it simple so that you can focus on overall structure rather than details. What should be included in a website wireframe? A website wireframe should display the basic layout of information on a website. That means essential elements such as: headlines, the navigation menu, logos, images (as well as basic directions for rotating images, etc. ), videos, image galleries, headers and footers, calls to action, search fields, sign-up forms if applicable, the location and general directions for blocks of text, etc. The goal is to have a functional blueprint of what the site will look like -- one that gives the viewer a sense of the information that will be conveyed and an idea of how the page connects back to the rest of the website. How long should a website wireframe take? The amount of time it takes to build a wireframe will vary depending on the complexity of the site. A wireframe for a small business website with only half a dozen or so pages (the home page, about page, contact page, etc. ) might only take a few hours or days to prepare. Whereas more complicated websites -- especially, say, e-commerce sites -- will likely take longer, and more attention needs to be paid to sketching out the multiple different paths that are possible in the user journey on the site. All in all, you should expect to spend one to two weeks putting together the wireframe for a website. Advice for the next time you're putting together a wireframe Here are three things you should know so that the next time you reach this milestone of your project you better understand its importance and don’t just see a page of shapes. 1. Website wireframes are fundamental to user experience (UX) Web design is undoubtedly a creative endeavor, but it’s not one in which you start with a blank canvas and throw things together on a whim, nor should it be. In order to address a project’s specific needs, you need a solid game plan. At Big Sea, our process begins with content, and once that’s approved it becomes the backbone of our efforts. When we first begin a project, the goal with the wireframe is to organize the copy, calls to action, and functions of any given page that lead the user toward your desired goal. Attempting this task without visualizing it on paper or a screen would mean losing a valuable opportunity. It’s like when people say, “Now that I’m saying this out loud, I can see why it doesn’t make sense. ” Visualization helps you anticipate challenges ahead of time. Similarly, as I wireframe I can see where my ideas need revision and can anticipate issues in advance. 2. Website wireframes can be a tricky deliverable When we reach the design phase of a project, clients are excited to see color, fonts and interesting features. So, it can be understandably underwhelming when they feast their eyes on what we call the skeleton of the site. At this point, clear communication is crucial. After a brief explanation of the purpose and importance of the wireframe (which now you’ll be well-versed in), clients will have faith in the process. We don’t expect our clients to visualize a finished product at this stage but if we can agree on the relative location of headlines, body copy, photos/videos, forms, etc. we can move onto the fun stuff with confidence. Realistically, there are times when a client may struggle with a wireframe but this is where discernment on our part is crucial, and this only comes from experience. We know when it’s time to... --- ### Hiring an SEO Agency: Red Flags to Avoid > How can hiring an SEO agency go wrong? This expert guide tells you what to look for, and to look out for, too. - Published: 2023-11-20 - Modified: 2023-11-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hiring-an-seo-agency/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Searching for an SEO agency should be easy, right? Just type “SEO agency” and your location into Google and hire whoever pops up first. Not quite. Unfortunately, are the top of the list you’re more likely to find agencies that prefer keyword stuffing and other questionable SEO tactics to healthy, customer-centric SEO strategies. These “black hat” SEO agencies rank well and will promise to do the same for you, but their tactics expose your business to significant risks. Searching for an SEO agency should be easy, right? Just type “SEO agency” and your location into Google and hire whoever pops up first. Not quite. Unfortunately, at the top of the list you’re more likely to find agencies that prefer keyword stuffing and other questionable SEO tactics to healthy, customer-centric SEO strategies. These “black hat” SEO agencies rank well and will promise to do the same for you, but their tactics expose your business to significant risks. What is Black Hat SEO? Black Hat SEO agencies seek to increase website visibility in search engines through means that violate Google's policies, such as through linking and guest posting purchasing schemes that Google discourages. Using Black Hat SEO agencies can negatively impact your site's ability to perform in organic search in a number of ways, including incurring penalties from Google. Red Flags to Look for When Hiring an SEO Agency How do you weed out the black hats and find a reputable SEO agency? There are a few things to look for, and a few things to look out for, too. You can't find lots of good reviews Good reviews should be easy to find for great companies, in one way or another. Ask business colleagues or your social network on LinkedIn for recommendations. If you’re interested in a particular agency, ask them if they share customer testimonials or case studies. Happy customers are excellent referral sources. You can also look to SEO company lists from trusted industry experts, like this one from Moz. But if you can't find a lot of good reviews, and if an agency isn't forthcoming about who their clients are, what kind of work they do, and is ready to show you case studies and results, then that's not a great sign. Also be wary of “Top SEO” directory sites. Many of these are pay-to-play and will have the exact spamdexing offenders you’re trying to avoid. They don't talk a lot about your objectives Before they deploy a single SEO tactic, a good agency will want to know your objectives for search. Are you trying to drive awareness or sales, or both? Who are your customers? An SEO strategy, like any effective marketing strategy, balances business objectives with customer expectations. If the agency says they have a “secret sauce” or “one size fits all” approach to SEO, keep looking. They're promising magical results You want an SEO partner, not a magic solution. Search engine optimization strategy touches content, customer experience, owned, paid and earned media and even web design. It requires audits, customer research, discovery sessions and regular reporting. Give bonus points to agencies that promise conversation and partnership, not first-page results. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably black hat SEO. Search engine optimization is a process, not a product. If an agency boasts they can put you at the top of Google overnight, it’s a good bet they’re either scamming you or the search engines. All their recommendations are technical If you need an SEO agency to help you grow your digital brand, but the agency auditing you is only making technical suggestions, that won't help you achieve your results. Lots of SEO agencies offer great technical guidance but may not help you get the growth you're expecting (and need). A strong SEO agency will cover both technical topics and what you can do to strengthen your website content strategy. They will look at both the content and technical aspects of SEO, but they'll also consider them in the context of your broader marketing goals. Work with an agency that understands SEO and growth marketing SEO is a complex and competitive tactic in modern digital marketing, and that trend will continue as search engines algorithms become more savvy and refined. If you’re looking to boost your rankings, improve your content and create a better customer experience, be sure to search for above-board agencies that know as much about ethics and customer trust as they do about PageRank. Check out some of our SEO case studies to learn more about Big Sea's process and impact! Content SEO Strategy Yields A Massive Boost in Organic Traffic SEO Overhaul and Website Redesign Increase Leads... --- ### 11 Ways to Improve Website Page Speed > Is your website page speed score not as green and shiny as you’d like it to be? Fear not - learn how to improve website page speed 11 ways. - Published: 2023-11-09 - Modified: 2024-08-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-improve-website-page-speed/ - Categories: Tech & Code Is your web page speed score not as green and shiny as you’d like it to be? Fear not — there is an assortment of tips and tricks to bump up your score. Developers have long dreaded three small words: Google PageSpeed Insights. Salespeople and executives love to throw in a URL for testing, see a score less than 100, and inquire what can be done to improve the score. Clearly the developers need to fix their code, right? The answer is not so simple. 11 Ways to Improve Website Page Speed Is your website page speed score not as green and shiny as you’d like it to be? Fear not — there is an assortment of tips and tricks to bump up your score. (Since Big Sea heartily recommends building sites with WordPress, we’re going to use a WordPress website as our example. ) 1. Get a good hosting provider. Web hosting services make it possible for your site to appear on the web. But not all hosting is created equal. A cheap hosting plan on a shared server is not going to respond as quickly as dedicated hardware. The price of hosting varies widely, and you can easily overspend. Take the time to look at the packages available and choose an option that adequately supports your website’s traffic. 2. Make sure GZIP is supported & enabled. GZIP is a method of compressing data that takes place at the server level. It compresses common assets like images, stylesheets, and script files, which reduces loading time. 3. Compress & lazyload your images Web designers and clients typically want to upload the highest quality image they have. Unfortunately, that will completely kill a site’s loading speed. Even if an asset is compressed in Photoshop, make sure to use an compression tool like TinyPNG or Smush. Additionally, lazyload as many images below the fold as possible. Lazyloading will delay an image from loading until the user has scrolled the viewport to where the image resides. Reducing the elements needed at page load will dramatically affect speed. Plugin options are available for lazyloading, but you can also add native support by using a lazyload library in your theme. 4. Resize iframes By setting the iframe to a smaller size, you reduce the space it takes up on your page and potentially the amount of data that needs to be loaded, contributing slightly to faster page load times. Setting an iframe to a smaller size is a straightforward process that involves adjusting the HTML attributes directly responsible for the iframe's dimensions. This doesn't just make the visual representation on the page smaller; it can also help with performance, especially if the content within the iframe is heavy or complex. Here's how you can do it: 1. Locate the iframe code: First, find the HTML code for the iframe you want to resize within your website's source code. This is typically an `` tag with various attributes. 2. Set width and height attributes: The 'width' and 'height' attributes of the iframe tag determine its size on the page. Decide on the new, smaller dimensions for your iframe based on your page layout. Then, set these dimensions directly within your iframe tag. For example: html This snippet sets the iframe's width to 600 pixels and its height to 400 pixels. Ensure that the dimensions chosen are adequate for the content you expect to load within the iframe, so it remains user-friendly and doesn't compromise the content visibility. 3. Use CSS for more control: For a more responsive design, you might want to use CSS to set the iframe size, which allows the iframe to resize based on different screen sizes and devices. Remove the 'width' and 'height' attributes from the iframe tag and instead use CSS rules either within your style sheet or inline. For example: html Or within a style sheet: css iframe { width: 50%; height: 400px; /* Additional properties for border, etc. */ } This approach is more flexible, especially when dealing with multiple devices with different screen sizes. 4. Test the changes: After resizing the iframe, it's essential to test your webpage to ensure that the new size doesn't negatively impact the content visibility or layout. Check this on various browsers and devices to make sure it's consistently effective and responsive. Remember that the iframe's content is a separate webpage with its own assets and... --- ### 10 Ways to Boost Content Marketing Lead Generation > Discover expert tips for boosting content marketing lead generation and maximize your ROI while increasing visibility and brand trust. - Published: 2023-11-08 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/content-marketing-lead-generation/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO Engaging, shareable content does indeed help you gain brand awareness and establish your credibility as a thought leader. But more importantly, content marketing lead generation can be the missing piece that helps you fill your funnel and accomplish your business objectives. What's content for? A whole lot of us are producing content because... well, we’ve been told our customers like it. And it’s true that both B2C and B2B buyers are consuming it at record rates. Engaging, shareable content boosts your site's performance in organic search results, builds awareness of your brand, and establishes your credibility as a thought leader. But content marketing is also a powerful way to generate leads, and that could be the missing piece that helps you fill your funnel and accomplish your business objectives. 10 tips to generate leads through your content marketing 1. Know your target audience Learn as much as you can about your customer — their needs, demographics, psychographics, and habits. Creating a buyer persona, a fictional profile of your ideal customer, is a useful way to humanize your audience and increase the effectiveness of your content marketing lead generation. 2. Center your audience in the conversation Don’t be the person at the party who hogs the conversation. Yes, your features and benefits are important — but show them you understand their problem first. The formula is pretty simple: Relate to your audience through their challenges and their needs. Provide evidence that you have the tools to solve them. Give them enough information to want to learn more. Point them to the next piece of content that helps them on their customer journey. 3. Show impact to make your content marketing stand out People value content that provides clear value, usually by answering their questions or solving their problems. Give your audience facts and data that can help them make a decision or gain a competitive edge. Support your content with credible sources — or better yet, statistics you gather yourself. High-value, fact-packed content pieces like infographics, how-to videos, and case studies help position you as an expert and trusted resource. People seek out content because they want to solve a problem or answer a question. Remember that buyer persona? What information does that person want or need? 4. Don't overestimate traffic, views, and impressions While we would never recommend you neglect your KPIs, it's important not to so overestimate traffic, views, and impressions that you forgot to create content that showcases your skills, expertise, or pain points. Relatable, niche, unique, high-value content should be part of your strategy, regardless of whether each piece performs optimally. The value of maintaining a relatable, rounded digital brand persona is greater than any one piece of content. Just make sure you promote your content on your website and/or the right social channels. Most importantly -- only gate it where it makes sense. Structured distribution of your content through targeted email, relevant social media, and other channels can help you get your messages out to the right prospects. 5. Personalize your content Personalizing content can be an effective tool for connecting with your audience. Product recommendations, offers based on geographic location, and CTAs tailored to a visitor’s stage in the buyer’s journey are a few of the ways to add a personal element to your content marketing. But don’t be creepy — we’ve all had the experience of feeling like our tech is tracking everything about us. Too much personalization can be off-putting to a marketing prospect, especially if you deliver it somewhere they’re not expecting to see it. 6. Become a jack-of-all-media-trades The more you diversify your media offerings, the more types of audiences you'll come into contact with. We’ve already talked about the power of video, but there are other ways to engage. Calculators, interactive infographics, online polls, automated chat — anything that provides an interactive experience — will keep your audience on your content longer and increase their interest in your products and solutions. 7. Produce different types of content for different learning styles If you’re trying to educate your audience you need to understand how they learn. Some people process information visually, through means like video, images, and infographics. Some are auditory learners who might find a podcast or recorded webinar a more effective way to learn. And some are kinesthetic, preferring engagement through a hands-on experience like an interactive web tool. Ideally, you’ll have content that meets the needs of each of... --- ### What is Marketing Data? + What Data to Collect > Marketing data doesn’t equal better marketing unless it’s the right data. Identify the real key performance indicators for better insights. - Published: 2023-11-07 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-data/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing Data is great, but having a lot of data doesn’t add up to better marketing unless it’s the right data. And to get the right data, you have to be tracking the right key performance indicators for each specific type of content you produce. We love marketing data here at Big Sea. Conversion ratios and click-through rates are our jam. But having a lot of data doesn’t add up to better marketing unless it’s the right data. And to get the right data, you have to be tracking the right key performance indicators for each specific type of content you produce. What is marketing data? Marketing data is any data collected about marketing efforts that helps you understand, describe, improve, and reproduce them. Colloquially, when people discuss marketing data, they probably mean a handful of things: Demographic Data: Who are you trying to understand better? Demographic data covers essential information such as people's names, ages, income, location, education, etc. Account-based Data: Who are you? Data about the organization itself including company name, location, size, classification, industry, revenue, etc. Sales & Pipeline Data: Who is in your pipeline, and how does your pipeline work? Data about leads, contacts, closing rates, etc. Chronographic Data: What's happening? Data about important events that could impact insights into other marketing data, such as holidays, company mergers, company acquisitions, new drives and campaigns, etc. Web Analytics & Intent Data: What happens on your website? How do they get there? Data about visitors, sessions, clicks, engagements, downloads, purchases, forms, etc. Proprietary vs. Public Data: Proprietary data is information where the rights to the data are restricted, whereas public data is open access. What is the difference between qualitative vs. quantitative data? 1. Marketing data starts with the buyers journey Enthusiastic but inexperienced marketers—or salespeople posing as marketers—view “conversions” or “sales” as the Holy Grail of all metrics. Expecting that a blog will convert a visitor into a customer, and will do so at the same rate an ebook will convert nurtured leads into customers, is unrealistic. Blogs drive new traffic and encourage return visits. They’re not supposed to sell, so stop measuring their conversion rate. Before you set a single KPI, map out where each piece of content falls in your buyer’s journey and what the next realistic step is for the buyer after engaging with the content. An easy way to do this is to first put all of your content in a persona journey matrix. How do you map a buyers journey? The kind of data you collect (and will be able to collect) will depend on the stages of your buyers journey. Each buyers journey will be unique to their organizations. However, here are some key players that appear in many buyers journeys: New visitors: People who are just discovering your brand/website for the first time. Leads: People who have the potential to become a client. Qualified Leads: A prospect generated by the marketing team that has been vetted by the sales team. Customers: Someone who has completed a sale in the past, and often someone you want to re-target in the future. What type of content is consumed at each stage of the journey? Knowing what kind of marketing data you want to collect about your own campaigns hinges on understanding who will be seeing what types of content. The goal is to better understand how they'll move through the pipeline. Here's a quick refresher on the types of content you might have and their traditional function in the buyer’s journey. 2. Set KPIs based on your funnel The second pitfall marketers fall into is paying equal attention to all the data. There is an overabundance of data available when it comes to digital marketing. You can track everything: views, sessions, new visits, returning visits, sources, referrals, times, clicks, comments, likes, and on and on it goes. When you measure everything, it’s difficult to decipher which data points reflect movement toward your goals. The solution is to measure what matters for each type of content. Conversion ratios don’t matter to blogs, but the indicators below do. They show interest, commitment and appreciation. Those emotions can motivate a visitor to take the next step and download a white paper or sign up for a newsletter. What are KPIs? Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are data you select that are important to the goals of your organization. They can include things like Visits (obviously) Time spent on page Depth of... --- ### 11 Nerdy Pumpkin Carving Ideas to Try This Halloween > Happy Halloween! We love any reason to bring a little geek into our holiday decorating, and these nerdy pumpkin carving ideas do the trick. - Published: 2023-10-27 - Modified: 2023-10-27 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-nerdy-pumpkins-sitting-on-a-gate/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: Andi's World, geek pumpkins, holidays, nerdy pumpkins Happy Halloween, everyone! We love any reason to bring a little geek into our everyday holiday decorating, and these pumpkins suit the purpose. Here are my top five geeky pumpkins, and yes, in order. Happy Halloween, everyone! Some people like their pumpkins spooky. Here at Big Sea, we like our pumpkins nerdy. So here are my top 11 nerdy pumpkin carving ideas! They're in order, but I won't tell you of what. 1. The WordPress Pumpkin Great use of a symbol we love. And look at all that illuminated negative space! You're getting the primo pumpkins when you start seeing that. 2. The Octocat (github) Pumpkin Case in point: this pumpkin right here. Look how they skinned the surface to let light through for the face. Anyway, when you stare at the cat all day, you might as well make it festive. 3. The Fail Whale Pumpkin R. I. P. Fail Whale. (Actually, RIP Twitter at this point, I suppose. ) I love this pumpkin, because I love this image. Intricate and delicate and difficult. No way I'd be this patient. 4. JQuery Ghost Pumpkin This rad pumpkin also looks more intricate than I'd be able to manage, but I love the idea of the ghost fading in... 5. The Pantone Pumpkin Orange is one of my favorite colors, and I love that a designer found this pumpkin's perfect shade. 6. The Doge Pumpkin First there was Doge. Then there was Dogecoin. Now, there's Doge Pumpkins. 7. The Tri-Force Pumpkin It's dangerous to go alone! Take this pumpkin. This was also made in house at Big Sea! Jeez, we've got some talented carvers... 8. Ron Swanson, the Pumpkin Created here at Big Sea, this might not be nerdy, exactly. But it's definitely awesome. 9. The Lumpy Space Princess Pumpkin Adventure Time, anyone? This is another carving from one of our Halloween parties. 10. Pumpkins in Pumpkins, Evil Version Is it wrong? Yes. Immoral? You bet. But it's a pumpkin-eat-pumpkin world out there, and sometimes our gourds reflect that. 11. Pumpkins in Pumpkins, Good Version Now this we can support. Look how happy he is! (Though in today's market, I don't even want to think about the mortgage on that thing. ) And I know what you're thinking: yes, using pipe cleaners is cheating. But we're allowing it. Send us your nerdy pumpkin carving ideas! I don't usually get too creative with my pumpkins (my kids and neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate the humor anyway), but I love seeing these photos when you all do! Send us more pics of your nerdy pumpkins! --- ### HARO Link Building: How to Get High Quality Links the Right Way > Find out how to use HARO for link building and PR to get your message in front of more people and establish yourself as an expert. - Published: 2023-10-26 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/haro-link-building/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: digital media, PR Help a Reporter Out (known as HARO) helps journalists find sources for their stories. But, you don't have to be a journalist to benefit from this free, powerful resource. You can use it to identify PR opportunities that boost your digital marketing strategy. Thought leadership, social proof, link juice — it's all at your fingertips with HARO, if you're willing to put the work in to become a source. Help a Reporter Out (known as HARO) helps journalists find sources for their stories. But, you don't have to be a journalist to benefit from this free, powerful resource. You can use it to identify PR opportunities that boost your digital marketing strategy. Thought leadership, social proof, link juice — it's all at your fingertips with HARO, if you're willing to put the work in to become a source. HARO is free, but you need to be strategic with your time to get the most out of it. The return is absolutely worth the investment if you approach it thoughtfully. Here's how to use HARO for digital marketing and start getting featured as an expert source. What is HARO? HARO is a service that allows reporters to find experts to provide quotes or insights into the stories they are covering. It sends emails to a listserv that you can sign up for with queries directly from reporters, newspapers, magazines, and high profile blogs. HARO sends three messages per day -- morning, afternoon, and evening -- and will send as many emails as categories you selected when you signed up. Here's an example of what an email looks like from HARO: Example Emails from HARO How do you use HARO for link building? Should a journalist find your contribution fitting, they'll feature it in their content, often with a backlink to your site, which serves the dual purpose of enhancing your site’s SEO through high-quality, organic links and elevating your brand's visibility and authority in the public sphere. This symbiotic relationship not only supports journalists in crafting well-informed pieces but also helps brands like yours secure valuable media coverage, driving traffic and building trust with a wider audience. Sign up for HARO. Search the digests for keywords related to your business and area of expertise. Set up an automated email filter or folder for all HARO digests (they send 3 each day). Set up headshot & bio. Start replying to queries! Follow the directions. Double check and make sure you followed the directions. Be patient. You'll respond to dozens of queries before you get picked up. Be polite, helpful, and reciprocal. Enjoy getting your name out there! 6 Steps to a perfect HARO response Here are six easy steps you can follow to use HARO perfectly: 1. Figure out what you're an expert in HARO is all about journalists finding knowledgeable sources. Are you planning on speaking on the topic of digital marketing? Are you an expert in aromatherapy or teeth whitening? Journalists typically aren't looking for general response. They want expertise and focus. Have a good sense of what you can speak to before you start digging into queries or you'll waste your time. Once you know exactly what topics you can address as an expert source, it's simple to find relevant queries. Simply search the exact phrase in your email client. Example: "dog sitting" "HARO" 2. Sign up for a free HARO account Sign up for a free HARO account as a source. Here's where things start getting strategic right away. When you sign up for HARO, you will be asked to choose from a few different types of inquires such as "High Tech," "Business and Finance," and, of course, "General. " However many you choose, HARO will reach out three times a day. To cut down on clutter, either use a separate email address for this or use an email address with a robust filtering capabilities. (You're good to go if Google powers your email. ) Signup instructions from helpareporter. com 3. Put together a quick bio and a headshot Many reporters ask for a headshot, but you can't send attachments when you reply to HARO queries. So upload a good headshot to your website or to Imgur so you can send a link in your HARO response. Save a super short bio (100 words or less) and a longer bio (no more than a paragraph) somewhere you can easily access them, like Google Drive. Yes, you have to write a bio. And yes, everyone hates writing bios. At least this way, you only need to do it once or twice. Stick to work-related accomplishments, establish why you're... --- ### Donation Forms for Nonprofits: 5 Easy UX Tips > Discover the right elements to create powerful donation forms for nonprofits that drive revenue and help you fulfill your mission. - Published: 2023-10-19 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/donation-forms-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Raising money online is a necessary part of nonprofit fundraising. If you’re going to spend the time, resources, and expertise to bring in online donations, design a donation form that will change the curious into contributors. Long gone are the days when fundraising took place exclusively at a bake sale, silent auction, or even a gala. For nonprofit organizations of every size, raising money online has become a necessary — and often pricey — enterprise. If you’re going to spend the time, resources, and expertise to bring in online donations, you need to use a format that’s going to change the curious into contributors. 1. Make it really, really easy Don’t put bumps in the road — donors will bounce! Keep it simple. Put your logo and nonprofit info at the top, use a very clear and engaging hero image, and keep your copy in the “need to know” realm. We recommend using 5 or fewer gifting options, and always add a box for other donation amounts. You may end up with higher donation values that way. Use as few fields as possible. Think about how short and sweet your lead generation form is. Go that way. Point out required fields very clearly. Donors don’t like getting to the bottom of the page and realizing they’ve missed something. Keep your “submit” or “donate” button large and clear and always, always collect email addresses. Tip: your donation form also serves as a lead gen opportunity, so don’t let all this great donor information go to waste. It's important to make things as simple as possible. The fewer clicks and hoops to jump though the more likely someone will be to give. Leverage one-click donor opportunities similar to Amazon's one-click buying and be sure to accept donations in a multitude of ways such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo, or even Cryptocurrency. -Jen LaRue, Big Sea, Associate Vice President, Marketing 2. Make it mobile-friendly Desktop sites and mobile sites are different and so is their UX. This isn’t anything you don’t already know. Think about mobile and desktop users when designing your forms and the pages they live on. You might even vary your mobile CTA to drive traffic to your Facebook page. On mobile, less is more, and that goes double for donation forms. Donors don’t need the clutter — they’re here to make a trade. You tell them an incredible story about your organization and what it does — and they’ll give you information, and hopefully donations, through this form. So keep distractions and animations to a minimum. And it’s not just about being pretty and user-friendly. Ever since Google moved to mobile-first indexing, mobile optimization has become a key ingredient in any web development or design recipe. Bad optimization can kill your rankings, which brings conversions down. 3. Make it fast This applies to mobile forms in particular. When it comes to mobile conversion, we often see potential donors bounce from forms because they load too slowly. On mobile sites, a one-second loading delay can decrease your overall conversions by up to 7%. If you aren’t getting the mobile conversions you were hoping for, analyze your page speed using Google's Lighthouse tool. Adjust your code and content accordingly — especially when it comes to images. 4. Make yourself available Use a live chat feature as part of your UX strategy to answer any donor questions. In some cases, donors might leave your site because they simply aren’t sure about what the organization does, where the money might go, etc. A live chat (and a very, very responsive one) can help increase conversions by guiding donors over the bridge. Tip: be prepared to work some additional features of your organization in your chat response. It may sound sales-y, but this can be a critical close-the-deal kind of moment. 5. Make it yours Your donation form, no matter where it’s located, needs to integrate seamlessly with the rest of your branding. This is supremely important when your donation form is on a landing page or pop-up — which users can often mistake for ads and spam. If your form UX looks and sounds like you, donors will know they’re in the right place. We recommend using a program like Funraise, which lets you customize your forms’ content, layout, and design — then embed it into your website easily. You can set custom questions, recurring frequencies, provide an impressive... --- ### How We Generated $6,000 With One Healthcare Email Newsletter > By tweaking the newsletter strategy, our healthcare client averages $2,000 monthly, with some months generating over $6,000! Here's how we did it. - Published: 2023-10-18 - Modified: 2023-11-01 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/successful-healthcare-newsletter/ - Categories: Health & Wellness The dental practice newsletter had always generated revenue, but typically it was less than $1,000 monthly. By tweaking the newsletter strategy to better align the audience, we now average $2,000 monthly, and with some months generating over $6,000. Six-thousand dollars, from one monthly newsletter. Here's how we did it. Creating Smiles, a dental practice with locations in St. Petersburg and Clearwater that specializes in dentures, emergency dental work, and Invisalign for adults, has been an inbound marketing client with Big Sea for six years. We've managed the production and content of their practice’s email newsletter for most of that time. In traditional inbound content marketing models, newsletters fall somewhere between Attract and Convert. You are either nurturing leads with your newsletter, or you are convincing them to pull the trigger — that is, pick up the phone and schedule an appointment. Six thousand dollars, from one monthly newsletter. The newsletters we send for Creating Smiles are sent to an audience of existing patients, so the purpose was not to convert a lead but to create evangelists and encourage them to make their next appointment. Solidly in the Delight column of the buyer's journey. And while considered a successful tactic, generating revenue each month, it was typically less than $1,000 monthly. By tweaking the newsletter strategy to better align the audience, we now average $2,000 monthly, and with some months generating over $6,000. Six thousand dollars, from one monthly newsletter. Here's how we did it: We aligned our content strategy across platforms. Our regular check-ins with the client kept us informed in advance of their upcoming Invisalign promotion. That made it easy to develop a content campaign that supported the positioning that Invisalign is a great alternative for adults who need braces. We created a halo effect around the topic — Invisalign for adults — by updating and expanding the Invisalign page with keyword rich content and videos. We wrote complementary blog content and shared supporting content on social. The content in the newsletter was audience-focused. We did our keyword research to know the most common questions asked about Invisalign. Aligning our content across channels meant we already had much of this content on a variety of pillar pages. We shared more ... and less. The traditional newsletter had several content modules with very short snippets of actual copy and links driving to the website. This is a standard strategy for newsletters — something for everyone, and lots of click measurement. We turned this strategy on its head, with fewer content modules and long-form copy around the key topic (Invisalign) right there in the newsletter. The result was a more focused and purposeful newsletter that offered valuable content, and asked for the one click that mattered. We structured the ask. The only call-to-action that got a shiny button encouraging users to click was for the Invisalign promotion. The hypothesis was simple and effective. Offer users enough content in the newsletter before the CTA, so when they get there they are prepared to click. After reading answers to the most commonly asked questions about Invisalign, the user was offered a special, limited-time promotion for Invisalign with a dentist they already trusted. We ended on a high note. For those users who didn't immediately click that button and exit the newsletter, we reinforced the brand relationship by sharing an engaging five-star review. We gave the review a graphic treatment to make it really stand out. These five-star review graphics are also great for social media content. We wrote the subject line last. The email marketing platform we work with forced us to do this, and I think it's secretly brilliant. Rather than focusing on "nailing" the subject line, I focused on the topic: Invisalign. I thought about the journey I expected the user to take: Read the newsletter content. Visit the Invisalign promotion page. Schedule an appointment. Working backward from that goal, we were able to come to the subject line organically. The content is about straightening and improving your smile. The promotion is only available through the summer. Summer is the season for smiles. Is yours ready? The results definitely created a few smiles. 26% open rate 9 appointments scheduled $687. 89 average spend $6,191 revenue earned What's your newsletter strategy? If you think your newsletter could be doing more for your healthcare practice, drop us a line! We'd love to show you how you and your patients can get more from email marketing. --- ### Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency? Here Are 8 Must-Ask Questions > Hiring a digital marketing agency is about more than asking for a portfolio. Read on to discover expert questions you can ask agencies. - Published: 2023-10-17 - Modified: 2023-10-17 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/questions-to-ask-digital-marketing-agency/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Great work and a strong portfolio only showcase some of what a digital marketing agency can do. People and processes are the secret sauce that separates a good agency from a great one. How do you find an agency that approaches marketing from a strategic perspective? By asking pointed questions and knowing what a good answer looks like. The rest — like whether or not you actually want to work with these people — has to come from your gut. Great work and a strong portfolio only showcase some of what a digital marketing agency can do. People and processes are the secret sauce that separates a good agency from a great one. How do you find an agency that approaches marketing from a strategic perspective? By asking pointed questions and knowing what a good answer looks like. The rest — like whether or not you actually want to work with these people — has to come from your gut. Don't be afraid to trust yourself, but first, start with these questions. 8 Questions to ask when hiring a digital marketing agency Before you dive into these questions, make sure you've done your homework by requesting portfolios, reviewing the agency's website, asking for referrals, and inquiring about a quote. You want to make sure you have a solid understanding of the agency so you can ask good follow-up questions and seek clarity where you need to. 1. What is the onboarding process like? The beginnings of a relationship are important for learning about each other, setting goals, understanding expectations, and establishing a plan. A strong digital marketing agency already has procedures in place to make this happen. They should be confident in sharing what will happen each step of the way, and you should be excited to begin. Want to know what a good kickoff meeting looks like? Here's what goes into planning a project kickoff that starts your relationship with a powerful foundation for marketing. 2. Are you a full-service agency? The more capabilities your digital marketing agency has the better. Ask your agency if they have design, development, copywriting, and marketing teams in-house or whether they outsource the work. Most agencies will outsource at least some extra work (like writing blogs or social media, for example) but it's easier to work with an agency that keeps most of the projects entirely in-house. This way, you develop a relationship with your team and they understand your goals and brand identity. 3. How do you measure success? A successful project begins with solid goals. Ask your digital marketing agency how they plan to define and measure success throughout the project. The most important thing is that you are both on the same page and are striving for the same outcome. Typically, an agency will want to set SMART goals, which means Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Here's a little more on what goes into setting marketing goals. 4. What is the timeline for my project, and when can I expect to see success? We know you’re excited, but a good marketing strategy takes time to create, and, depending on what you’ve done in the past, it can take up to six months to see results. Having an idea of what will happen — and when — can ease impatience and create understanding between you and your agency. Ask to see a timeline (they should be able to provide an estimated timeline, at minimum) but understand that timelines are variable and no one can give you an absolute answer on how many leads you'll get and exactly when. Which brings us to the next question you should ask... 5. How do you deal with unknowns? Even when everything is clearly laid out in a contract or marketing strategy, unknowns are bound to pop up. The best agencies have a plan in place for the unplanned. Big Sea has adopted the Agile methodology, which allows us to respond to change quickly and adapt our schedule. Your digital marketing agency should be able to do that, too. Embrace unknowns as opportunities to grow and pivot when necessary. But if you feel like the unknowns are about who you are and what you want to achieve, there may be an issue. 6. How often will we meet about the project? When will I receive updates? This is another question that helps set expectations. Every project is different, and when and how you meet with your marketing team will change throughout the project. Do you want to be involved every step of the way, with a quick touch base phone call each week? Or do you prefer to only hear from your team when... --- ### How SEO for Museums Can Grow Attendance and Membership > Learn how SEO for museums can help draw more visitors and engage new donor communities with this expert guide. - Published: 2023-10-13 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-for-museums/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: museum, museum digital marketing, SEO To successfully draw in new visitors and donors, museums must take into account how potential patrons navigate information online. This requires an understanding of how internet search results and rankings can affect your institution’s online presence and popularity. Since the drastic changes brought on by Covid-19 in 2020, museums have been forced to fully reckon with today’s digital landscape. While this has often been a challenge for a field in which physical, in-person experiences are paramount, many museums have creatively engaged with new audiences by building a stronger digital presence. With visitation levels still lagging behind pre-pandemic levels, museums must continue to fulfill their mission with online programming, paying special attention to how their patrons navigation information they normally provide in-person. Of course, this requires an understanding of how internet search results and rankings can affect your institution’s online presence and popularity. By strategically employing search engine optimization (SEO) in your museum website design and content, you can reach more potential visitors, raise money, book more events, and grow your institution’s brand awareness both within your community, and beyond. Why museums should leverage SEO Your website is often the first experience people have with your museum. Most visitors use Google to find important resources on your site such as maps, location, hours, and ticketing information. Making sure your website appears in Google search results — and in the way you want it to — is crucial to providing your visitors a great experience both online and in person. But visitation information is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the things you could be optimizing for. SEO can draw in more museum visitors and members by increasing your website’s traffic and engagement, allowing more people to learn about your museum. Using SEO effectively by targeting keywords allows your institution to become more visible to more people. Explaining SEO in the museum context At its heart, SEO is about making sure your website and content is listed in the search engine results – ideally near the top of the page – when a user is searching for your institution or something related to your offerings. In other words, museums can target a combination of branded keywords (i. e. keywords associated with your museum's name specifically) and unbranded keywords that relate to your collection, exhibits, research, or other offerings. For instance, when you perform a Google search for “Tampa Bay history,” the first result is the Tampa Bay History Center, a Smithsonian-affiliated museum with whom Big Sea proudly partners. A related, more general search, “Tampa Bay museum,” also yields the Tampa Bay History Center homepage as the first result. This means that this museum is killing the SEO game — ranking highly for searches close to their full brand name, but also for related, unbranded search terms in their area. In the end, great SEO effectively gets a museum's content, exhibits, and special events in front of more eyes than ever. What are the benefits of SEO for museums? While regular, local patronage is valuable, that’s not always enough for an institution to both maintain its collections and grow. Being visible in organic search results allows people outside of the community to find you. This is especially useful when trying to target tourists or get your museum a national audience. Here are some of the benefits of SEO for museums: Increase in Organic Traffic and Visibility: By optimizing for relevant search terms, a museum can increase its organic (non-paid) search engine rankings, leading to more visitors discovering the museum online. This can translate to increased physical visitation and broader recognition. Cost-Effective Long-Term Growth: Compared to paid advertising (like PPC campaigns), SEO provides sustainable and often more cost-effective results over the long term. Once the museum ranks well for specific keywords, it can continue to get traffic without paying for each click or impression. Local Engagement and Tourism Boost: Many tourists and locals alike use search engines to find places to visit. By optimizing for local search and appearing in "near me" queries, museums can capture the attention of potential visitors planning trips or seeking cultural experiences in the area. Enhanced Online User Experience: A significant part of SEO involves improving website usability, speed, and mobile-friendliness. By investing in these areas, museums ensure a positive user experience, leading to longer website visits, more engagement, and a higher likelihood of physical visits. Stay Competitive in the Digital... --- ### 5 Benefits of Emotional Intelligence at Work > Explore 5 benefits of emotional intelligence at work, learn how to raise your EQ, and discover Big Sea's emotionally intelligent core values. - Published: 2023-10-10 - Modified: 2024-08-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-emotional-intelligence-can-make-you-better-at-your-job/ - Categories: News & Culture Emotional Intelligence is defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Everyone has room for improvement when it comes to EQ, but especially if they interact with others in the workplace. Emotional Intelligence is defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Everyone has room for improvement when it comes to EQ, especially if they interact with others in the workplace. What is Emotional Intelligence? (EQ) Emotional Intelligence (EI), often referred to as EQ (Emotional Quotient), is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and regulate emotions—both in oneself and in others. Unlike traditional intelligence, which typically focuses on cognitive and logical abilities, emotional intelligence centers on our emotional aptitude and competency. It's generally taken to comprise Self-awareness Self-regulation Motivation Empathy Social skills What are the benefits of emotional intelligence at work? A large part of our job at work is communicating with coworkers and our clients. Being an effective communicator is not only personally fulfilling, but it also creates trust and rapport. Ultimately the end product, the result of the work we do together, benefits from efficient and clear communication fostered by emotional intelligence. Employees, as well as clients, feel heard and supported in an environment with high EQ. (If you're looking for a more tangible carrot, high emotional intelligence has been linked to higher salaries. ) 1. Work together effectively People with high emotional intelligence work better in teams. They are attuned to the emotions of their colleagues and can sense conflicts before they escalate. By understanding and respecting differing perspectives and emotions, they foster an environment where collaboration thrives. This makes problem-solving smoother and promotes a harmonious workplace atmosphere. 2. Make better decisions Decisions influenced by unchecked emotions can lead to undesirable outcomes. Those with a high EI can discern between their emotions and the objective facts, leading to decisions that are more balanced and informed. They understand the emotional implications of their choices, ensuring that decisions are made with both logical and empathetic considerations. Read more: The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence >>> 3. Get promoted faster Leaders with emotional intelligence are more effective and respected. They can gauge the mood of their team, provide motivation, and address concerns with compassion. By understanding what drives their team emotionally, these leaders can tailor their approach to inspire, guide, and garner the best results from each team member. Read more: Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important in Leadership >>> 4. Be happier at work Employees with high EQ often find more fulfillment in their roles. They're able to navigate workplace challenges with a balanced perspective and can manage stress more effectively. As a result, they tend to find it easier to navigate through challenges, making them less likely to burnout or experience high turnover. Companies that recognize and prioritize EQ can help spread these effects by cultivating a supportive and understanding work environment. 5. Stress less Stress is unavoidable in the workplace, and it often stems from the unexpected. It's how we treat each other at times of high stress that sets the tone in the office. Unfortunately, stress often fosters a communication breakdown. It can make us irritable and impatient. Developing a high EQ can help you self-regulate and manage those feelings and allow clear communication between coworkers and clients. The result? More progress and fewer trips to the snack closet to eat your feelings. In all seriousness, the result is a stronger team that communicates when things are great and when things are hard. Read more: Crisis Management: Firefighting With the Right People >> Emotional intelligence at work: Big Sea's core values At Big Sea, our core values reflect how deeply we value and embrace emotionally intelligent ways of doing marketing and business. Check out our core values and how they help us thrive as an agency. Positively Impact At the heart of our work is the genuine desire to make a difference. "Positively Impact" is our commitment to ensuring that our actions, decisions, and interactions consistently uplift and benefit our colleagues, clients, and the broader community. We believe that by approaching challenges with optimism and empathy, we can create solutions that have a lasting, positive influence. Own It Accountability and responsibility are key tenets of emotional intelligence. "Own It" means embracing our roles wholeheartedly, taking initiative, and seeing things through to completion. Whether it's a... --- ### The Robots are Coming: A Guide to AI Content Marketing > AI content marketing is the future of digital marketing. Find out how it works and what are the best ways to use it smartly and ethically. - Published: 2023-10-09 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/a-guide-to-generative-ai-and-marketing/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing - Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Content Marketing, Content Strategy AI has been around for years now, so why is it making such a huge splash right now and how might it reshape the way people do content marketing? You can credit that to OpenAI's release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022. ChatGPT is a generative AI tool built on OpenAI's GPT-3 family of large language models (LLM). Quite simply, it allows users to enter a prompt to generate content in whatever style, format, or structure they dictate. Scary, right? It can be, but not to worry – it's just a tool like any other, and we're here to tell you what you actually need to worry about when considering integrating AI into your marketing operations – and how to make it work for you. What is AI content marketing? While AI might sound unfamiliar or scary, you've probably been using it a lot longer than you think. Grammarly is a great example of AI that we've come to trust and depend on as writers. McKinsey reports that adoption of AI technology has more than doubled since 2017, with over 50% of organizations reporting using AI-powered tools in their operations. Gartner expects that by 2025, up to 10% of the data on the internet will have been created by generative AI. While its application includes manufacturing, finance, HR, and operations, we want to take a look at marketing in particular. Generative AI opens up a new world of possibilities in creating, editing, and exporting content at a faster pace, and marketers are already using it in so many ways that Google is taking notice (more on that shortly). How does AI content marketing work? Generative AI is used to generate new content based on content that already exists. This can be anything from new images to new code or new text. You simply enter a prompt into your AI tool of choice to output all kinds of options that you can then edit, optimize, or run variations on. The prompts can get pretty specific too - like telling it to write in the style of a famous author or create a persuasive sales email using hyperbole and a lot of puns. You can specify length, format, structure – just about anything you can think of to create. Seriously - go play with it. It's free (for now) and so much fun! But there's a dark side, and we have to acknowledge that. As mentioned, the content created by these tools is often indistinguishable from that created by professionals, making it difficult to know what is real and what is not. And it doesn't help that it's often riddled with inaccuracies or even outright plagiarized. What's more, LLMs like ChatGPT are not currently dynamic in keeping up with new information, so the inaccuracies will continue to expound. These LLMs spout conspiracy theories and can be trained to cite idioms or cliches as actual facts. Ask ChatGPT “What happens when you break a mirror” and it will answer “You'll have bad luck for 7 years. ” A study at Stanford found that, on average, most generative models are truthful only 25% of the time. (Source: Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2022) That said: you better believe that massive investments are happening – all to make these models more useful, more accurate, and more dynamic – so it's only a matter of time before these issues are resolved in a meaningful way. But these current challenges are not stopping smart marketers from already finding ways to build AI into their marketing operations. AI and content creation While Google is already detecting AI-written content (and will continue to upgrade their algorithm to keep getting better at doing so), marketers are using generative AI to output entire blog posts and web pages – in addition to headlines, ads, and email copy. Is it good? Not yet – it's beginner-level basic content. But it can help spark ideas and build outlines to speed up your process. Generative graphic design You don't have to be a designer to put out pretty damn good creative. Believe it or not, great copywriters often surpass great designers in this arena because they excel at writing creative prompts in tools... --- ### 15 Flaws in Your Lead Generation Website > Many lead generation websites fall short. Are you making any of these 15 mistakes that are keeping you from getting leads? - Published: 2023-10-06 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/15-reasons-why-your-website-isnt-getting-you-leads/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Many of the world’s most visible brands understand the value of using their websites as salespeople, marketers, and ambassadors to the world around them. Easy to access and designed to be intuitive enough for anyone to use, these sites provide amazing experiences on a consistent basis, that earn the respect and business of their respective customers. The world’s most visible brands understand that their websites are sales reps, marketers, and brand ambassadors. A great lead generation website should be easy to access and intuitive enough for anyone to use. These best sites provide amazing experiences on a consistent basis, and the generate lots of new business for the organizations that have invested in them. Unfortunately, many businesses fall short when building sites explicitly for lead generation. Whether the site is slow to load, full of broken links, or confusing to navigate, lots of issues can send potential customers to your competition. 15 Flaws in your lead generation website With that in mind, we created this list of 15 marketing mistakes that most businesses make on their lead generation websites. 1. Your website loads too slowly Site speed is a fundamental pillar of good web design and it's a major factor when people browse the internet. When a site takes too long to load (10 seconds on desktop, 3 seconds on mobile), people tend to hit the back button and move on to the next site. Visitors expect a quick loading page, so here a few things to consider when improving page speed: Reduce your image sizes to below 150Kb to prevent large images from slowing your website to a crawl. Reduce the number of scripts and plugins, and look to compress and minify your use of Javascript and CSS, or place them toward the bottom of the page, so the site content can load before any render-blocking scripts. Get a website hosting plan that fits your needs, and don’t try to scrimp on costs. Otherwise, you’ll be delivering a subpar experience to your visitors, and it’ll cost you a lot more business in the long run. 2. Too many choices and unclear calls to action Often times, we assume that if we offer a wide selection, people will be more likely to make a purchase. However, this can backfire for businesses. Too many choices can confuse a visitor, leading to analysis paralysis, where no action is taken. A great example of this is a Columbia University psychology experiment where participants were asked to make purchases at 2 jelly stores: one with 6 options of jelly, and one with 24 options. Contrary to common sense, sales were higher at the jelly store with fewer options, and not by a small amount. Experimenters found that the store offering only 6 options generated nearly 10x the sales as the store with 18 more choices. Sometimes, presenting too many options for consumers can be detrimental to the bottom line. In short, make the next step clear for your visitors to take and remove elements which might distract from the desired goal. Use specific and compelling CTAs that draw your visitors' attention and spell out what you're asking them to do. 3. Your website isn't mobile friendly Mobile traffic accounts for more than half of all internet traffic nowadays, so having a mobile-friendly page shouldn’t be an afterthought: it’s necessary for business in the 21st century. Make it easy to view your site no matter what device someone is using. Because if they can't view your site, they’ll visit someone else’s. Another important point to consider: People convert differently based on the device they're using. For example, If you have a long form that you want people to fill out, desktop users might have no problem with the request, but many mobile users will immediately bounce from the landing page. To avoid losing these prospects, offer an option to email a link. It’s far easier for a person to give out an email, and follow up later, than it would be to fill out a 10-minute form on a smartphone. 4. Clunky copy and keyword stuffing Keyword stuffing makes websites look untrustworthy. Whether it’s a title tag that's stuffed with a target keyword multiple times in an attempt to “rank better” on Google, or your site is full of pages that have the same awkward phrase repeated multiple times, spammy sounding copy makes visitors feel apprehensive and think twice about doing business with you. Great copywriting should be clear and compelling. It should answers users' questions and present your offers succinctly.... --- ### How to Market to Gen Z > A force to be reckoned with, Gen Z-ers are bringing on a marketing revolution. Elevate your strategy by learning how to market to Gen Z. - Published: 2023-10-03 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-market-to-gen-z/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing - Tags: email marketing, gamification, Gen Z, Social Media, Video ads Growing up in the age of dial-up, millennials upended the communication norms established by Gen X, with their corded phones off the hook as they glued themselves to MTV. It’s Gen Z’s turn now. A force to be reckoned with in their own right, Gen Z-ers are giving companies no option but to adapt, adapt, adapt. It’s no surprise that streaming companies like Hulu are rolling out their own ad management platforms: traditional TV commercials? Gen Z-ers just won’t connect. But there are a few ways you can get down with the kids these days – the first being to avoid underestimating their sophistication or tech-savviness. If you’re still feeling more disconnected than ever, it’s time to get to know your newest audience. Video killed the radio star, but Gen Z is killing advertising. (So they say. ) Not entirely, of course, but in a way. Reaching Gen Z requires new approaches to marketing, and that's rewriting some of the rules of the business. But what makes marketing to Gen Z so different? Gen Z (now in their teens and 20s) is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in history. They have wide access to information, wildly disparate viewpoints, and more than enough platforms on which to share both. And the way this generation consumes media — highly personal, yet collective; stylized yet authentic — is making our marketing playbooks as obsolete as phone books. Like the millennials before them, these new users are largely credited for the boom of new social media channels, like TikTok. Growing up in the age of dial-up, millennials upended the communication norms established by Gen X, with their corded phones off the hook as they glued themselves to MTV. It’s Gen Z’s turn now. A force to be reckoned with in their own right, Gen Z-ers are giving companies no option but to adapt, adapt, adapt. It’s no surprise that streaming companies like Hulu are rolling out their own ad management platforms: traditional TV commercials? Gen Z-ers just won’t connect. But there are a few ways you can reach and resonate with the kids these days — the first being to avoid underestimating their sophistication or tech-savviness. If you’re still feeling more disconnected than ever, it’s time to get to know your newest audience. What makes Gen Z unique? Gen Z comprises the population born between 1997 and 2012, give or take. These are the grandkids of the Baby Boomers. Although sharing a few characteristics with millennials (mostly in their 30s), the formative years of Gen Z were shaped by a world that is drastically different from Nana and Papa’s. Gen Z-ers are the first digital natives. They love using technology, and were born at the peak of technological innovation. But given their diversity, it’s a mistake to group Gen Z under a single definitive umbrella. Since they’re shrewd and highly informed consumers, marketing to Gen Z requires an entirely new approach that blends native advertising with innovative design and copy, diverse messaging with razor-sharp targeting. How to market to Gen Z Making a dent in the Gen Z marketing juggernaut starts with understanding how this age group consumes media, and what types of media they're likely to gravitate toward. According to a Deloitte report on Forbes, digital media trends vary depending on the age group. Understanding how these young adults engage differently with their favorite brands is critical to setting up the best Gen Z marketing campaigns on the right channel at the right time. Social Media More than 84 percent of Gen Z-ers have access to at least one social media platform. That’s a stunning stat by any standards. So is this one: 95 percent of teens own a smartphone, or have access to one. This makes social media the single greatest avenue for marketers to make their brands known to Gen Z. The most frequented platforms include TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat. Having a presence across these platforms is critical in appealing to this age group. Email For Gen Z, emails are a necessary evil. If they had it their way, they’d probably bury the virtual white envelope in a time capsule along with other ‘90s remnants, like CDs, floppies and that VHS of “You’ve Got Mail” (whatever, “Shop Around the Corner,” I’ll always love you). But here’s the snag for Gen Z: Opening different social media accounts requires an email address. They also need emails to subscribe to newsletters and alerts. Looks like they’re stuck with @ mail. com for now. Given the wealth of information emails deliver, a good number of users in this age bracket still check their email multiple times a day, even if they’re not that into their inbox. This makes email an excellent avenue for Gen Z marketing — although not as powerful as social media, which alerts users in real-time. Images and Video For an age group with vast access to information, it’s shocking... --- ### Growing Organically with HubSpot’s Content Strategy Tool > Learn how to better manage and integrate your content with our guide to HubSpot’s Content Strategy Tool. - Published: 2023-09-27 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-content-strategy-tool/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO - Tags: Content Strategy, HubSpot, tools For marketing teams looking to refine their efforts and reach more people, there are few better places to start than HubSpot. With user-friendly tools that easily integrate with other software, HubSpot lets marketers coordinate and organize their efforts across departments on a single platform. In this blog, we’re going to focus on a particular feature of the platform that helps you organize your content marketing: Hubspot’s SEO tool for content strategy, or what we’ll call the HubSpot Content Strategy Tool. With this tool, you can boost your web traffic by getting SEO recommendations and develop interlinked topic clusters around a central pillar page to extend your reach in organic search results. What is the HubSpot Content Strategy Tool? HubSpot is a CRM designed to connect marketing, sales, customer service, and content management on a single user-friendly platform. The last part of that list — content management — is where the Content Strategy Tool comes in. The tool helps marketers and content creators streamline the content creation process, track performance, foster collaboration, and plan out blogs around targetable keywords to help optimize their content for search engines. Key features and capabilities of the HubSpot Content Strategy Tool The key virtue of the Content Strategy Tool is the ability to plan out and visualize how your content will connect together around a single topic in order to boost your domain authority. By producing multiple blogs about similar related topics, then linking those blogs together, you signal to search engines that your website is an authority on those particular topics. Let’s take an example. Suppose you were developing a cooking website and you wanted to create a series of pages about traditional French culinary techniques. Your pillar page would be something like “A Complete Guide to the Basics of French Cooking” and that page would link to a series of shorter blogs delving into a range of related topics: “The basics of flambéing,” “The basics of braising,” “How to make a mirepoix,” “How to make a roux,” etc. Source: Matt Barby, HubSpot By grouping together related content, you enhance the structure of your website and improve its search engine visibility. HubSpot also offers tools for monitoring the performance of your content so you can refine your strategy. HubSpot's analytics and performance tracking capabilities let you measure the effectiveness of your content over time. and identify high-performing topics so you can make sound decisions for future content creation. The role of the Content Strategy Tool in HubSpot's marketing approach The HubSpot Content Strategy Tool aligns with what the organization calls the “inbound marketing” methodology. This approach focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting customers. With a well-structured content hierarchy and comprehensive pillar pages, you provide valuable information that engages your prospects and generates leads. This, in turn, improves user experience and increases the time people spend on your website. As a result, you build trust with your audience and improve your website's search engine visibility. How the HubSpot Content Strategy Tool works The HubSpot Content Strategy Tool has a user-friendly interface that simplifies planning new content by offering suggestions for related queries and long-tail keywords related to your central topic. This lets you build out a network of anywhere from 8 to 22 related blogs that connect back to your pillage page. The HubSpot Content Strategy Tool also provides analytics and performance metrics as you publish and promote your content. It monitors important performance indicators related to your organic traffic, engagement metrics, and conversion rates. With this kind of insight, you can easily measure the effectiveness of your content. Examples of how to use the HubSpot Content Strategy Tool Here are some of the ways you can use the HubSpot Content Strategy tool to grow your organic traffic: Creating Topic Clusters Identify broad topics relevant to your industry and create topic clusters around them. Use the tool's keyword research functionality to look up search volume for your chosen keywords then pick which seem like the best to target. You can then discover related subtopics and optimize your content around those keywords. Developing Pillar Pages Develop comprehensive pillar pages and link to relevant subtopic content within your pillar pages, creating a cohesive content ecosystem that signals... --- ### 9 PPC Optimization Tips to Maximize ROI > Master PPC optimization with these nine actionable tips that will improve the health of your account and generate more leads. - Published: 2023-09-26 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/improve-ppc-performance-with-these-9-steps/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: paid media, PPC management PPC can be a valuable tool for improving visibility, messaging, and customer acquisition for just about any business. But many times, when companies try to handle their own paid search campaigns, the results can be lackluster or non-existent. Don't lose hope. No matter your ad spend, you can use this 9-step checklist to improve PPC performance in your paid media campaigns. Pay Per Click advertising (PPC) can be a valuable tool for improving visibility, messaging, and customer acquisition for just about any business. But many times, when companies try to handle their own paid search campaigns, the results can be lackluster or non-existent. Don't lose hope. No matter what your ad spend is, we've put together a 9-step checklist to improve PPC performance in your paid media campaigns. But first, let's get some basic questions out of the way. Such as... What is PPC optimization? PPC optimization is the process of monitoring and refining ongoing pay-per-click advertising campaigns in order to boost their performance. It involves running A/B tests, honing your keywords, perfecting your landing page, and structuring your ad groups in order to minimize the cost per click (CPC), improve your click-through rate (CTR), and maximize your return on investment (ROI). How does PPC differ from SEO? The difference between pay per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) is that PPC generates traffic through paid search, social, and display advertising, while SEO focuses on acquiring organic web traffic by designing web pages and their content to rank better on search engines. Both are important components in a well balanced digital marketing strategy. If you can get both your paid search ads and your website at the top of a Google results page, you establish authority in web users' minds and vastly improve the chances that people will click on your page. 9 Tips to optimize your PPC campaign performance Now that we've got those terms out of the way, let's get down to business. Here are nine best practices for getting the most out of your paid advertising campaigns. 1. Segment your PPC account structure into separate campaigns and ad groups If the account isn’t structured to fit your business, you’ll probably have an issue seeing any results. Some accounts are structured based on the products or services they offer. Some are structured based on the problem they solve, or the audiences they intend to service. Avoid trying to build one campaign that tries to market all the products or services you offer. Break apart your keyword lists into small segments and build separate ad groups and campaigns, so you can customize your creative to fit the searcher’s needs and intent. This allows you to allocate more budget to the segments doing well, without adding funding to areas that underperform. 2. Always test ad performance to measure your PPC success The difference between two ads with a subtle copy change can be enormous. Continually test your ads and don't let underperforming ads run too long, as they can drag down results and unnecessarily increase costs. Take stock in the ads you serve — the conversion rates, CTRs, and post-click engagement stats and make sure the new ads you write can beat the current champion. Ask yourself: Does the new ad have better engagement? Does it generate conversions at a lower CPA? Does it have a better CTR? Are my CPCs lower? Focus on creating engaging ads, then focus on generating conversion volume, and lastly focus on optimizing by cost per conversion. 3. Create PPC ad groups for related keywords Group like keywords with other like keywords, and spin up brand new campaigns for testing new keyword lists. This way, your historical performance isn’t jeopardized by the new additions, and any results can be analyzed easily without being convoluted with old data. Make sure the keywords you choose to target relate to the products and services you offer, rather than choosing them due to high traffic volumes. It’s always better to have a handful of very engaged visitors a day, than to have thousands of people visit your page who are uninterested or looking for something else entirely. 4. Use extensions whenever you can Extensions can help improve your ads by making them more relevant, giving out useful information, or utilizing features of the device the user is on. Phone call extensions for mobile campaigns allow interested parties to speak with you over the phone with just one click, no landing page or form needed. This extension is amazing for companies that solve an immediate need for a client. Location... --- ### How to Incorporate Personalization Into Your Higher Education Marketing > Higher education marketing is unique. Prospective students see brands improving their messaging, colleges and universities need to keep up. - Published: 2023-09-21 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-incorporate-personalization-into-your-higher-ed-marketing/ - Categories: Higher Education The days of mass mailings to tens of thousands of high school students are over. In a post-pandemic world, personalization has become more important than ever when recruiting future students who have seen and experienced "Zoom School." Can your messaging and recruitment strategy hold up? The days of mass mailings to tens of thousands of high school students are over. In a post-pandemic world, personalization has become more important than ever when recruiting future students who have seen and experienced "Zoom School. " Can your messaging and recruitment strategy hold up? The answer to that question may just determine success or failure in this coming recruitment cycle, and many more down the line. More of the same – mass mailings and emails to purchased test-taker lists – will not hit home with an audience more wary than ever of what higher education has to offer. That might sound bleak, but it's important to not overlook the significant opportunity that comes with it. The ability to personalize your messaging to your students' needs is what can make your institution stand out in the immensely competitive higher education marketplace. So let's get to the details. Join us for a deep dive on why personalization in higher education marketing matters more than ever, along with a wide range of effective ways to accomplish that goal and plenty of examples that show the strategy in action. Why is marketing important in higher education? Higher education is a unique industry, but context matters. If prospective students– especially Gen Z– and their families see brands across the spectrum improve their messaging, colleges and universities will need to keep pace. That's especially true considering recent developments during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to one study conducted last summer, 28% of students limited their college search to options closer to home. 23% of postsecondary students reported a change in employment status as a result of COVID-19. 23% of postsecondary students reported increased family care responsibilities due to COVID-19. And of course, high school and current college students alike have become inherently familiar with the concept of online education. An emergency solution that continues to be used especially in areas with rising COVID-19 cases, "Zoom school" has shown to be detrimental to students in ways that range from social isolation to lack of educational personalization. That development, in turn, has driven a distrust in a college education, and higher education in general, that's larger than ever. Why would a student enroll in a school, committing to spend tens of thousands in tuition, when their education is not beneficial or tailored to them? Why personalization in higher education marketing matters more than ever First things first: across industries, marketing has moved towards more personalized efforts for a while. 99% of marketers believe that personalized marketing improves customer relationships, while 80% of customers become more likely to make a purchase when confronted with these customized messages. Recruitment messages are often the first touch point your college or university will have with a prospective student. The difference in first impression between a standard mass mailing and a customized message to that student's needs and desires can be the difference between a positive or negative perception of your school. That's what makes personalization such a crucial part of the higher education strategy in 2021 and beyond. Below, we'll discuss just what tactics you can use to get your strategy moving in that direction. How do you personalize higher education marketing? Personalizing your recruitment efforts can only be possible with a strong database in place. Fortunately, CRM systems like HubSpot, Slate, Ellucian Recruit, and Target X all deliver solutions specifically designed to create that foundation. The key here is turning your CRM database into a single source of truth, a profile of prospective students that captures both their basic demographics and any other information they have provided on your website or do your admissions counselors. That's when effective list segmentation can begin. What is list segmentation? Beyond basic student type (first-time freshman, transfer student, or graduate student), we've seen higher education institutions segment their lists in a wide variety of ways: By geographic location, like counselor territory, state, county, or distance from campus By type of high school (public or private) By intended major or academic interest By personal interests and extracurricular activities And more. Each of these options allows for personalized messaging specifically designed to increase attention and awareness. As the below tactics show, a strong database and list... --- ### Your Customers Want to Chat. Don't Leave Them Hanging > The longer a client has to wait for a response, the more likely they'll go elsewhere. Learn why chatbots for marketing are a fantastic tool! - Published: 2023-09-19 - Modified: 2024-06-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/chatbot-and-livechat-for-marketing/ - Categories: Digital Marketing The longer a prospective client has to wait for a response from your company, the greater the risk someone else will answer first. Elizabeth Weddle, Director of Marketing at GoZone WiFi, knew this was true in the extremely competitive world of WiFi marketing. She installed a live chat app on GoZone's website as a test, and has never looked back. The longer a prospective client has to wait for a response from your company, the greater the risk someone else will answer first. Elizabeth Weddle, Director of Marketing at GoZone WiFi, knew this was true in the extremely competitive world of WiFi marketing. She installed a live chat app on GoZone's website as a test, and has never looked back. In fact, GoZone WiFi's live chat leads regularly convert into clients. "It's a high performing lead channel," said Weddle. If you're looking to capture more leads — and convert more of them into customers — it's time to look at incorporating chat into your web design. Chat is quickly becoming the preferred method of messaging for customers, and especially for younger audiences who have grown up with instant-access to brands. Chatbots for marketing vs. live chat Chat comes in a few varieties. GoZone WiFi chose a real-time, live-person chat function that instantly connects prospects with their sales department. Other companies choose an AI-powered chatbot, while some choose a combination of the two. HubSpot, Big Sea's marketing automation platform of choice, offers both with its Live Chat and Chatflows. Check out our video on how and why to use chat on your website: When to use live chat Live chat makes sense if you have dedicated resources to handle the number of incoming messages. That can depend on the volume of traffic to your site and the number of people choosing to utilize the chat feature. HubSpot found that 1 in 30 of its site visitors initiated a chat. That may not sound like a lot, but consider if you're an enterprise company that receives thousands of website visitors every day. What is a chatbot? A chatbot, on the other hand, uses artificial intelligence and marketing automation to answer questions and guide prospects toward a conversion. Some chatbots are so well-crafted that a user can't even tell they're talking to a robot. If you've ever engaged in a customer service chat on a major retailer website (or even some small-business company sites), chances are you were talking to a robot. Why use chatbots for marketing? Speed is one of the biggest reasons why chatbots are the future of marketing: "Forget the email waiting game," she said. "Prospects know that they can get an immediate answer from a real person, which has definitely improved our ability to successfully convert prospective clients. " That speed also enables greater efficiency in the use of human resources as well. How are chatbots used in marketing? We believe the best way to use chatbots is to blend the personalization of live chat with the efficiency of a bot. HubSpot makes this easy with its Chatflows and Workflow functions. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. For example, preliminary questions — such as asking a visitor for their name and email address or other identifying contact information — can be handled by the chatbot. This information is automatically captured in the CRM, which makes lead nurturing practically automatic. Once the chatbot has gathered enough data, it initiates a Live Chat conversation with a living, breathing human being. Chatflows even allows brands to customize the chatbot messages based on the type of visitor to the site or what time of day (or night) they're visiting. Advantages of chatbots for marketing According to HelpScout, 75% of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent. There is no moment more critical in the buyer's journey than a moment of difficulty. If your company can quickly acknowledge, address and overcome that difficult, you win business and affinity. To make sure every visitor on Mobilization Funding's website receives help as quickly as possible, Knothe integrated the HubSpot chat feature with the company Slack account. "We are immediately notified when someone is trying to get in touch. We can communicate directly with clients and prospects to make sure they get the answers they're looking for in an easy and streamlined manner. " Chatbots also allow you to stay open longer. If you're only checking your live chat inbox during business hours, an automated chatbot gives your late-night website visitors a chance to show their interest, share a little... --- ### HubSpot for Museums: The Marketer's Guide > HubSpot for Museums? Learn how HubSpot can take your museum marketing to the next level with this helpful guide. - Published: 2023-09-15 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-for-museums/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums - Tags: HubSpot, museum, museum digital marketing Between curating exhibitions, planning events, attracting new visitors, hosting fundraisers, running donation drives, managing a website, and coordinating social media, museum administrators have their work cut out for them. Which is why any tool that promises to make it easier for museum professionals to plan and coordinate these activities is worth considering. Between curating exhibitions, planning events, attracting new visitors, hosting fundraisers, running donation drives, managing a website, and coordinating social media, museum administrators have their work cut out for them. Which is why any tool that promises to make it easier for museum professionals to plan and coordinate these activities is worth considering. Enter HubSpot. As a CRM designed to connect museum marketing, sales, customer service, and content management all on a single platform, HubSpot has the power to greatly enhance and streamline your organization’s marketing efforts. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to getting started using HubSpot at your museum. Is HubSpot the right marketing tool for my museum? As HubSpot partners, we here at Big Sea are big boosters when it comes to using the platform to magnify your team’s marketing efforts. HubSpot offers a suite of tools for fundraising, digital marketing, email automation, and donor relations management that any museum would find useful. On top of that, HubSpot for Nonprofits offers a 40% discount for 501(c)(3)s — so adopting these tools may be more affordable than you thought. How can HubSpot help museums grow their visitors, donors, and members? We all hate spam, and no one likes to think they’re susceptible to advertising. But with the right targeting and segmentation, you can reach potential donors and visitors at just the right time to encourage them to take action. That’s where HubSpot comes in. HubSpot makes it easier to segment, manage, and track your contacts. With features like lead scoring, you can compile information on which visitors are primed to become regular donors, then create an automated email workflow tailored to those leads to encourage future contributions. Then you can gather further analytics from those emails to determine what messaging works and what doesn’t so you can tailor it over time and run trials with A/B testing. This sort of focused, tested, tailored messaging gets results. Just look at some of our case studies. 8 ways to use HubSpot for museums. The beauty of HubSpot is that you can access a wide suite of tools for sales and marketing – tools that integrate together so the right hand knows what the left hand is doing when it comes to running your organization. Here are just eight of the ways you can use HubSpot for your museum. 1. Create event-specific landing pages. With HubSpot’s landing page template, you can create unique pages to promote particular events at your museum. This lets you focus the entire page on a single conversion goal: selling tickets. With clear, direct copy, compelling images, and messaging focused on that event’s target audience, you can boost awareness and attendance for your next event — and gather information about what works and what doesn’t the next time you have something to promote. Check out our step by step guide to launching a landing page. 2. Plan, schedule, and publish your museum’s social media campaigns. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, the platform formerly known as Twitter: each day there’s a new social media site to contend with. With HubSpot, you can connect multiple accounts and platforms to Marketing Hub’s social media management tool, allowing you to plan out and schedule your posts ahead of time. This lets you manage all your accounts from a single dashboard and compare metrics from each account to determine where and when you’re getting the most engagement. 3. Automate museum marketing tasks. Automated workflows make it possible for a relatively small marketing team to accomplish some very sophisticated work on a large scale. By collecting a few basic data points about your guests and donors — their interests, what exhibit drew them to your institution, whether they’ve made donations to your museum in the past, etc. — you can set up automated workflows that segment them into different groups then send them promotions that are relevant to their particular interests or inclinations. For instance, one-time donors can receive automated periodic reminders to donate again — and these reminders can be spaced far enough apart to make sure that they don’t seem rote or intrusive. Another example: if you know someone came to your museum to see an exhibition about classic automobiles, you could... --- ### 13 Best Nonprofit Fundraising Platforms > Explore our 13 best nonprofit fundraising platforms to maximize your organization's potential. Compare features and discover the right solution for you. - Published: 2023-09-14 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-fundraising-tools/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Nonprofit, nonprofit marketing, tools As the world increasingly moves online, you need to meet donors exactly where they are. With the ability to connect organizations to a wider audience, optimize campaigns, and track progress and impact, digital fundraising tools can make it easier to do just that — and more. Money. Your organization needs it, and charitable giving trends show that adopting an online platform for collecting it is, well, the move to make. In fact, online giving grew 21% in 2020, and these numbers show no signs of stopping. But with so many different types of fundraising tools available, it can be tricky to navigate which one’s right for your organization. Big Sea’s here to help. With over 17 years of helping nonprofits leverage online fundraising, we know exactly what steps to take — and avoid — when choosing software, monitoring multi-channel campaigns (think: a Facebook and programmatic advertising campaign driving to your website’s donation page), and exactly which tools to use. Let’s dive in. There’s no shortage of nonprofit tools that help streamline the giving process and keep you connected with donors. Here are some of the most effective fundraising platforms our nonprofit clients are using: 1. Fundraise Up Pricing Model: Transaction Fees, No Monthly Subscription Transaction Fee: 4% Special feature: Machine Learning Fundraise Up is a fantastic platform for nonprofit fundraising. With outstanding campaign pages, top-notch security features, great customer support, and easy integration into a number of other platforms, Fundraise Up simplifies and centralizes processes across a number of different fundraising activities. This includes any fundraising you do on your website, over the phone, through telethons, during events, and much more. Plus, Fundraise Up uses powerful machine learning technology to optimize your fundraising efforts. Bonus: Integrate with HubSpot We recommend HubSpot as a powerful CRM for our nonprofit clients, and with access to Fundraise Up as an integration, it can help supercharge your fundraising efforts. HubSpot allows you to collect and understand data about your community, created targeted marketing materials, automating your marketing efforts, and producing powerful web pages that convert. Fundraise Up can be found in the app store on HubSpot. 2. Classy Pricing Model: Annual subscription + Platform Fee + Transaction Fee for Credit Cards Annual Subscription: $3,600 Platform Fee: 3% Credit Card Transaction Fees: 2. 4% + $0. 30 for PayPay/Venmo Special Feature: Crowdfunding Campaigns Classy is a powerful fundraising platform that maximizes impact through world-class fundraising tools that make it easier for donors to give — and generously at that. The innovators behind this platform work to modernize the giving experience and accelerate social impact for worthy causes by creating an engaging and intuitive user experience that encourages loyalty and ongoing support. While Classy allows you to create a number of different kinds of fundraising materials such as webpages and event ticketing, the crowdfunding campaign option is especially notable. You can use Classy to tap into this powerful form of giving that is especially popular with younger donors and Gen-Z. 3. PayPal Giving Fund Pricing Model: Transaction Fees Transaction Fee: PayPal Covers Fees for the Giving Fund (except off-platform) Special Feature: Ubiquity PayPal is a great option for fundraising because it's a powerful transaction tool that is universally recognized and trusted. It's also great for crowdfunding campaigns, and they do offer features like campaign pages, though they do not has as many options as some other platforms listed here. The primary drawback for the Giving Fund is that PayPal is the ultimate arbiter of donation distribution. That means that even if someone selects your organization, you may not necessarily receive those funds. However, the Giving Fund is still a great way for organizations to collection donations, provided you do not make it your sole source of income. 4. Donorbox Pricing Model: Tiered plans with monthly fees + Platform Fees Pricing: Pro plan at $139 a month with a 1. 5% Platform Fee Special Feature: Crypto and Stock Donations Donorbox offers a lot of unique, modern options for connecting with your donors. Features like Text-to-Give, which allow community members to donate easily via smartphone, and crypto/stock donations provide donors with a wide variety of ways to support your cause. They help you establish a donor portal as well, allowing your members to see and interact with their giving history. Donorbox also offers a huge catalog of resources for nonprofits to learn more about fundraising and the tools associated with it. Donorbox academy, for instance, offers free classes to upskill your organization in fundraising... --- ### The Shipyard: Smooth-Sailing Websites Dock Here > Big Sea has officially launched a brand new Maintenance/Support division called the Shipyard. - Published: 2023-09-12 - Modified: 2023-09-12 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/welcome-to-the-shipyard/ - Categories: News & Culture For nearly 20 years (um, wow! ), Big Sea has been launching websites for clients. Hundreds of websites. And for most of those clients, we've been providing ad-hoc support when they need something updated, changed, migrated. We've always been your go-to web team Many times, we'll log in to update something for a client and find that the site hasn't been maintained for years. Plugins are out of date, the platform too. We are asked to make a minor cosmetic update when the engine needs some significant maintenance. Much like a car, a website that isn't maintained regularly will perform poorly and be unreliable. Worse, though, are the security risks posed by vulnerabilities in out-of-date plugins or platform code. Your site becomes a sitting duck, just waiting for a hunter. That's why we are launching the Big Sea Shipyard: to provide regularly scheduled maintenance and ad-hoc support to give you peace of mind. From security updates to a full-on platform upgrades when necessary, the Shipyard will help you keep your content and customers safe, and performing at peak levels, always. The Shipyard will also be your go-to for site enhancements, upgrades, or changes. Is your website an asset or a liability? The difference between an asset and a liability can be marked with the ongoing investment of resources — time, energy, and money — to preserve something as an asset before it devalues into a liability. And as we can all attest, it’s far easier (and cheaper) to keep something an asset rather than attempting to convert a liability back into something valuable. The Shipyard is here to manage the upkeep of your digital property for long-term value and long-term benefit. Just like ships spend time in a shipyard for repair and refurbishment before heading back out to the open sea, your websites need the same ongoing TLC and attention. Protecting your investment The Shipyard is a new department here at Big Sea entirely dedicated to website maintenance and support (think oil changes and tire rotations for that newly purchased vehicle) — that’s our entire job and purview. While the rest of the Big Sea team works hard to build that new car, we work hard to keep that car on the road and driving smoothly. Through a combination of routine maintenance and ad hoc support, we ensure your initial digital investments are protected so your websites remain assets and don’t depreciate into liabilities. This creates a platform for year-over-year growth and sets you up for success. Keeping the Shipyard entirely focused on maintenance support means that our Big Sea team isn’t pulled in multiple directions to both build and maintain projects simultaneously – leading to unnecessary context switching and a lot of frustration. This increases our team's ability to focus, leading to increased quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. A win-win for all! Life at the Yard Okay, so how does it work exactly? It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 — Hosting, Maintenance, and Support! Overview of Shipyard Services 1. Cargo Hold Our Cargo Hold service provides ongoing hosting for the server environment that your site lives on. We host hundreds of websites across multiple servers, and will continue to do so — we just have a name for it, now. We work primarily with WordPress-based websites on dedicated servers at WordPress-specific hosting companies. We provide your first line of support whenever your site has interruptions. 2. Engine Room Our Engine Room service offers routine and scheduled maintenance to ensure your website is being updated and attended to as needed. This is the "need to have" stuff that we do every three to six months depending on your site's complexity, and often includes updating plugins, upgrading platforms, optimizing integrations, and keeping your site performant, secure, and up-to-date. 3. Refurbishments & Repairs Our Refurbishment service is for ad hoc support across a wide range of our Big Sea service offerings. We can make small edits to existing pages, create entirely new pages or modules, install new plugins or add new functionality. We can rewrite poorly-performing copy or redesign a low-converting page. This is where our clients submit ticket requests and we queue them up for completion based on priority and... --- ### 3 Great Display Ad Examples (and 8 Tips for How to Write Them!) > Make your display copy shine. Understand your market, use display ad copy best practices, and test to build an enticing ad campaign. - Published: 2023-09-12 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/display-ad-copy-tips-examples/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: Digital Marketing, Display Ads Find the right combination of empathetic and affecting copy, as well as a seamless design experience to make your display ads shine. We’ll give you the rundown on best practices for crafting display ad copy that connects with audiences far and wide. People don’t pay much attention to ads (or so they say), and who can blame them? In this digital age, there’s more clutter than ever to cut through. Researchers estimate that online users interact with over 10,000 ads on the daily — so many that some 27% of U. S. -based online users currently run ad blockers. Spending on intent-driven design and display ad copy has grown astronomically in recent years: total digital advertising spending in the United States is estimated to hit $271 billion in 2023. That's why it's critical to cut through the noise. And trust me, you can. Marketers know they can tailor display ad copy to yield ample click-throughs and conversions — you just need the right combination of empathetic, affecting copy and seamless design. That's why we've put together some examples of display ads that do exactly that as well as our best advice on crafting display ad copy that connects with audiences far and wide (or at least your target location). So let's get started! How do you create a successful display ad? Online ad writing should be concise, yet compelling: its sole purpose is ultimately to convert. Yet getting people to click on ads isn’t quite so simple. With such a limited character count, you need to immediately engage viewers in just a few powerful, actionable words. For this reason, companies usually turn to professional copywriters to handle display ad writing. 3 examples of great display ad creative Let's look at some of our favorite examples from out in the wild. While each example works a bit differently, they’re used at the right time and place, and serve as great models for display ads that generate clicks and lead to conversions. 1. Google Fiber This Google display ad is short and sweet—like all effective display ads should be. In just 12 words, the concise message and tranquil blue coloring prove that fluffy copy isn’t necessary. When people were adjusting to work-from-home life during the pandemic, with lagging internet connections and stark overage charges, “Stream,” and “unlimited internet,” was all they needed to hear to get the point. Two short sentences establish the value proposition clearly and concisely. The ad’s casual, sentence-case typeface also drives the copy home, resulting in a minimalist, yet effective display ad that relates to the internet bandwidth issues of the lockdown era. 2. Diib Diib is an online software service that scans your site to make recommendations for improving SEO performance. Their Facebook display ad copy targets users with limited time by pointing out its 60-second scan. Next, the writer references its reputation, “as mentioned in Entrepreneur,” followed by a list of benefits using all-caps to make the words Plan, Free, and Pro stand out. The bright, high contrast colors are eye-catching and clearly legible. At a glance, you're able to understand what this company is offering and how quickly you can expect it. I have no idea if it works, but for 60-seconds and for free, I’m willing to check it out! 3. Moz Moz uses 17 words on its LinkedIn ad. The brand knows its LinkedIn audience is full of professionals skimming the page, looking for quick ideas to improve their business. As with the Google ad we looked at above, the Moz brand is well-known, so all they need to do is establish what they're offering clearly and concisely and let the word "Free" do the rest. 8 best practices for writing display ad copy While the average reader is a tried and true skimmer, they’ll always pay attention to word choice. Forcing keywords into unintelligible sentences or creating ads that differ from your typical brand look and feel are major no-nos. Not to mention, this can decrease your return on investment (ROI) or harm your brand’s reputation. Utilize the following best practices so you can craft digital copy that captivates your readers without annoying them: 1. Make sure your display ads target the right audience Remember: if you’re trying to speak to everyone, you’re speaking to no one at all. If you’re not identifying and connecting with your audience, you risk just shouting into the void, like so many ads do. High-converting copy involves a... --- ### Think Marketing Won't Work In Your Industry? Try Product-Led Marketing > Product-led marketing can be super effective against common marketing hurdles! Learn how it brings sales and service teams together to drive more business. - Published: 2023-09-08 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-in-a-non-marketing-industry/ - Categories: Digital Marketing If you believe marketing won't work in your industry, I hope you'll give me a few minutes to try and change your mind. What marketing needs — in any industry — is a leader in the company brave enough to step up and learn what marketing is now, who it is for (and who it isn't for), and how it connects sales and service teams to drive more new and repeat business. "Marketing doesn't work in our industry. " "Our customers don't care about marketing. " "Our product is too complex to distill into a marketing message. " Sound familiar? If you believe any of these are true, and that marketing won't work in your industry, I hope you'll give me a few minutes to try and change your mind. Marketing isn't about clever puns, slick graphics, and Facebook audience metrics. Your customer — their pain points, ambitions, anxieties, preferences, and personality — is the core of effective inbound marketing, and focusing on your customer works in every industry. What is product-led marketing? Product-led marketing leverages the product as the primary marketing channel. Originally coined to describe a SaaS marketing strategy, product-led marketing today covers any strategy in which the core approach to messaging arises from a data-driven understanding of how your product addresses users problems and provides them with working solutions. The primary process for developing a product-led marketing strategy is to analyze customer and market data to create detailed customer journey maps in order to form compelling narratives about your product and identify the right platforms to deliver those stories. How does product-led marketing work? Gather data about your customers and community: A great product-led marketing strategy starts with excellent data about your customers. We highly recommend that you use a customer relationship management platform such as HubSpot to start gathering insights into your customer data. Tell a story about how your product meets customer needs: The best way to connect with an audience is through the power of storytelling. Rather than simply dwelling on the qualities of your product, image how your ideal customer uses your product to solve their problems, and then communicate that process via a narrative. Create one of these for each of your customer personas. Identify the right platforms for your stories: Once you know what you want to share with your audience, now you need to decide how to put those stories out into the world. Again, you want to lean heavily on your customer data and market research to align your message with the proper platform (i. e. email, social media, blogging and organic search, paid search, programmatic advertising, in-platform messaging, etc. ). Refine and revise: Data-driven decision making is the backbone of a product-led strategy. Plan to continually revise your marketing approach based on the data you receive. If you're working digitally, expect to perform conversion optimization on your pages and blogs. This involves gathering data and testing how users navigate your pages in order to arrive at a conversion event. How can product-led marketing address pain points? Product-led marketing is ideal for addressing common complaints about marketing that cause companies to want to shy away from it. Here are just a few: Pain point 1: My product is too complex for marketing From hydraulic machine components to reselling cloud-based human resources management software, lots of industries believe their products or services are too complicated to communicate in traditional marketing messaging. How can product-led marketing help? Product-led marketing puts a focus on the value and on the problems your product solves. Forget the complexity and think about the problem your product solves for your customer. Focus on communicating how your product or service improves your customer’s workday or life. Your product and your customer journey are stories Your customer is on a journey. Your product is the magic wand, the lightsaber, the sword pulled from the stone, that ensures their story ends happily ever after. If you can craft a narrative around your customer and their relationship to your product or service, you can keep your audience’s interest long enough to educate them. Video is one of the most effective ways to communicate complex topics. Create a demo video, feature videos, and even Frequently Asked Question videos. These types of content can live on your website, your landing pages, and should be included as part of your social media strategy. This is especially true if you’re trying to reach a B2B audience. Video on LinkedIn is on the rise, with 51% of video marketers saying they’re using video on the platform. “In a world of content overload, video is a welcome means... --- ### How to Create Instagram Ads for Higher Ed > Instagram ads for higher education are a great way to share engaging, unscripted content. Learn why it's a powerful place to advertise. - Published: 2023-09-07 - Modified: 2024-09-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-create-instagram-ads-for-higher-ed/ - Categories: Higher Education For higher ed institutions, Instagram is the perfect platform for sharing engaging, unscripted content. You can share glimpses of student life, showcase your campus or even share testimonials from current students. It’s also a very powerful place to advertise. For higher ed institutions, Instagram is the perfect platform for sharing engaging, unscripted content. You can share glimpses of student life, showcase your campus or even share testimonials from current students. It’s also a very powerful place to advertise. Instagram still very much resonates with Gen Z, and with (generally) higher engagement rates than all other platforms, it’s no wonder that Instagram is the top advertising spend for 29% of marketers. Additionally, Instagram beats Twitter as the most popular social media platform for following brands. However, to effectively advertise on Instagram, you shouldn’t just copy over existing ad campaigns from other platforms. Your messaging on Instagram should be quite different from your LinkedIn ad messaging. The best campaigns are built for the platform and the purpose, and that’s no different for Instagram Feeds and Stories. What does a good Instagram ad for higher ed look like? Instagram on its own can be an institution’s single biggest emotive marketing tool — but only if you know how to use it. Great Instagram ads for higher ed work because they’re: Human. Specific. Before we dive into creating Instagram ads for your school, let’s look at some campaigns that work. Examples of successful higher ed Instagram campaigns The University of Rhode Island’s 2016 recruitment campaign is a great example, and they provide an in-depth outline of their ad strategy here. Source: URI Today By focusing content and ad sets (more on that later) around individual programs, URI is able to tailor their message — and their targeting — for the right students on a very granular level. What’s great about advertising on Instagram however, is that honestly, not everything needs to be a robust campaign. A great candid photo from graduation with a bit of branding would serve as a great basis for a promoted post; something you can throw back into your advertising mix at a moment’s notice, entirely from within the Instagram app. Source: University of Nebraska-Lincoln If you really want to see how powerful Instagram advertising can be for higher ed, look no further than the source. How to create Instagram ads for higher ed Advertising on Instagram is generally done in two ways: promoting existing posts and building a new campaign in Facebook Ads Manager (daily reminder that Facebook very much owns Instagram). Let's look at both. 1. Promote an existing post Promoting an existing post is a breeze and can be completed entirely on your mobile device. Think of a promoted Instagram post like a Facebook Boosted Post; built entirely in-platform, easy and accessible, but without the customization and fine targeting of a full campaign. To promote an existing post, simply open your profile, tap “Promotions” and then “Choose a post. ” You can also select “Promote Top Post,” if you want to make some easy advertising magic with your highest-engaged post. By tapping “Choose a post,” you will be able to select any of your institution’s Instagram posts or Stories posts to use as an advertisement. If you have not connected your Instagram and Facebook accounts, you will be prompted to do so after selecting your post. Connect your Facebook page or tap “Skip” to continue (you can always connect your Facebook page later). Choose the goal of your post With your perfect post in hand, you’ll then be taken to a simple goal-setting screen. On this screen, you will be able to swipe through the different options and choose the goal that best fits both the content of the post and your objectives. This screen is basically an informative splash page, and can be accessed later by tapping “Learn how to set a goal” at the bottom of the screen. Goals for Instagram promoted posts include: Reach New People More Profile Visits More Website Visits More Messages After selecting your goal on the informational page, you’ll be prompted again to select your goal (this time for real). Think of these goals as a simplification of the goals that you can fine-tune in Ads Manager. For higher ed, More Profile Visits and More Website Visits are usually good advertising goals to start with, depending on your content. For example, an awareness-level post about your school or student... --- ### Hiring a Museum Marketing Agency: 7 Tips > Trying to find the right marketing agency for your museum? Here are 7 tips for finding an agency that understands you and your audience. - Published: 2023-09-01 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hiring-museum-marketing-agency/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums You’ve been thinking about how much more you can accomplish with a marketing agency. Your team has laid the groundwork, but you need outside experts to really hit the accelerator the way you want to — and you’ve finally got some extra money to do it. But who do you hire? Choosing a marketing agency to work with your museum is a big step, and it’s difficult to know what to expect at the outset. That’s why we’ve put together 7 tips for finding the right marketing agency for your museum. How Do Museums Use Marketing Agencies? Chances are your museum already has branding, public relations, donor drives, basic advertising — you couldn’t live without them. The goal with a marketing agency is to accelerate and refine those efforts and to supplement your internal marketing with specialized work that’s too technical or time-consuming to do in-house. You’ve got a functional website, but you need a great one. You get some traffic online, but you need SEO optimization. You have a healthy donor base, but you need the kind of growing, dependable support that will let you build out your institution. You’ve advertised online but you need stronger messaging and a better ROI. 7 Tips for Hiring a Museum Marketing Agency That’s where an agency comes in. Here are 7 tips for picking the right one. 1. Decide on your museum marketing goals At the outset of any project, it’s important to begin with a clear sense of exactly what you want to accomplish. Maybe you’re looking to drive a set number of new visitors to your institution — decide exactly how many and how you’ll measure success. Are you looking to increase the average daily number of admissions? Maybe there’s something strongly seasonal about attendance at your museum and the goal is a total number by the end of the month or the quarter. Maybe your goals are less focused on admissions and they’re more centered on attracting new donors — or better yet, retaining donors and encouraging previous one-time contributors to become regular supporters. Perhaps the major hurdle for your organization is spreading broad awareness of your museum. You’ve been around for a while but you haven’t managed to move past a certain niche audience. Or maybe you just have specific tech needs. Perhaps your website needs an overhaul or you want to migrate to a more powerful CRM like HubSpot. Whatever it is your organization is looking to accomplish — it doesn’t have to be just one thing — your goals should be specific, measurable, and achievable. The more clear-headed you are at the outset about what you need, the more clearly you’ll be able to communicate those goals with the marketing agency you consider. 2. Start your search with referrals You might be tempted to start with a Google search. We live in an online age where it’s second nature for us to take any new question to a search engine moments after it’s sprung to mind. But in this arena, word of mouth and direct referrals from colleagues, friends, and other organizations is still your best bet. Ask your colleagues in the industry. Check with other museum professionals on a listserv, LinkedIn, or professional Facebook group. Search engine results are going to be difficult to sift through at this early stage and Google reviews aren’t very reliable for this category. If you do turn to searching online, directories like Clutch actually interview agency clients and present more objective reviews with that information. 3. Research typical marketing costs for museums This is where the rubber meets the road. How much money do you have to work with and what should you expect from the budget you have? To find out the answer to that second question, you should start researching how much money your peer institutions put into marketing. Obviously, your budget will depend on a variety of factors, one of the biggest of which is the size of your organization. Most mid-sized museums spend about 2% of their total budget on marketing. But for optimal growth, cultural institutions should spend about 12. 5% of their earned revenue on bringing people in. 4. Ask for case studies... --- ### Nonprofit Content Marketing Advanced Guide > Find out what content marketing can do for your nonprofit. Learn what types of content work best for nonprofits and how to form a marketing plan. - Published: 2023-08-29 - Modified: 2025-04-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-content-marketing/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Nonprofit Marketing With limited staff and tight budgets, it’s often difficult for nonprofits to focus on marketing efforts. Yet incorporating content marketing into your nonprofit’s overall marketing strategy can be a powerful tool for growing your organization and building a wide base of dedicated supporters to advance your cause. What is nonprofit content marketing? Content marketing uses the creation and sharing of online content to attract, engage, and educate a specific audience. Creating high quality content — in other words, content that your audience wants to engage in — is a win-win strategy for nonprofits. It's the perfect avenue for nonprofits to take advantage of high impact storytelling to attract and maintain a loyal donor base. You can read all about how to craft a winning storytelling strategy in our guide: Content marketing channels for sharing your stories can include: Videos & photos Blogs Infographics Research articles Analytical reports Social media posts Podcasts Hosting interesting, relevant, and shareable content on your website and social media channels allows your organization to attract donors and volunteers as well as amplify your organization’s mission and educate people about why your cause matters — and isn’t that part of why your nonprofit exists in the first place? How is content marketing different for nonprofits? While perennially tight budgets can make content creation and other marketing efforts challenging for nonprofits, nonprofit organizations also wield a major advantage when it comes to content: your organization has so many important stories to tell. That family that would have lost their home without your organization’s intervention? The elder beagle that has found a forever home through your adoption drive? The wildfire emergency relief efforts organized by your staff and volunteers? Whatever cause you are fighting for, or gap in services you fill — telling those stories will inspire your audience to get involved in your mission. Nonprofit content marketing can not only increase brand awareness and drive donations, it can also educate people about the issues, show the impact of your organization through personal stories, and connect your nonprofit with a wide audience of people who care about your cause. How do nonprofits create content? Creating a content marketing plan is the first step to content that grows your community. You should rely on a mix of storytelling about your organization and education of the public on issues important to you. To build this kind of strategy, you’ll need A clear goal in mind for your content (Fundraising? Volunteers? More awareness about a specific action? ) A platform to share your ideas on (Your website? Social media? Programmatic advertising? Email? ) A medium that makes sense on your platform (Blogs? Videos? Social media posts? ) Ideas for combining multiple types of content across different platforms to strengthen your message (For example, fundraising emails that link to a blog on your website that tell a story about your organization). What can content marketing do for nonprofits? For nonprofits, content can inspire, educate, and build awareness about your cause by strategically sharing important facets of your organization’s work. With creative documentation in the form of photos, videos, or written content, events hosted by your organization and research conducted by it can become part of your content pipeline. Content marketing drives donations. Nonprofit content marketing can help your organization achieve financial sustainability over the long term by driving donations. Relevant, interesting content that engages and informs can bring new visitors to your website and social media platforms, generating leads and driving donations. In fact, with the right tools in place, a strategic content campaign can create a flood of donor support for your cause. Content marketing raises awareness about your cause. For many nonprofits, educating people about why your cause matters is an intrinsic part of the mission. Nonprofit content marketing allows you to do just that by engaging your audience with compelling content that explains why people should give some of their limited time and attention to help you fight the good fight. Fortunately for nonprofits, recent changes in how Google ranks web pages mean that content that answers user’s questions now tends to rank highly. As a result, you can create relevant, educational content that answers your audience’s questions about your... --- ### Nonprofit Apps: How to Know if You Need One > Nonprofit apps require some investment, but they have a variety of benefits including connecting more easily with volunteers, donors, and network supporters. - Published: 2023-08-29 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-apps-how-to-know-if-you-need-one/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Nonprofit Should my nonprofit have an app? The answer is: it depends. Building an app is a significant investment, but they offer some distinct benefits for gathering information and reaching potential donors that are hard to duplicate any other way. Since just over 60% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s more important than ever to make sure your organization’s website is optimized for smartphones. For nonprofits in particular, mobile views made up over 54% of all website traffic in 2021. Since competition for charitable dollars is tightening in the nonprofit world, it’s natural for nonprofit leaders to ask... Why Build a Nonprofit App? There are many use-cases that justify the cost of building an app (and the downloading of one). You may want to Store information for mobile users that they need ready access to (such as tickets, member numbers, or coupons associated with membership). Provide resources that mobile users would want to access quickly (such as maps, guides, or directories). Enhance the experience of interacting with your nonprofit in the real world, such as with guided audio tours of your facilities. Serve community members with phone notifications to keep them engaged. Manage a volunteer network and coordinate in-person events. Knowing what problems you're trying to solve with an app — and what alternative options there are to doing so — will help you decide if the investment is worth it. What are the Advantages of Nonprofit Apps? Once you've settled on your main motivation for building an app, you can start to think more broadly about what it can do for your organization. For instance, if you build an app mainly to help organize a volunteer network, you can still use it to prompt donations, remind people of important events, and provide other valuable resources to the user. Here's a few general benefits of building a nonprofit app. Nonprofit Apps for Awareness Building 500 million people visit Apple’s app store each day and there were over 111 billion app downloads from the Google Play store in 2021. A presence in these locations can help spread high-level awareness of your organization. That being said, nonprofit apps help build awareness best when they solve a problem for the user, but are then designed to promote deeper engagement with the organization. For instance, if you partner with a local business to offer a coupon via your app that incentivizes people to download it, you can then serve people notifications to help inform them of ongoing events or important milestones. Improve Your Data Collection Many nonprofits lag behind for-profit businesses when it comes to data collection. Offering a free app provides a valuable opportunity to gather information about potential donors that you can enter into your CRM. This info will help you segment your audience and send personalized messages to app users via email or other platforms in the future. Drive Donations When it comes to raising revenue online, removing barriers for donation is the name of the game. The easier it is for people to give, the better. Providing an app offers possible donors one more way to give and one more reminder right there on their smartphone that you’re hoping for their support. Push notifications are a valuable way to keep top of mind for your supporters as well. (Just don’t be as pushy as that Duolingo owl. ) But the statistics for online giving via mobile devices are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the percentage of online donations made from a phone or tablet has increased pretty steadily in the last decade from 9% of online donations in 2014 to 28% of online donations in 2021. On the other hand, donations made from desktop devices still constituted over 75% of all online revenue in 2021, and the average gift made via phone or tablet ($46) was still significantly less than the average gift made via desktop ($75). This suggests that while most big donors will gravitate toward using a desktop or other more traditional ways of giving, mobile devices are important for spreading general awareness of your organization and for boosting smaller contributions. What are the disadvantages of building an app for my nonprofit? Time for the sticker shock. The major disadvantage of building an app is... They’re Expensive One survey found that average app development costs between $40,000 and $60,000 for something basic and between $70,000 and $100,000 for something relatively complicated and feature-rich.... --- ### The Complete Guide to HubSpot for Nonprofits > Master HubSpot for nonprofits with our expert advice and insights. Boost fundraising, manage donor relations, improve engagement, and maximize your impact today! - Published: 2023-08-24 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Nonprofits are used to doing more with less — especially when it comes to marketing. That’s why HubSpot is such a valuable resource for your organization to consider. Used to its fullest potential, HubSpot offers a suite of tools for fundraising, digital marketing, email automation, and donor relations management that can multiply the efforts of a small team immeasurably — so much so that any nonprofit should consider it seriously. Those tools don’t come without a cost. But HubSpot for Nonprofits makes them available for eligible 501(c)(3)s at 40% lower than the standard cost for businesses. We’ve put together a complete guide to HubSpot for Nonprofits that’ll help you consider whether it’s right for you and how to get started using it today. What is HubSpot for Nonprofits? HubSpot is a CRM designed to connect marketing, sales, customer service, and content management all on a single platform that’s user-friendly and easy to integrate with other software tools. HubSpot for Nonprofits is the same thing as HubSpot, but offered at a discount for nonprofit organizations. While sales and customer service might not sound like the most immediately applicable categories for nonprofits, the tools HubSpot offers can easily be put to use by charitable organizations with a little customization. Over 4,000 nonprofit organizations around the world — including the World Wildlife Fund, the Food Bank of New York City, The Nature Conservancy, and the Brookings Institution — use HubSpot for donor management, program management, and reporting and forecasting. How much does HubSpot for Nonprofits cost? Pricing for HubSpot varies based on the particular tools you’re using, the number of users at your organization who’ll be accessing them, and the scale of your operation (for instance, the number of marketing contacts in your network). For example, the professional level CRM suite begins at $1,600/month. At the enterprise level it’s $5,000/month. However, eligible organizations using HubSpot for Nonprofits can receive 40% off the regular cost. In order to be eligible for HubSpot for Nonprofits, your organization must Be located in North America, Australia, or New Zealand Be a registered charity, nonprofit, or non-governmental organization with 501(c)(3) or equivalent status Be a new HubSpot customer Sign up for an annual term contract Certain nonprofit organizations aren’t eligible, including: Colleges and universities, with exceptions for foundations or nonprofit research initiatives Hospitals, healthcare networks, health plans, and ambulatory/outpatient healthcare organizations Professional and semi-professional sports organizations Governmental organizations or agencies Political, labor, and fraternal organizations Individuals and private organizations What are the key features of HubSpot for Nonprofits? Depending on the suite of options you choose, you can get access to a set of online marketing tools that let you: Set up online donations forms Manage interaction with donors and volunteers Launch ad campaigns Manage social media Create websites and landing pages Smoothly integrate your fundraising platform into other outreach activities Automate email workflows Collect and analyze information about the success of your marketing efforts. What are the benefits of using HubSpot for Nonprofits? Apart from the tools that HubSpot provides, coordinating all of your marketing and donor relations through a single resource makes it easier for different departments to communicate and coordinate their efforts. It allows your nonprofit to aggregate as much data as possible in one place so you have ready access to information about who your donors are and what drives them to contribute. And it makes analysis and visualization of all your data much simpler. How can an agency help me get started with HubSpot for Nonprofits? HubSpot is an incredibly valuable resource for your organization — and you want to make sure you use it to its fullest. Think of it like a Swiss Army knife. Those tiny scissors might come in handy, but you could be turning screws, stripping wires, dicing apples, scaling fish, and popping open wine bottles with this thing! It’d be a shame not to get the most out of it. When you sign up for HubSpot, you’ll pay an onboarding fee. When you pay it to HubSpot, they give you access to their online courses and knowledge base and leave you to figure it out. But if you pay that same amount to an agency instead, you’ll get the... --- ### Museum Marketing Strategy > COVID-19 forced many to get creative with their museum marketing strategy, but that doesn't have to go away now that visitors are flowing back in. - Published: 2023-08-22 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/museum-marketing-strategy/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums - Tags: coronavirus, COVID-19, museum digital marketing, museum strategies For decades, museums, aquariums, and other attractions have relied on the in-person experience to 'sell' their product to potential visitors. Then, everything changed. As the world began to lock down physical attractions to encourage social distancing and stem the spread of COVID-19, an entire industry found itself scrambling for solutions. Sometimes, you have no choice but to innovate. For decades, museums, aquariums, and other attractions have relied on the in-person experience to ‘sell’ their product to potential visitors. Then, everything changed. As the world began to lock down physical attractions to encourage social distancing and stem the spread of COVID-19, an entire industry found itself scrambling for solutions. The result? Museums, zoos, and other exhibit-based attractions got creative. Social media videos of penguins exploring “their” aquarium are going viral. Virtual tours are everywhere. Cultural heritage becomes an all-encompassing digital event. Below are just a few of the many ways in which museums, aquariums, and other attractions harnessed powerful digital marketing strategies that continue to pay off today. What are the 6 Components of a Successful Museum Marketing Strategy? Digital advertising for museums and other attractions is complex, but it includes a couple of core parts that will always inhere to a successful strategy regardless of your particular approach: Understand and be able to communicate the value of marketing, particularly if you have to invest resources into your strategy and execution during budget-strapped times. Build your target audience, which includes both understanding who that audience is and finding different ways to define it through demographics and interests/desires. Focus on the right digital channels, defined not by hunches or your own preferences but by those of your audience. Even if you prefer Twitter, your audience may be in love with Instagram. Follow them instead of making them find you. Create creative, visual, attention-grabbing content. That’s what the rest of this guide has been about, but it does need to meet your audience’s needs and expectations. Run targeted, focused digital ads that ‘close the deal’ by driving your audience to the virtual events you need them to experience. Continually measure your ROI to understand which of your tactics are working and why. That helps you make improvements over time and build a better marketing campaign in the long run. A strong emphasis on digital channels is a significant opportunity for both short- and long-term marketing initiatives. 4 Digital Museum Marketing Strategies Your website or social media might well be the first glimpse that many visitors have of your museum. Here are four ways to make that experience so memorable, they decide to stop by for a visit or donate to your cause. 1. New and Innovative Social Media Tactics Social media is a great way to engage and build a follower base that can turn into visitors. Over the last few years, museums have developed new tactics that are particularly engaging and innovative: Encourage engagement from the visitors you already have by offering hashtags in your brochures and near your exhibits that they can use to share their experience on social media. Don't forget to remind visitors to tag your museum in their posts. Attractions across the country have jumped on #MuseumFromHome, where they share their exhibits, ask thought-provoking questions, and build live virtual tours. Soliciting audiences for user-generated content, like the “Getty Museum Challenge. ” The J. Paul Getty Museum, among others, are asking their followers to recreate art from their collections at home. The result? People post using the hashtag and the museums, in turn, get great user-generated content that highlights their exhibits and collections. Virtual backgrounds on Zoom or Google Meet can bring your attraction directly to those living rooms and home offices. With the right platform, such as HubSpot, you can coordinate your social media, email, and even website marketing efforts easily. It’s not difficult to see these concepts expand and continue to be effective once life begins to return to normal. The expansion of social media content now has led to plenty of content ideas that can keep social media channels fresh and engaging to audiences trying to decide what attraction to visit. 2. Showcase Your Research Believe it or not, there's one digital visitor to your website that is incredibly interested in your research: Google. Google is constantly on the hunt for original, helpful content that adds to an ever-growing body of knowledge, and expertly written content ranks highest on their list. Google's helpful content system combined with its rater guidelines privilege content that is written by... --- ### Threads for Nonprofits: How to Get Started > Read this step by step guide to find out how your nonprofit can start using Threads to boost engagement and try out new social media strategies. - Published: 2023-08-18 - Modified: 2023-08-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/threads-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Social media is ever-evolving, and nonprofits need to keep up with changing trends to stay competitive and keep up with the times. While LinkedIn and Instagram remain valuable channels for nonprofit organizations, there's a new kid on the block — Threads. With so many tools and platforms demanding your attention, the question becomes: Should you or shouldn't you use Threads for your nonprofit? The TL;DR answer is this: You should, absolutely. Here's how to begin. What is Threads? Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably already heard of Threads. The rollout made a splash, for sure. Even my 70-something mother-in-law texted to ask me if she should be on Threads. Threads is a photo-sharing and messaging app operated by Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook). It's ideal for sharing stories and engaging with a community in nearly the same way you'd use Twitter (now “X”), but with longer posts and more content. It allows users to share content using photos, captions, and text, turning each post into a story or a “thread. ” It may look similar to the platform formerly known as Twitter, but it's designed to offer a unique experience by combining aspects of Twitter and Instagram. You can use it to build a following, create a brand identity, and share stories about your organization with a broader audience. Why should nonprofits use Threads? Despite astronomical early sign ups in the first week thanks to a ridiculously enticing invitation within Instagram, Threads is not yet as popular for daily use as its more entrenched social media rivals. This isn’t a surprise; we expect a slow adoption with any new platform where users have to figure out how and when to show up. But that shouldn't dissuade you from using it. While the numbers may not be as impressive as some social media sites, Threads offers something that others can't: a fresh start. With Threads, you can try out a new approach to social with relatively low risk because your audience will be small, at first. Now’s your chance to do something amazing and make a footprint for your nonprofit – embrace the opportunity! The barrier to entry is even lower than TikTok or Snap, with text-based posts ruling the feed but allowing up to 500 words. That means repurposing your content from LinkedIn or Facebook will be simple, and the easiest way to get started. Have a library of great photography? Threads offers a gallery format with up to 10 photos per post, and maintains their native dimensions. How to get started using Threads: a step by step guide Here are some ways nonprofits can utilize Threads for maximum engagement: Claim your handle. First things first, claim your nonprofit's username and handle, so no one else can take it and start posting with it. Establish your brand voice. Take your time to select your organization's voice, putting a lot of thought into your tone. Also, keep in mind who your target audience is, and how you want them to perceive your organization. New platforms mean you can play with new voices; perhaps Threads offers a place where you can be a bit more informal and comedic, or more wise and serious. Pick a direction and run with it! Repurpose content. It's always a good idea to repurpose posts from other social media platforms. This will save you time and allow you to share relevant content but with a Threads twist. Engage with your community. Threads' biggest strength is its interactive qualities, and you should take advantage. Respond to, comment on, and repost content from your peers and community members to raise your organization's profile. Experiment and get creative. Finally, Threads offers a new platform where you can play with new ideas for content, voice, and frequency so have fun, especially while your audience is small. Monitor your progress. As with any new platform or tool, you need to know if your (time) investment is worth it, so monitor your engagement and growth as you would on any other platform. Do I have to go all-in on Threads? With any new social media platform, knowing how much time and energy to invest can be tricky.... --- ### A Quick Guide to Growth-Driven Design > Your website is one of your most important sales tools. That’s why you need a growth-driven design strategy to support your business. - Published: 2023-08-16 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-you-need-growth-driven-design/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: growth-driven design, Web Development The reality is that your website is one of your most important sales tools, but many businesses “set it and forget it” when it comes to assessing their website performance. What if you could launch faster, have a lower startup cost, and keep your site actively working towards your business goals month after month? Enter Growth-Driven Design. When was the last time you got excited about the idea of a website redesign? Chances are ... never. Companies tend to let websites grow stale remembering the time, money, and headache involved in previous builds. That’s because the traditional model of a website build is risky. You invest tens of thousands of dollars upfront and have to wait months before anything launches. Plus, you have to hope that the one-time planning pays dividends in your post-launch goals. The reality is that your website is one of your most important sales tools, but many businesses “set it and forget it” when it comes to assessing their website performance. What if you could launch faster, have a lower startup cost, and keep your site actively working towards your business goals month after month? Enter Growth-Driven Design. What is Growth-Driven Design? Growth-Driven Design is a methodology that allows you to collect real-world data to better inform you about your website’s performance, helping you decide where to invest your time when it comes to meaningful improvements. Take the graph below, for instance, which compares the traditional website redesign timeline (blue) with Growth-Driven Design (orange). In the traditional model, your website may remain unchanged for years, only revisited during total redesign discussions. SOURCE: Hubspot Compare these great, long leaps to the stair-stepped evolution of a Growth-Driven Design timeline. Items that impact conversions and sales are revisited routinely, and can be adjusted if targets are not being met. These decisions are based on continually collected data, helping achieve marketing & sales goals faster than the traditional model. What are the 3 Pillars of Growth-Driven Design? Where do you start? A website optimization roadmap helps you define the long-term vision of the website. There are three general directions you can take: establish, optimize, and expand. Over the lifetime of your website, you’ll likely explore all three paths. 1. Strategy The strategy portion of Growth-Driven Design is similar to that of traditional web design: establishing a solid foundation on which to build. The key difference is that Growth-Driven Design prioritizes the way your audience views and interacts with your website. Company stakeholders are often blinded by “wish lists” for the new website, losing focus of the issues preventing conversions. Those important wishlist items should harmonize with measurable business goals. When planning user-centric strategies, be sure to define “jobs to be done,” create buyer personas, and develop journey maps. All of these thought exercises help you view the website from the user’s perspective, identify roadblocks, simplify funnels, and improve user experience. 2. Launch Pad A launch pad is a website that looks and performs better than your current website, but is not the final iteration. In fact, your website should be something that continually changes and grows, and is never “final. ” If you always have website iterations in the pipeline, you can boil down the launch pad website to fewer items, and launch faster. . Let’s be clear: a launch pad website is not a half-finished product. A user visiting your website will still see improvements like a cohesive brand refresh, clearer navigation, and improved content architecture (to name just a few). Website launches are usually delivered late and over-budget because every wishlist item is jammed into one round of production. Growth-Driven Design helps you prioritize wish list items based on potential impact and level of effort required. This sorting can result in a clearer path towards what’s truly needed for the launch pad, and what can be a focus item in the future. The Launch Pad is an Acceleration Method Whether you recently launched a website or are planning the next redesign, there is an assortment of “acceleration methods,” which transition any project to the Growth-Driven Design model. Remember that the launch pad website is meant to serve as a foundation for future strategy initiatives. If your website is reasonably new but wasn’t built with Growth-Driven Design, you can refresh it with minimal updates based on user experience, instead of the stakeholder requirements you may have used before. If you’re building your first site, you can kickstart your web presence with a template-based launch pad website. . And if you’re planning for more custom elements down... --- ### HubSpot Lead Scoring for Nonprofits: A Complete Guide > Find out how HubSpot lead scoring works and how you can use it to optimize donor acquisition for your nonprofit. - Published: 2023-08-15 - Modified: 2023-09-15 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hubspot-lead-scoring-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Nonprofit organizations have a lot on their plates. While making a significant positive impact is the bottom line for every nonprofit, in order to do so effectively, your organization must compete for limited resources, community engagement, and donations in a crowded landscape. Nonprofit organizations have a lot on their plates. While making a significant positive impact is the bottom line for every nonprofit, in order to do so effectively, your organization must compete for limited resources, community engagement, and donations in a crowded landscape. As a robust CRM (customer relationship manager) and marketing automation tool, HubSpot can help your organization do more with less when it comes to telling your story. If you’re already using HubSpot for your nonprofit’s email marketing and fundraising efforts, understanding how HubSpot’s lead scoring works can strengthen your campaigns, make better use of limited staff resources, and drive increased donor engagement. If, on the other hand, you’re still considering whether to use a CRM for your nonprofit, or which CRM to choose, learning about HubSpot’s lead scoring features can help you determine if this robust tool is the right fit for your organization. What is HubSpot lead scoring? In simple terms, lead scoring is the process HubSpot uses to rank each lead or contact that enters your nonprofit’s orbit. A lead is simply a contact in your CRM that has not yet become a donor. HubSpot assigns a numerical score to each lead based on behavioral criteria and firmographic data (information about the prospect’s workplace and information about your organization). For instance, visiting your website multiple times might increase a lead’s score by 3 points. You don’t have to customize anything for HubSpot’s predictive lead scoring to serve your nonprofit, but you can also add custom properties to create a supplemental lead score based on the criteria of your choice. The bottom line: high-scoring leads are much more likely to become active contributors to your organization, and HubSpot’s lead scoring can even help you predict when a contact is more likely to take a specific action — like donating to your cause. Why should nonprofits use Hubspot lead scoring? HubSpot lead scoring allows you to use your nonprofit’s limited staff and marketing resources to closely connect with contacts who have the best chance of making an impact on your organization. Nonprofit organizations thrive when they consistently attract community members aligned with their mission. Rather than spending time and resources trying to find these connections in a random way, HubSpot’s lead scoring allows your organization to hone in on contacts with the best fit for your nonprofit, meaning you can spend more time growing meaningful relationships that will support your organization's work over the long term. How does HubSpot lead scoring work? HubSpot’s Sales Enterprise software comes with predictive lead scoring which relies on machine learning to assign lead scores to each one of your organization’s contacts. HubSpot’s lead scoring analyzes the behavior of past and current leads to predict future behavior — including predicting when your visitors are most likely to take an action, such as making a donation or attending an event. Like all machine learning, predictive lead scoring becomes more accurate over time as HubSpot collects more and more data points specific to your organization. Even if you don't have the Sales Enterprise software, you can still set up lead scoring to help you identify your top prospects. How do I turn on lead scoring in HubSpot? If you have the HubSpot Sales Enterprise software, predictive lead scoring is “on” from the moment you begin using HubSpot! To find your contacts’ lead scores: Click the Settings icon in the main navigation bar of your HubSpot account. From the left sidebar menu, navigate to Data Management > Properties. Search for Likelihood to close and Contact priority. Likelihood to close is the individual’s lead score, while Contact priority segments your entire contact list into priority levels based on their respective lead scores. Without the Sales Enterprise software, you'll need to set up traditional lead scoring. How do I set up traditional lead scoring in HubSpot? If you don't have HubSpot's Sales Enterprise software, or would like to customize your lead scoring, you can set lead scoring parameters with attributes (or properties, as HubSpot calls them) to create a “traditional” lead score. While creating a customized traditional lead score takes more time, it can be useful to get insights from both a traditional lead score and a predictive... --- ### Why Client Engagement Is Like Dating > Client engagement and dating are both about building strong, lasting relationships. Learn more about building enduring client connections. - Published: 2023-08-11 - Modified: 2024-04-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-client-engagement-is-like-dating/ - Categories: News & Culture, Web Design - Tags: Client Engagement, Web Design Dating has been digital for a while. I mean, Meg Ryan got mail from Tom Hanks a whopping 24 years ago (whatever, the 90s look great on you). But we all know that meeting somebody new typically starts with a great pic and catchy bio that puts our best selfies forward. Similarly, companies with curated websites – complete with perfectly lit headshots and personable bios – make users want to swipe right every time. That’s why your business needs the perfect partner too: one who can engineer the ultimate user connection machine. So the next time you start thinking about how to make a lasting impression on your customers, make sure you look for that sparkle and alignment in your own web design liaisons. When you really look at relationships, be they romantic or professional, you notice some striking parallels. At Big Sea, we prioritize the relationship we build with each client. Sure, plenty of agencies can take you on a romantic stroll. But we’re here to do more than sweep you off your feet: we’re committed to building something that lasts. But before we take a look at the stages of a great (client) relationship, first let's answer... What is client engagement? Client engagement is the process of strengthening the relationship between a client and a business -- and "relationship" is the right word, because the connection is as much about how a client feels as what they think. Think about the businesses you frequent, the brands you love: you don't just like what they do -- what they do makes you feel good. Client engagement is about clear communication and good working relationships, but it's also about providing that extra little something. So what are the steps in building those relationships? Well, I'm glad you asked... What is the role of client engagement? Just as you wouldn’t expect a relationship to thrive without mutual understanding and investment, the same holds true for nurturing a business relationship with your client. Client engagement plays a key role in Building trust Understanding needs Creating mutual value Nurturing a long term bond Like in dating, it’s the consistent and thoughtful interactions with your clients that builds a relationship that can withstand the test of time. The 5 levels of client engagement There are 5 steps to client engagement: Awareness Consideration Decision Retention Advocacy Let's break 'em down: 1. Building awareness (or finding “The One”) Dating has been digital for a while. I mean, Meg Ryan got mail from Tom Hanks a whopping 24 years ago (whatever, the 90s look great on you). But we all know that meeting somebody new typically starts with a great pic and catchy bio that puts our best selfies forward. Similarly, when your business needs the perfect partner to build you a website or marketing plan destined to convert customers, your team will swipe left and right until y’all find the agency match that sparks. (You love long walks? I love long walks! You need a website? We build websites! ) It's not serious yet. You're doing market research, scouting our prospects. At this stage, client engagement is about getting your brand out there with ads, social media, content marketing: all the initial steps that make sure prospects can find the information they need about you. But how do you know when you’ve found the perfect client-agency relationship? How do you navigate the ups and downs as you grow together? Well, it starts with... 2. Consideration (or "Sparking a conversation") You're interested enough to reach out and find out more. You schedule a sales call, you look at some case studies. You’re vibing, we’re vibing. Everything is new and exciting. We’re sharing our hopes and dreams for our partnership: building a dazzling website that converts with a click. Our first impressions tell us it’s time to deepen the connection: we’re paying attention, we’re actively listening, we’re responsive: all good signs that we’re mutually invested in giving this thing a shot. The emphasis has moved from high level overviews to more detailed discussions of products, services, and strategies. And it's exciting to think long-term and visualize all that we can accomplish together as our stars and goals align. But does commitment just ruin the magic? 3. The Decision (or "So... what are we? ") For account leads and clients, the next level of the relationship hinges on defining the big plans: What are we going to do and when will it happen? Do we know what we want for the future and how we both get there together? This is when it's time to make the big decisions: what do we want and how do we want to achieve it? When it comes to client engagement, this is when the discussion moves from marketing to sales. Presentations are made, studies are reviewed, and contracts get signed. With a strong foundation – responsiveness, active listening, open and honest communication, and a pure desire... --- ### 3 HubSpot for Nonprofit Case Studies > Need ideas for how to use HubSpot for your nonprofit? Explore these three HubSpot for Nonprofit case studies to take your campaigns to the next level! - Published: 2023-08-09 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-hubspot-case-studies/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Almost half of nonprofits report that their biggest challenge is simply having enough people to do all the work that needs to get done. Which is why if you work at a nonprofit, you’ve probably had to get good at a lot of things — some of them outside your wheelhouse. In that situation, it’s crucial to have software tools that let you do as much as you can with a limited staff. Enter HubSpot. Platforms like HubSpot have made it possible for organizations to accomplish things they never could have before with software that organizes, coordinates, and automates tasks for managing relationships. Yet many nonprofits have been slow to recognize the benefits of adopting a robust platform like HubSpot into their workflow. That’s why we’ve compiled three case studies showing how HubSpot can help your nonprofit fulfill its mission. How does HubSpot for Nonprofits work? HubSpot for Nonprofits allows eligible 510(c)(3)s to access all the same tools as the standard version but at a 40% discount and with an onboarding process specifically geared toward nonprofits’ unique needs. You can find out if your organization is eligible to apply here. HubSpot is a powerful CRM (“customer relationship management”) platform that allows organizations to keep track of contacts segment them into audiences automate outreach build templates for emails and landing pages generate leads coordinate different internal teams Integrate other software platforms monitor analytics What are the advantages of using HubSpot for Nonprofits? In the hands of a nonprofit organization, these features mean: better communication with donors and volunteers simplifies and centralizes nonprofit branding strategy analytics and lead scoring to determine who to contact when tailored messaging for different audiences quick solutions for organizing campaigns seamless integration with donation portals 3 HubSpot Nonprofit Case Studies But that’s just an overview. Let’s get into specifics! Here are three short case studies that demonstrate what HubSpot can do for nonprofits. Full Funnel Marketing Strategy for Stetson Law Founded in 1900 and located on a historic campus in Gulfport, FL, Stetson University College of Law is the oldest law school in the Sunshine State. The College has over 40 full-time faculty and enrolls over 900 students in its Juris Doctorate program. The school is ranked #1 in the nation for Trial Advocacy and #3 for Legal Writing by U. S. New and World Report. In 2015, Big Sea began working with Stetson Law’s admissions department to develop strategies for attracting new prospective students. Beginning with optimizing Stetson Law’s website for conversion, we worked with the College to develop a series of applicant personas on HubSpot with a corresponding workflow for each. Depending on their point of contact or the information prospective students submit, they’re segmented into applicable persona workflows that automate a series of touchpoints with the student geared toward factors such as their interests, identity, or geographical area. For instance, students can receive invitations to alumni events in their area or notifications about happenings in their intended area of legal specialization. With the analytics HubSpot compiles, the admissions department is also able to perform A/B testing for different messages and templates to evaluate their effectiveness. HubSpot enables the admissions department to keep track of every point of contact a prospective student has had with the school. Marketing Hub has helped them focus on and attract better qualified candidates over time, raising the average LSAT score of applicants overall and improving their competitiveness even as other schools have seen declining admissions applications. When Big Sea began working with Stetson in 2015, they were averaging about 1,650 applicants per year with an average LSAT score of 154. Last year they hit 2,350 applicants, and achieved an average applicant score of 158. All law schools have access to the same lists of people who take the LSAT, and they all market to that group. But through using SEO and lead generation, Stetson consistently nets over 500 new contacts each year that didn’t come from that list. This lets the admissions department get a headstart on building relationships or targeting prospective applicants who may have sat out a semester or a year before applying. Stetson has also used HubSpot’s predictive analytics to understand which prospective students to pursue... --- ### Nonprofit Storytelling to Grow your Donor Community > Better nonprofit storytelling leads to more donations, more community engagement, and more eager volunteers. Let's get your organization's story straight. - Published: 2023-08-08 - Modified: 2024-07-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-better-nonprofit-storytelling-leads-to-more-donors/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Content Marketing, nonprofit marketing, storytelling More people than ever are donating their hard-earned dollars to nonprofits. In fact, 2022 saw a 4. 1% increase in all charitable donations compared to the year before, and donations given online specifically grew another 12. 1% compared to 2021. In the age of a looming recession and record-high inflation rates, how can you make sure your nonprofit is connecting with potential donors in ways that lead to increased or sustaining donations? By telling stories of impact: emotional, real-life examples of how your organization’s mission has made a lasting change. Let's talk about how you can make better use of nonprofit storytelling and traditional content marketing tactics to win more donations. What is nonprofit storytelling? Nonprofit storytelling is the practice of sharing stories about an organization and its impact in order to inspire action. Storytelling can be used to connect people to a cause, inspire them to act, and create a deeper understanding of the work that nonprofits do. When done well, nonprofit storytelling can be a powerful tool for change. Nonprofit storytelling provides real-life examples of how nonprofit organizations’ missions, services, and impact have all been felt. You can leverage strong stories in all aspects of your fundraising initiatives, such as: Social media content Websites and landing pages Grant writing Video productions Email campaigns Annual campaigns Peer-to-peer appeals Events and conferences No matter the field your nonprofit operates within, you need to create narratives and angles that inspire your audience members to understand the urgent need to take action. From donating to volunteering, spreading the word, joining a committee, or attending an event – your organization can leverage stories about the work you do to inspire any one of those actions. Once you know the goal, you need specific, moving stories that emotionally connect with your audience on different platforms and in different channels that are appropriate for that action. Nonprofit storytellers are the experts that bring all this to life. But this level of storytelling is more complex than just putting pen to paper. 10 Tips for better nonprofit storytelling Every nonprofit's story is different, but successful stories tend to share some key characteristics. Here are ten we've found to be crucial to better story construction. 1. Include storytelling in your marketing strategy Any story should be told with intention, and this starts with a thoughtful, well-crafted marketing and content strategy. What stories do you want to tell and when? How should people respond to them? Once you’ve answered these questions, you can sit down and build out a week-by-week, month-by-month, quarter-by-quarter and year-over-year plan for success. Let’s say you’re a nonprofit organization that helps connect families with the shelter and resources they need to get back on their feet and build better lives. You could focus on a new theme each quarter and tell the stories of those you’ve helped, all under certain themes, and post them out on social media to drive donations. For instance, in the spring you could focus on themes of renewal. Create blog articles and videos about constituents who’ve just begun to turn their lives around with help from your organization. Then share those articles and videos across your social media and in your email campaigns. Then in the summer, you can craft stories about families that are growing and thriving thanks to your organization. You could share stories about employees in your workforce program who’ve built new careers or families who’ve managed to attain greater stability through more permanent housing opportunities. 2. Tell real-life stories Not every nonprofit organization helps people, but when yours does, make sure that human element shines through. No organization can run without that human touch, and centering your story on that is a great place to start. People want to see who they’re helping and how. If you have stories about the lives your nonprofit has helped improve - tell them. Use real-life photos, examples they’re comfortable with, resources you connected them with, and quotes to showcase the candidness of their situation. Realness begets connection, don’t forget it. Now sometimes this can get tricky. Depending on the kind of work your organization does, anonymity may be an issue, or there may be other ethical reasons why... --- ### 6 Landing Page Mistakes Killing Your Conversions > Learn how to solve common landing page mistakes and digital marketing mistakes so you can start converting more visitors into leads on your website. - Published: 2023-08-02 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/6-landing-page-mistakes-that-are-killing-your-conversions/ - Categories: Web Design Your product is outstanding, your business is ready, and you’re driving dozens of leads to your landing pages. There’s only one problem: those customers aren’t converting. If you’re not seeing the conversion rate you want, keep reading. You may be making one of these six landing page mistakes that are killing your conversions. Your product is outstanding, your business is ready, and you’re driving dozens of leads to your landing pages. There’s only one problem: those customers aren’t converting. They land on a page, click around, and then leave. You’re left watching your marketing ROI drop as more and more customers land on your pages and bounce in confusion. What went wrong? Why won’t they respond to your content? 6 Biggest Landing Page Mistakes If you’re not seeing the conversion rate you want, keep reading. You may be making one of these six landing page mistakes that are killing your conversions. 1. Your landing page is too slow Even the best-designed landing pages will have low engagement rates if customers bounce before the page loads. Amazon realized that every millisecond delay (one-thousandth of a second) resulted in a one percent drop in revenue. While your web customers might not expect your site to perform on Amazon’s level, they do expect fast results. Faster pages can result in a 16. 5% increase in conversion rates as users stay focused and engaged with your brand. Look at your average load times and see how they compare to other pages on the web. You may find that your site design is slowing down your landing pages and driving customers away. 2. Your landing pages have a poor mobile experience Most companies still design and develop on desktops for desktops. While many hosting sites like WordPress and Wix automatically create mobile-optimized content from the desktop view, not all mobile experiences look good. If your landing page is hard to navigate once you switch to your smartphone, then you’re going to isolate more than half of your site traffic. 62% of Americans say they expect companies to have an optimized mobile website, and 40% say they have bounced to a competitor when they encounter a website with a poor mobile experience. Your customers aren’t as patient as you think they are. Look at your mobile experience and work to make it just as good (if not better) than your desktop pages. 3. Your landing page is vague As you drive new traffic to your landing page, you need to be clear about the goal and function of the landing page, who you are speaking to, and what you want people to do next. Hierarchy of information is one of the most under-appreciated design elements. Your landing page should clearly communicate the most important messages and calls to action quickly and logically. Don't bury the action you want someone to take or the most important proposition you have to make. Be clear about what your landing page is offering, and you won’t lose customers due to confusion. 4. You use way too much jargon In a world of constant “disruption,” and “blue sky thinking,” it’s easy to fill your landing pages with high-level jargon that leaves site visitors more confused than they were before. The most hated office buzzword of 2023 was “the new normal,” with 42% of respondents listing it as most annoying. 18% hated the phrase “lean in,” and 16% hated the term “hop on a call. ” Test out your jargon levels by running landing page tests with a few people who aren’t familiar with your brand. Ask for honest feedback about what they think your company does and if the brand messaging is confusing. No matter how impressive your visuals or how fast your website, if you don't have high quality content, people won't be engaged. 5. Your visuals don’t tell a story Along with adding too much jargon, you don’t want to have too much text on a landing page. The internet is an increasingly visual place, with channels like YouTube and Instagram feeding our desire to watch instead of read. Consider adding captivating visuals and even video to your landing pages; you can watch your conversions increase and customer interest grow. By adding a video to its main landing page, Dropbox was able to increase its conversions by 33%. If you really want to take your visual content to the next level, A/B test different image types to see how customers respond to stock photos versus product photos or lifestyle shots to maximize... --- ### Content SEO Strategy Yields A Massive Boost in Organic Traffic > After just a couple months, the site more than doubled the number of pages ranked in the top 3 search results on Google and nearly tripled the number in the top 10. - Published: 2023-08-01 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/w3-content-strategy-case-study/ - Categories: Case Studies Wallace, Welch, and Willingham (W3) is an insurance company specializing in employee benefits coverage and commercial, marine, and life insurance. With offices in St. Petersburg and Sarasota, FL, the company has been a fixture of the Tampa Bay business community for nearly a century. In 2014, W3 came to Big Sea looking to acquire more requests for marine insurance. Ever since, Big Sea has worked with W3 on content marketing, web development, and advertising strategy and execution. In April of 2023, in advance of a general website redesign, Big Sea proposed a series of content refreshes to boost site traffic. W3’s site featured a lot of helpful, expert content written in-house by their team. We proposed editing and restructuring that content to optimize it for organic search. Our specific objectives were to: Identify content-rich explainer pages with solid base performance metrics. Reorganize, edit and optimize those pages to increase their visibility for search engines. Boost the site’s organic traffic in advance of the re-launch. Identifying Opportunities for Refresh It’s no secret that Google likes helpful content, or work written by experts and those who have first-hand experience that provides a deeply informative take on a topic. Much to their ranking advantage, W3’s site already had a lot of useful, authoritative content on insurance-related subjects. Their content often focused on products relevant to its broader Tampa Bay area customer base, such as boat insurance and policies covering flood and hurricane damage. But despite the great content, these pages lacked keyword alignment and other features of search optimization. An SEO audit revealed which keywords existing pages were ranking for and which pages were already performing well in organic search. The strongest pieces were chosen to maximize returns on our SEO efforts and strengthen the overall organic health of the site. Editing and Optimizing Organizing Information Using best practices for keyword alignment and SERP optimization, between April and June Big Sea restructured 10 blog entries on W3’s site. Adding and rewording headers and subheads, and providing a hierarchical structure through those headings, made the information on these pages easier for Google’s web crawlers to understand. Editing for clarity While clarity is not a ranking factor, more digestible information provides a better user experience. For W3’s high-level content, adding some additional structure helped with readability as well by giving context to the provided information. Targeting SERP Features Big Sea specifically targeted SERP features to increase W3’s visibility in Google’s search engine results. We focused on People Also Ask questions and featured snippet optimization. By editing and rewriting W3’s content to compete with other SERP feature results, we sought to provide better answers to searchers’ important questions about the Florida insurance market, leading to a stronger presence on Google’s result pages. Internal Linking W3’s blog built out a lot of pieces with strong conceptual relationships to one another, but these pieces often didn’t directly link to each other. By implementing an internal linking strategy, we not only provided greater visibility to search engines across the blog segment, we also gave users additional resources to explore as they investigated a topic. Measuring Results After just a couple months, the site more than doubled the number of pages ranked in the top 3 search results on Google and nearly tripled the number in the top 10. As a consequence, new users were up over 67% and average time on the page was up by 47%. Our SEO efforts ultimately yielded a number of impressive results: 172% increase in top 10 keywords 113% increase in top 3 keywords 67% increase in all organic traffic 76% increase in traffic from Google 29% increase in traffic from all sources 62% increase in total keywords 2883% increase in SERP features Most strikingly of all, the number of excerpts from W3’s site featured on Google search result pages increased over 28 times over. With a relatively small investment of time, Big Sea massively boosted W3’s organic web traffic and primed the site for greater exposure when they launch their new homepage. --- ### Automated Museum Email Marketing > At a time when inboxes are more crowded than ever, how do museums stand out? By created an automated museum email marketing strategy that converts. - Published: 2023-07-24 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/automated-marketing-emails-for-museums/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums At a time when inboxes are more crowded than ever, how do museums stand out? By creating a consistent and strategic email marketing plan that includes these four automated emails. American museums draw 900 million visitors each year. The museum industry has delivered culture, history and unique experiences to American families for decades. But competition is fiercer than ever, and small to mid-sized museums, many of which are still rebounding from the losses of Covid, must evolve their marketing if they want to expand their reach and draw new visitors each season. One way to reach out to patrons that yields a high return on investment (an average of $36 to every $1 invested, according to Hubspot) is email marketing. We all know the perils of spam. But email remains one of the most reliable ways to reach your audience and keep them engaged with your institution. That's why we've compiled four museum email marketing ideas you can launch tomorrow to keep your institution at the front of your visitors' minds. 4 Types of Museum Email Marketing A well-timed message can draw repeat visitors, inspire people to volunteer, encourage donations, and prompt your supporters to share their experience with others. And as email automation tools grow more sophisticated and accessible than ever before, it's easier for organizations on a tight budget to manage some very effective marketing. 1. The Win-Back Email Subject: We've missed you! Your online ticketing platform gathers email addresses at checkout. Using built-in features or an integration with your email automation software, send automated emails 4-6 months after a guest’s visit. This email should highlight what's new this season, and should link to upcoming events or new exhibits highlighted on your website. Consider a bounce back offer with a special on admission, discounted food, or a gift shop deal. (And, for that matter, don't ignore your website. Even if it doesn't immediately translate to repeat visits, drawing new visitors to your site will boost your presence online and keep you front of mind for new museum-goers in your area. ) Don't write a dissertation. Emphasize what the guest came for in the first place — your premiere features and exhibits. Keep the copy light and to the point, and make it easy to see where to book the next visit. 11 Reasons Your Email Marketing Sucks — and 41 Ways to Fix It → 2. The Automated Museum Admission Email Subject: Happy birthday from Your Museum Name More than half of all emails are spam, so it's natural for people to be wary of new messages and get easily fatigued when they receive too many. That's why when you have a guest's or member’s data—such as their birthday and email address—use it wisely, with emails they actually want to see. One way to send a simple yet lightly personalized message is with an automated email offering them a special during their birthday month, such as bringing a friend for free or half price admission. Tone down the sales and keep it simple. Wish them a happy birthday, and quickly explain the details of the offer. Then, make it easy to book a visit online with a clear call to action that's easy to find when skimming the email. 3. The Museum Volunteer Drive Email Subject: We need people like you. Automate an email to new members of your contact list and volunteers who haven't participated in over a year. Avoid the urge to talk about your museum from a promotional perspective. Assume that they already know what makes you great. Instead, focus on the benefits of volunteering and how everyday people can support your mission. Be honest about why you have a need and how your volunteers can solve problems for your organization. Consider easy to digest pieces of content like a quick infographic on the number of volunteers you have, their ages, their backgrounds, and the duties they perform at the museum. Position volunteering as a way to meet new friends, network professionally, and become more exposed to your exhibits and the culture you promote. What do you want them to do when they finish reading the email? That call to action should be clear and compelling and make taking the next step as easy as possible. 4. The Automated Museum Review Request Email Subject: How did we do? Museum attendance is heavily reliant on good... --- ### 4 Types of Data Your Nonprofit Should Collect > Nonprofit data collection can be overwhelming. Learn about what other nonprofit organizations collect, why, and how. - Published: 2023-07-12 - Modified: 2025-01-27 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-data-collection/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Nonprofits must compete for time, attention, and money just like any other entity. That means speaking to the right people, at the right time, the way they want to be spoken to, while showing them the impact of your organization. Data makes all of this possible. Ah, data. In an age of headlines dominated by artificial intelligence, it’s easy to picture the world of data as an incomprehensible explosion of zeros and ones, stretching into infinity à la The Matrix. Thankfully for nonprofits, data is a lot more exciting and mindful than that dystopian vision. We’re particularly fond of the definition provided by Cambridge Dictionary: data (noun): “information, especially facts or numbers, collected to be examined and considered and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and used by a computer” This cuts to the heart of the matter: Data must be useful to your nonprofit. But that feat is easier said than done, so let’s get to it! How do nonprofits use data? Nonprofits use data to help them design and implement projects, share information with donors and volunteers, and raise funds. Data allows nonprofits to track progress over time and see which programs are working — or not. By understanding the impact of their efforts, nonprofits can better allocate resources and maximize their potential for making a difference. Data can also be used to measure success and communicate it to stakeholders. There are two main types of data: Quantitative and quantitative. And you’ll likely want to use both. Qualitative Data Qualitative data is descriptive data that cannot be assigned a numerical value. Donor names, whether or not someone attended an event, and anecdotal survey responses are all examples of qualitative data. This comes in particularly handy when you’re engaged in behavioral marketing, allowing you to provide a highly segmented or customized experience. And who doesn’t love a personalized experience? In fact, an Epsilon study showed 80% of people are more likely to make a purchase when a campaign is personalized! Examples of qualitative data in action include list emails that refer to your donors by their first name; an event for donors residing in a specific town; or ads recruiting volunteers who are interested in a specific part of your mission. Quantitative Data Quantitative data is — you guessed it! — assigned numerical values. Revenues, conversion rates, website visits, and the number of donors you acquire in a certain time frame are all quantifiable data points. In reality, qualitative and quantitative data work together to form a fuller picture of your donors, volunteers, and supporters. You need insights from both to help your organization thrive. Why is data collection important for nonprofits? Nonprofits must compete for time, attention, and money just like any other entity. That means speaking to the right people, at the right time, the way they want to be spoken to, while showing them the impact of your organization. Data makes all of this possible... at scale! Furthermore, nonprofit organizations must decide on a few unique Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track. These are benchmark data points that help determine the overall health of the organization and help quantify the efficacy of its efforts towards the mission. KPIs also allow you to show just how much of an impact your organization is making. Just as crucially, your data can unearth stories you might not have noticed otherwise. If your nonprofit provides shoes to underprivileged children, it’s one thing to tell your donors as much. It’s a much more compelling story to deliver 5,000 pairs of kids’ shoes in six months to the most under-resourced school districts of your region. How do I create a nonprofit donor database? Your data needs to live in a place that is secure, organized, and easy for the right people (and apps) to access. That place is trusty customer relationship management (CRM) software. At Big Sea, our favorite CRM for nonprofits is Hubspot. But whichever CRM you choose, it should have these data-savvy features: Third-party app integration. If your organization uses other apps (such as fundraising software), it’s crucial for it to integrate into your CRM so that all data is collected in one centralized spot. Searchability. You should be able to search, segment, and filter to find the data you need, in as few steps as possible. Data visualization. Beautiful and easy-to-use charts and dashboards aren’t just for looks! Visuzaliation is crucial to recognizing valuable trends and finding... --- ### Legal Podcast Bolsters Law School Admissions Program > Big Sea has worked with Stetson’s admissions to draw more and better-qualified applicants. Through a smart digital marketing strategy, Stetson has seen boosts in prospective students. - Published: 2023-07-07 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/legal-podcast-bolsters-law-school-admissions-program/ - Categories: Case Studies Since 2015, Big Sea has worked with Stetson’s admissions department to draw more and better-qualified applicants each year. Through a smart digital marketing strategy that focuses on targeted messaging, keyword-rich content production, and conversion optimization, Stetson has seen boosts in prospective student contacts, email open rates, total applications, and average applicant LSAT scores. Founded in 1900, Stetson University College of Law has the longest lineage of any law school in Florida. Located on a unique and beautiful historical Mediterranean Revival style campus in Gulfport, the school is ranked #1 in the nation for its trial advocacy program and #3 for legal writing by U. S. News and World Report. Since 2015, Big Sea has worked with Stetson’s admissions department to draw more and better-qualified applicants each year. Through a smart digital marketing strategy that focuses on targeted messaging, keyword-rich content production, and conversion optimization, Stetson has seen boosts in prospective student contacts, email open rates, total applications, and average applicant LSAT scores. Standing out from the crowd In early 2022, we approached Stetson with a new strategy to create a true differentiator in the recruitment field: a monthly podcast. Called Real Cases, the podcast features interviews with Stetson professors, students, and recent alumni highlighting the school’s strengths and linking them to engaging legal issues of interest to prospective students. Our specific objectives for the podcast included: Building an emotional connection between prospective students and Stetson by providing a humanizing, engaging touchpoint in the recruitment process. Positioning Stetson as an innovative leader in legal education. Generating quality leads from prospective students with higher LSAT scores. Driving organic website traffic through additional keyword-rich content. Coordinating a new production schedule Creating a new podcast from the bottom up meant establishing clear lines of communication between client and agency to find student and faculty interview subjects. It also meant coordinating a tight production schedule linking together background research, online interviews, content marketing, audio production, ad copy, graphic design, and social media promotion – all managed by Big Sea. A library of engaging content By April 2022, the podcast was launched with four episodes available on Stetson’s website and on popular podcasting platforms such as Apple and Spotify. By the end of the year, Stetson had accumulated a library of 10 episodes supplementing Stetson’s admissions materials with in-depth interviews and anecdotes that help prospective students learn from law grads and faculty and plan their own journeys to become practitioners. For students trying to learn about the culture of the schools to which they're applying, or looking to get to know the faculty with whom they might work, the podcast is an invaluable resource in the awareness and consideration phases of their application process. The Results A year and a half later, Real Cases is in its second season, with 16 episodes and counting linked on the admissions page and advertised on Stetson’s social channels using ad copy and creative promotional graphics that Big Sea develops. This growing library of materials is available 24/7 for prospective students who want to learn more about the school and the faculty. The second season of the podcast has proven to propel growth for the law school: 2,349 total lifetime downloads 26% increase in total sessions in the last year 17% increase in session time With organic promotion the only method of sharing this content, every new episode sees: 40 downloads in the first 7 days 73 downloads in 30 days (46% increase) 101 downloads in 90 days (28% increase) 181 downloads average total per episode (24% increase) Stetson Law’s podcast is a trendsetter for other law school admissions programs. As the school’s overall and individual program rankings continue to rise, new prospective students in the consideration phase have an ample library of content available to introduce them to Stetson’s award-winning programs and faculty members. The podcast also provides a platform for Stetson to anticipate and speak to the needs and concerns of new applying cohorts. Our team is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to reach prospective students and distinguish Stetson Law from other law schools. Through our partnership with Big Sea, we have found that podcasts are an exciting new way to connect with prospective students. Big Sea has led us through this new terrain. Our Stetson Law Real Cases podcasts are designed to inform and educate around an array of timely legal topics and issues that provide insight into state, national, and regional legal landscapes as well as share more about the Stetson Law community of educators, students, and... --- ### How to Build Natural Backlinks to Your Website > Build natural backlinks the right way and avoid spam penalties from Google with our top 9 tips for natural link building. - Published: 2023-07-06 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-build-backlinks-the-right-way/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Link building is the process of gaining new backlinks to your site through social sharing, content creation, public relations, promotion, and outreach. The purpose of link building is to improve the reach and footprint of your site by appearing on topically relevant and authoritative sites. Let’s take a look at what link building is, some approaches to building quality links, and some pitfalls to avoid. Link building is the process of gaining new backlinks to your site through social sharing, content creation, public relations, promotion, and outreach. The purpose of link building is to improve the reach and footprint of your site by appearing on topically relevant and authoritative sites. This brings traffic from the site where the link was built, as well as improves your site's authority by association. Backlink strategy can be as simple as sending a message to a blogger asking them to share a topically-relevant page with their audience, or as complex as building a 100-page guide that gets shared all over social media and industry sites. Let’s take a look at what link building is, some approaches to building quality links, and some pitfalls to avoid. What are natural backlinks? A backlink is a link that exists on another website and leads back to your site. Natural backlinks are free links you acquire overtime or by building relationships. You do not pay for them. All backlinks (and all links in general) have 4 parts, which help the reader and search engine answer 4 distinct questions: Anchor text, the text that is clickable and, hopefully, gives the user some context around what they're about to click. URL, or the destination the visitor will go to when the link is clicked, is where you want people to visit. Linking Page is the referrer, which describes who is sending you to the URL. Context is why the link is on this particular page. Here’s an example, showing all 4 parts of a link, as you would encounter them on a web page. The Anchor Text reads “CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers national tobacco education campaign”, which describes what to expect when you click the link. The URL of the link is https://www. cdc. gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/about/index. html The Linking Page is the Tobacco Prevalence Among Low Income Individuals page. The Context of the link is that it helps readers find more information on tobacco cessation campaigns, by linking to a more authoritative site on the subject. The copy and links make sense to the reader, and anyone who clicks any of the links knows what to expect. This page is on a reputable site, linking to another reputable site, is well cited, and has measurable value to both a reader & a search engine, thus tends to perform well in search. Now, here’s an example of the opposite — low-quality links embedded in spammy text. The anchor text consists of short, specific keywords, the copy is unintelligible to a human reader, and the URLs all point to the same keyword-heavy domain name. This type of link spam is easily caught by most search engines, and the offending page is typically penalized or simply not included in the index. (That's bad. ) Why are natural backlinks important? Backlinks are considered a “vote of confidence” from one website to another, and pass authority from the referring site to the referred site. Pursue links from other reputable sites, such as newspapers, industry magazines, experts in your field, or other local or industry-specific webpages, and avoid building backlinks on low quality, spammy, or irrelevant sites. Natural backlinks are important because that is how Google prefers sites to acquire them. Google discourages buying backlinks, and prefers that your site acquire backlinks overtime by providing helpful content that people want to share and link to. A great backlink profile, with links from a myriad of trusted sites, will drive a site higher on the search engine results page, as search engines use backlink profiles as a way of determining the legitimacy of a website (or page). In short, backlinks tell Google's algorithms that you're for real and that you're putting good content (not garbage) onto the Internet. So it wants to help more people find you. 9 Ways to Build Natural Backlinks to Your Website There are many different ways to earn and build natural backlinks to your site, so select link building tactics that match with your company goals and available resources. Here are a few suggestions to get you started: 1. Publish a case study Explain how you helped a client solve a problem. Reach out to the company... --- ### How We Create High Quality Content For SEO > Want to make your high quality content for SEO and your audience? Explore step-by-step tips for content that users — and search engines — love. - Published: 2023-07-05 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/create-high-quality-content-for-the-user-and-seo/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO It’s important to write content for humans, not for search engines. However, it’s hard to get your content in front of humans unless you consider the search engines that largely dictate who sees what. To solve this dilemma, I’ve created this practical guide to content writing that combines search engine research, user research and editorial best practices. As content marketing has become a standard part of marketing strategy, content creators have been inundating the internet with content. In 2019, over 4. 4 million blog posts were published every day. How can you create high quality content in a sea of listicles, “ultimate” guides, how-to’s, infographics, white papers and ebooks? In my career as a content writer and strategist, I’ve noticed that there is a spectrum of content creators. Some think that you should just simply “write good content,” and the users will follow. Others may think that you must use your target keyword a certain number of times in an article, and each paragraph, subheading, link, and phrasing must be 1000% optimized for SEO. In reality, creating high quality content lies in the middle of this spectrum. It’s important to write content for humans, using signals from search engines to shape your writing strategy. Search optimization is all about getting your work seen by users, but keeping your users on the page is key to higher rank, more shares, and stronger conversions. Ultimately, search engines also reward you for content that humans enjoy. But first — what is high quality content for SEO? What makes content high quality is, to some degree, subjective. However, all high-quality content tends to be Audience- or persona-centric Problem-solving & solution-oriented Easy to read and clear Presented in a variety of formats, like text, video, and images Original and experience- or expertise-based Google's EEAT guidelines for helpful content are a great place to start to learn more about how search engines rank for quality. Why is high quality content important for SEO? High-quality content is crucial to ranking highly in search engine results, acquiring backlinks, and standing out against your competition. Everyone has a blog these days, and keyword alignment alone isn’t good enough due to Google's ever increasing power to identify and rank for quality. In addition, producing low-quality content won’t provide any of the audience-building, lead-converting, social media-engaging benefits that are why you decided to start creating content in the first place. 4 Features of High Quality Content for SEO 1. Content research Research is crucial to providing a unique and helpful experience to your audience. Before you begin content development, you need to conduct thorough research to both select your topic and write about it. Here's how to do that: Hone in on your topic and keywords Even if search engine rank isn't your main goal, it's almost always beneficial to write an article that focuses on a keyword with a decent search volume that isn't highly competitive. While there are plenty of other ways for people to find your content (via email, social media, etc. ), incorporating search engine research in the beginning will help you in the long run. So, to identify your topic, if you aren’t using a paid SEO tool, you can use UberSuggest (or a variety of other tools) for content research. For example, let’s say we are developing content for a child-focused nonprofit, and our blog post is going to be about parental resilience. I can input “parental resilience” into UberSuggest and see general information on the topic: This is a good topic to write about because it has a decent search volume and will not be that difficult to rank for. Next, I can also scroll down and see keyword ideas. These may be things we want to make sure we address in our article as subheads, such as “what is parental resilience” and “parental resilience examples,” or they could be separate articles we want to create that will link to this article depending on the search volume and how different the topics are. In this example, most of the keyword ideas below “parental resilience” have a low volume and are highly related to “parental resilience,” so they should be incorporated into the article I’m writing. Look at top-ranking articles Whether you type your keyword or topic into Google or check out the top-ranking articles in UberSuggest, you should click through every article on the first page (at least) to see if there are any commonalities or features that stand out. For example: What kinds of sites are ranking for this content?... --- ### What is Programmatic Display Advertising? > Get started with Programmatic Display Advertising! Learn what it is, how it works, and how to reap the benefits for your business. - Published: 2023-06-28 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-is-programmatic-advertising/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Today's digital advertising environment is crowded. Even more challenging is the complexity of digital ad networks, which can make it seem like you need a PhD just to get started. But once you dig below the surface of that jargon, you begin to uncover true benefits to your organization. That's what this guide is about. You might not exactly understand it, but programmatic advertising is the engine that makes modern digital strategies run. So we'll break it down for you in plain language. Today's digital advertising environment is crowded. Even more challenging is the complexity of digital ad networks, which can make it feel like you need a PhD just to get started. But once you dig below the surface of that jargon, you begin to uncover true benefits to your organization. That's what this guide is about. You might not exactly understand it, but programmatic advertising is the engine that makes modern digital strategies run. So we'll break it down for you in plain English. In this guide, we'll do the following: Learn about the concept itself, along with a few programmatic advertising examples to make it real Understand the background of how these types of ads work, why they work, and how they came to be Read a primer on the platforms you can use Get some tips on how to get started What is Programmatic Display Advertising? Programmatic advertising is the use of automated computer technology to buy and sell online advertising space. Buying and selling decisions are made almost instantaneously in real time based on user data and pre-set guidelines about audiences advertisers are trying to reach and how much they're willing to pay. Programmatic display advertising is the use of this technology to display image-based ads, such as the banner ads that appear on the top or sides of web pages. Stated differently, programmatic advertising is a move away from the traditional, person-to-person way of buying ads. You don’t place your brand's messages by contacting an ad representative for that specific spot in a specific publication. Instead, you use a platform that places your ads across a variety of channels, based on a specific definition of your desired target audience. Some Examples of Programmatic Advertising Think about the hypothetical Corner Barbershop. Twenty years ago, when wanting to reach potential customers, the owner would have called up the local newspaper to place an ad. Today, using programmatic ads, he could upload a list of his existing customers delivering ads to them to return, and create geofences around the other local barbershops to deliver ads to their customers offering a first-time customer special offer. That’s just one example, of course. Organizations today can place video, audio, and even TV streaming ads in this fashion. The advertiser plugs in some variables, and the platform automatically determines the placement and price—usually in the time it takes to load the website. How Does Programmatic Display Advertising Work? You have the basic definition. So let’s break it down further, using the same programmatic ad example mentioned above to help you understand how programmatic ads work. The platforms placing ads on your behalf typically have a specified inventory that allows them to place ads across thousands of websites, within mobile apps and social platforms. Within that inventory, they’re constantly gathering extensive data about people’s behavior and actions. Additionally, using the native location features of mobile devices, they can leverage people’s physical location as a targeting factor. Through machine learning and other digital automation, they can take your ad and targeting specifications and deliver ads directly to people and devices that show intent or interest in your product or service. Individuals that exhibit the behavior identified in your targeting are then tracked across their digital devices, allowing you to deliver ads to them where they go instead of trying to guess where you think they may go online. What is RTB (real-time bidding)? Most programmatic ads work on a concept called real-time bidding (RTB). Any organization that wants to place an ad through the platform specifies how much they’re willing to pay for it. The highest bidder gets the spot. But the game is not over. Unlike channel-specific advertising, programmatic ads allow you to meet your impression goals in your campaign and deliver ads at lower cost because ads are delivered to your audience based on the sites and apps they visit. The key thing to understand here is that, as an advertiser, you work with the programmatic platform instead of the actual publisher. That means you might not know which exact pages, websites, or content your ads will appear next to, but you also have control mechanisms target specific channels or eliminate specific locations from... --- ### The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Nonprofit Marketing Agency > Choosing the right nonprofit marketing agency can be daunting. Learn how to determine what services you need, find an agency, and ask the right questions. - Published: 2023-06-27 - Modified: 2024-11-12 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-ultimate-guide-to-hiring-a-nonprofit-marketing-agency/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: nonprofit marketing Nonprofit marketing agencies exist to help you get more out of your marketing dollars. Their deeper expertise and specialists who eat, sleep, and breathe the marketing of organizations like yours can help you reach more people and generate more revenue for your organization. But how do you find the right agency? It's time. You've finally realized that you can't do it all yourself. Nor should you – there's so much more you could do if you had the bulk of marketing off your plate. You've got to hire a nonprofit marketing agency. Nonprofit marketing agencies exist to help you get more out of your marketing dollars. With deeper expertise and specialists who eat, sleep, and breathe the marketing of organizations like yours, they can help you reach more people and generate more revenue. But hiring a marketing agency for nonprofits can be a tough process. RFPs are the worst way to find real talent, and the language on agency websites all sounds the same. So what do you look for in an agency and how do you choose the right one? We'll show you the right questions to ask at each step in the process. Let's start with a big one... What do nonprofit marketers do? A nonprofit marketing agency should amplify your mission by helping you reach out to donors and volunteers more effectively. A good agency can extend your outreach and lead generation through email, ads, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO); refine your messaging to attract your target demographic; improve conversions on your website; reactivate lapsed donors; and help you get more out of your current marketing tactics. A good agency will build upon your organization's marketing strengths and supplement its weaknesses. How much should I spend on marketing for my nonprofit? First, you'll need to have a clear understanding of exactly what you need help with and what you want to achieve. The best agency partnerships are built on shared expectations, so you need to know as specifically as possible exactly what you need from your marketing agency. Determine what types of nonprofit marketing you need help with This is a perfect time to take inventory of your current marketing endeavors. What's working and what's not? What would you like to have done differently? What new tactics or strategies can be employed that weren't previously used? Analyze what your organization is currently doing and make a list of items that either need improvement or need more time invested to be successful, starting from the beginning with the your marketing strategy (wait - you've got a strategy, right? ). Take inventory of your tactics like donor acquisition campaigns, SEO, website development, content creation, social media, conversion rate optimization, and email marketing initiatives. What would you like to be doing more of? What have you seen your peers or other organizations doing well that you think might work for yours? These are all great things to ask an agency about when you get into your interviews. Decide what objectives your nonprofit needs a marketing agency to achieve After you've considered tactics, think about the financial goals of your organization. Are you falling behind in online donations? Are you struggling to convert one-time donors to anything more? Measure your organization against industry benchmarks to identify challenges and ask how the agencies you're interviewing helped others overcome them. Any good nonprofit marketing agency should have ideas for both new donor acquisition, conversion, data collection, and reactivation campaigns as well as campaigns to help with volunteer recruitment, event promotion, and corporate partnerships. If that sounds like a lot (it is! ), be clear on the one high-level function you need help with and look for agencies with those specific talents. Research the typical costs of hiring a nonprofit marketing agency and determine your budget Questions about budgets should happen internally before you start talking to agencies; if you just need ballpark figures to understand what's possible, consider talking to your peers at other organizations to see what they're spending, or do some research online. Figure out roughly how much should go toward agency services and how much you'll spend on paid media. Knowing what your budget is will help determine which agencies you're realistically able to work with (bigger, more experienced agencies are more expensive and less risky), and what you can expect as outcomes. Even if you don't have a solid budget number, knowing that you've got $20,000 vs $100,000 will open very different doors with very different agencies, so... --- ### 1 Million Impressions and Over $100K Raised in Just 2 Weeks > How we launched an urgent paid social media and programmatic advertising campaign for a nonprofit to raise emergency funds if Hurricane Ian made landfall. - Published: 2023-06-23 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/100k-raised-in-just-2-weeks/ - Categories: Case Studies How we launched an urgent paid social media and programmatic advertising campaign for a nonprofit to raise emergency funds when Hurricane Ian made landfall. Metropolitan Ministries, one of the largest nonprofits in the Tampa Bay area, provides life-changing services for disadvantaged community members. From housing to food to education, Metropolitan Ministries has a long history of restoring lives. Preparing for Landfall Big Sea continues to collaborate with Metropolitan Ministries on their digital marketing efforts. One of our shared values is proactivity. To prepare for the 2022 hurricane season, Big Sea created new emergency impact ads that could be released immediately if a hurricane made landfall in Tampa Bay. Thankfully, we were well-prepared. Hurricane Ian landed on September 27, 2022, destroying more than 5,000 Floridan homes and severely damaging 30,000 others. Power outages affected more than 2. 5 million homes, urgently displacing families statewide. Our specific objectives were: Communicate the urgent need for support of Hurricane Ian recovery Increase online donations to Hurricane Ian support and the general Emergency Relief Fund And we had two weeks in which to do it. As our digital marketing agency, the Big Sea team understands the pulse of our organization. They took a proactive approach so we would be ready to respond rapidly in a Hurricane emergency with a crisis campaign. Their agility allowed us to shift immediately and raise more than $100,000 to support our efforts in a matter of days. - Metropolitan Ministries Executing the Plan Big Sea was able to activate emergency relief ads less than 24 hours after Hurricane Ian made landfall. These ads sought to immediately increase donor assistance to the impacted families in and around Fort Myers, Florida. Our ads specifically addressed Hurricane Ian, urging donors to help, and reminding them that their gifts provide meals, shelter, rental assistance and more to local families in desperate need. Our multi-channel approach included a paid Facebook ad campaign and programmatic display ad placement. A multi-channel campaign The Hurricane Ian campaign doubled the Facebook impressions of Metropolitan Ministries’ concurrent campaigns. Our ads reached over 385k people, earned over 1 million impressions, and received 700+ link clicks, with a low cost-per-click rate that took into account the nonprofit’s budget constraints. Our programmatic ads earned nearly 700k impressions (an increase of 141% compared to the previous reporting period with the same budget) and over 1,600 clicks. The Results We saw tremendous growth on both platforms in only two weeks, including an 80% increase in donors from the previous month, and a 71% increase in total donation amounts. 1 million Facebook impressions — double that of concurrent campaigns Over $100,000 in online donations for Hurricane Ian support and the general Emergency Relief Fund 141% increase in programmatic impressions compared to previous reporting period 71% donation increase since previous reporting period $3 cost-per-click Facebook campaign You can get quick results with a proactive, well-planned marketing campaign. It’s an investment that is proven to pay off. Contact us and let’s get started. --- ### 6 Reasons Your SEM Campaign is Broken (And How To Fix It) > Learn how to create SEM ad copy that’s engaging, effective, and drives revenue, and common mistakes you can avoid in your SEM campaign. - Published: 2023-06-16 - Modified: 2023-06-23 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/6-reasons-why-your-sem-campaign-is-broken/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: ad campaigns, ads, SEM, SEO Search Engine Marketing is a powerful strategy for reaching a high-intent audience. If you have SEM experience, you probably knew that already. If you’re new to SEM campaigns, here is a great step-by-step tutorial on how to set up an SEM campaign properly. If you already have an SEM campaign running and you’re starting to wonder about its lackluster performance, you’ve come to the right place. Search Engine Marketing is a powerful strategy for reaching a high-intent audience. If you have SEM experience, you probably knew that already. If you’re new to SEM campaigns, here is a great step-by-step tutorial on how to set up an SEM campaign properly. If you already have an SEM campaign running and you’re starting to wonder about its lackluster performance, you’ve come to the right place. Maybe performance has never been that great. Maybe your campaign started off performing well, but performance has gradually declined over the years. Either way, you need to know how you can fix your campaign and start bringing in a positive return on your ad spending. Let’s dive into the troubleshooting aspect of improving SEM results. What is SEM strategy? Search Engine Marketing is a digital advertising strategy that gets your website in front of as many searchers' eyes as possible. And quickly. You want your brand positioned at the very top of the SERP (search engine results page), and that's where paid search can really provide a boost. Generally, SEM refers to paid search strategies. SEO (search engine optimization) applies to efforts designed to increase visibility in organic search. What is the goal of an SEM campaign? Ultimately, you want to drive traffic to your (well-developed and designed) website and increase conversions. But people have to find it first. So the goal of your SEM campaign is to gain a high placement among paid search engine results for your chosen keywords and stay there for the long-haul. Maximum reach takes major visibility, and SEM is going to get you there if you do it the right way. Understanding the Bidding Process As with most digital advertising platforms, Google and Microsoft function as an auction system where the best ad gets the top spot. Determining what qualifies as “the best ad” has a few factors to take into consideration. The first is how relevant your headline and body text are to what the user typed into the search. The more relevant the ad copy, the more likely your ad will land the top spot on the results page. Landing Page Score Another key factor is page speed. Within each platform, you can see the landing page score for your campaign. If you’re unfamiliar with the page speed of your current landing page, use this tool. Here’s an advanced tip: for landing page optimization, use Dynamically Inserted Text in your headlines. Platforms like Unbounce are excellent resources to help you do this. Click Through Rate (CTR) Another factor that goes into deciding which ad gets the top spot in a search query is Click Through Rate, or CTR. CTR shows Google or Microsoft that an ad is either very relevant or not so relevant to a search query. You can improve CTR by using the ad strength scale in these platforms. Adding extensions to your ads also helps the CTR. Remember, if your campaign has an ad with a high Ad Strength, CTR, and Landing Page Score, you’re likely to earn a higher impression share. Another way to improve your impression share is to ensure that you’re not underspending, compared to your competition. You can check this by adding the column “Impression Share Lost (Budget)” to your campaign manager. Sometimes increasing the budget isn’t an option for a business, but this could be a big reason your SEM campaign has declined in performance. With more advertisers launching campaigns every day, your campaign may be getting drowned out. Google Display Network Lastly, we’ve discovered that utilizing a Google Display Network campaign can increase the CTR of our search campaigns. A Google user’s awareness of your brand could be the make-or-break factor when it comes to choosing which link to click. “Oh, I have heard of these folks before. ” If you’ve seen success with a GDN campaign, we’d love to hear about it. Now that we’ve touched on how the auction works, we can dive a little deeper into each component of your SEM campaign. The key thing to remember is that the more specific you make your campaign or funnel to the user, the better your campaign will perform. Google and Microsoft have the goal of... --- ### 3 Proven Strategies for Marketing in a Recession > Explore proven strategies for marketing in a recession so that your business can thrive – not just survive – in an economic downturn. - Published: 2023-06-08 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-in-a-recession/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing Marketing is an area you may be tempted to cut when things become fiscally unpredictable. But cutting your marketing budget can have major negative short-term and long-term consequences for your business. Marketing isn’t optional. It’s an investment, not an expense. When economic uncertainty rears its ugly head, it affects businesses at every level. Uncertainty slows spending and consumer confidence. But one thing remains true: Never. Stop. Marketing. Marketing is an area you may be tempted to cut when things become fiscally unpredictable. But cutting your marketing budget can have major negative short-term and long-term consequences for your business. Marketing isn’t optional. It’s an investment, not an expense — an essential part of a business’s ability to keep and grow its customer base and keep its doors (digital or otherwise) open. What Happens to Marketing in a Recession? Economic downturns actually level the marketing playing field — giving even the smallest of brands an opportunity to capture new leads from competitors and increase conversions by boosting brand awareness. Is marketing effective in a recession? It really depends on your goals. Advertising can be even more effective during a recession – but you might not see results until the recovery period starts. That’s when an excellent brand awareness strategy starts to pay off in real dollars. When customer confidence begins to rebuild, you will want to be top-of-mind as soon as your customers are ready to pull the trigger. When times are lean, it’s important to focus on maintaining your current customer base while striving to capture new attention. Aim for a good balance between providing useful information that will help customers make informed decisions and asking for conversions. How does psychology play a role in recession marketing? Recession marketing also requires understanding consumer psychology. People are more likely to buy something they can connect with on an emotional level – so tapping into how customers relate to your brand is key. Re-targeting communication tactics to target potential customers with personal stories, engaging content, and a sense of shared purpose will be essential for success. In industries that aren't recession-proof, spending relies on customers' disposable income. However, it goes beyond that. They also require faith in the future, a solid bond with the businesses they wish to support, and a cultural mindset that emphasizes the importance of purchasing. This holds particularly true for retail customers, but is true for anyone you're asking to give you money (B2B buyers and nonprofit donors included). Let’s think of customers (and donors) as spending personality types: Slam-on-the-Brakes This group feels the most financially vulnerable and risk-averse. They eliminate or decrease spending whenever possible by postponing purchases or switching to lower-cost brands. You might think this group comes from lower income brackets, but in many cases it’s quite the opposite. Remember: Pained-but-Patient This is the largest segment of consumers in the U. S. right now. Usually employed, this group is cautiously optimistic. They’re resilient in the short-term, but not as confident about their standard of living in the future. They economize in many ways, too, but less aggressively. But as news of recession increases, purse strings tighten, and these customers can easily become slam-on-the-breaks buyers overnight. Comfortably Well-Off These are usually the top 5% of earners. These folks plan to ride it out; current and future road bumps don’t lower their spending — they tend to buy at the same levels they did before the recession. However, while the spending may stay the same, where they spend can change; they tend to be more selective about where their money is going, which means your brand has to really shine. Even if this customer isn’t in the top 5% of earners, they feel as confident and stable as those who are. This sometimes includes retirees or low-risk investors. Live-for-Today This is the Business As Usual segment, and can be seen across income levels. The group is less concerned about savings — purchases are short-term investments. When the going gets tough, they tend to extend their spending timelines, rather than cutting spending altogether. They’re typically younger, urban home renters who spend more on experiences than objects (except for electronics). Unless they become unemployed, they’ll keep swiping that card. What sells in a recession? Some industries are considered “recession-proof. ” They won’t stop in their tracks just because the economy takes a downward turn. But just because your industry is safe from collapse doesn’t mean that your business is going... --- ### Multichannel paid social campaign for Fortune 500 SAAS client achieves 5x ROI > Discover how a comprehensive paid social campaign delivered a 5x ROI for a Fortune 500 SaaS client, revealing strategic insights for multichannel marketing. - Published: 2023-06-08 - Modified: 2023-09-15 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/saas-paid-social-campaign/ - Categories: Case Studies, Digital Marketing - Tags: ad campaign management, Digital Marketing, email marketing, lead generation, media buying, SEO, Strategy Our client changed the face of software development with their enterprise Linux operating system. With an open source foundation, they’ve led the industry with an ongoing rollout of transformative products like hybrid cloud infrastructure and agile integration. In short? They’re smart cookies. The Problem Boosting Lead Generation The client needed a media savvy partner to amplify their lead generation efforts. With account based marketing leads slowing down, they sought creative, low-risk solutions to bring more sales qualified customers into the funnel and close more business. That’s where we came in. The Solution Maximizing ROI To deliver an incredible return on investment, we had to start at the foundation: CPL. We quickly identified that lowering the cost per lead and targeting a more strategic audience would empower the client to reach more qualified leads — and see their ad spend dollars stretch much further. Build a foundation for paid social campaigns in personas Our strategic approach began by working closely with the client’s sales and digital marketing teams to develop 7 core personas across a matrix of core product lines. By centering personas around titles, skills, and job functions, we created a framework that not only guided messaging, but guided targeting with laser precision. Social content with real impact In the tech space, lead generation content has to provide concrete value — quickly. We coordinated with the client to identify content across the spectrum from awareness to action, focusing on downloadable premium content related to each core persona’s unique needs. Connecting audience to channel With a highly specific audience in mind, we developed a channel strategy to target concrete attributes related to each core persona. Auditing and iterating on creative allowed us to quickly map over 1000 ads to persona, channel, and journey stage. This gave us a dynamic system to set the stage for optimization and gave us the data we needed to hone in on paid social, with campaigns running across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and DemandBase. Constant improvement A successful media campaign relies on strategic optimization. Forget plug and play — we conducted regular audits and used automated systems to amplify top-performing ads and quickly pivot from what wasn’t landing with Red Hat’s intelligent, driven audience. Precision reporting Despite running a high volume of ads, we were able to hone reporting and optimization down to the individual ad level, making CPL transparent and accessible from launch to wrap-up. Ongoing iteration After pausing ads that didn’t hit our determined CPL limit, we ran them back through creative to adjust or decommission them. Any revisions were quickly assessed using the same standards of performance driving the campaign. Strategic paid social campaign hierarchy Our ad-level performance tracking allowed us to structure targeting across four levels. This structure enabled us to keep ads running across all platforms without needing to pause an entire campaign to iterate. Platform Audience Asset Ad The Impact The Impact of our Paid Social Campaign Our client not only saw immediate success from this campaign, but quickly grew their spend 15x to maximize the results of the campaign. --- ### A History of LGBTQIA+ and Pride Month Marketing > Learn about the history of Pride Month Marketing in the context of broader LGTBQIA+ history of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. - Published: 2023-06-07 - Modified: 2024-08-12 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/history-of-pride-month-marketing/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing, News & Culture For more than 50 years, Pride celebrations — parades, festivals and marketing campaigns — have staked a large, colorful claim in the month of June. And for a very good reason. June holds a significant place in the hearts of the LGBTQIA+ community, and to understand the present, we must understand the evolution of Pride Month marketing, why we celebrate Pride Month, and revisit how it all began. Why Do We Celebrate Pride Month During June? Pride Month encapsulates the ongoing struggle for equal human rights. One of the foundational moments marking Pride’s emergence occurred in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at The Stonewall Inn in New York City (more on that later). The Stonewall uprising was unarguably a major turning point for LGBTQIA+ peoples’ liberation, but it was neither the first nor the last, but one in a long series of pivotal events. The uprising was commemorated during the first pride parade on June 28, 1970, in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Pride parades are an integral part of LGBTQIA+ culture, and people around the world continue to march in solidary and in remembrance of Stonewall every June. For decades, the LGBTQIA+ community stood bravely to oppose violence and unjust laws against their people. Let’s take a trip back in time. 1920s-1940s The Roaring ‘20s Three trans women and a man dancing at a nightclub, circa 1927. Source: Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images While the US media’s first documented portrayal of LGBTQIA+ people could be seen in the 1894 Dickson Experimental Sound Film—more famously known as The Gay Brothers—the roaring ‘20s saw more representation of LGBTQIA+ folk in art and media. Lesbian/gay/bisexual/gender non-conforming and trans people had a major presence in Chicago’s South Side and in New York City (see: Gay New York by George Chauncey, 1940. ) With the economic boom of the roaring 20s came a time of normalized sexual liberation and less rigid gender expression. LGBTQIA+ performers with different intersectional identities made their presence known in various nightclubs in Chicago, New York and across the US, allowing for the growth of connections and the beginnings of a large network of friends, chosen family and opportunities for romantic partners. And in 1924, Chicago-based army veteran Henry Gerber started the Society for Human Rights, the USA’s first LGBTQ+ rights organization. The Great Depression The 1929 stock market crash kicked off The Great Depression, a stark contrast to the lively years that preceded it. Whereas the ‘20s saw a rise in acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community, the ‘30s saw a shocking reversal. The same cities that once revered LGBTQIA+ culture began to abhor it; as rigid gender roles were prioritized, many felt like the existence of the community threatened the framework of the “traditional” family. The rise in “phobias'' against the LGBTQIA+ community was completely rooted in marketing and propagandist efforts. “Breadwinning'' men, downtrodden by losing their jobs and struggling to provide for their families, took to finger-wagging and even led the charge of police brutality against the LGBTQIA+ community. World War II By the '40s, one could be subject to jail, losing their kids, or even be forced to receive hormone injections and shock therapy to “curb homosexual desires. ” During this time, homosexuality was considered a mental illness, and was treated akin to depression and anxiety disorders. When psychologist and UCLA-tenured professor Dr. Evelyn Hooker was befriended by a group of gay men, the stark contrast between Hooker’s readings and what she’d experienced vastly differed. After recruiting a group of researchers to conduct a study on gay men, Dr. Hooker found that gay men showed absolutely no cognitive difference from their heterosexual counterparts, debunking the psychological diagnosis that they were mentally ill. It wasn’t until the 1950s, however, that Dr. Hooker’s findings were seen by the public eye. What did LGBTQIA+ marketing look like in the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s? Look, marketing to LGBTQIA+ people wasn’t really common throughout these decades. While the nightlife and community-wide existence of LGBTQIA+ folk was the worst-kept secret ever, it was the grassroots campaigning and PR against laws that prevented open discussion of homosexuality in art, mainly on stages where LGBTQIA+ people performed, that changed the game.... --- ### Master B2B Search Marketing in 2023 > Follow our 5-step guide to B2B search marketing to optimize your campaigns for better ROI, attract high-quality leads, and improve your search visibility. - Published: 2023-05-29 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/b2b-search-marketing/ - Categories: B2B Marketing It always pays to be first. We all like to think of ourselves as savvy consumers, especially when we're researching products and services for our business. But when you open a new tab and search for a term in Google, one way or another those first few suggestions are going to stick in your head. They set a level for everything else, and even if you pick something that didn't come up right away, those first few search results were in the running just by virtue of their placement on the page. That's why search marketing is critical for B2B businesses. Top of page is top of mind, and you want to make sure that your company's offerings are as visible as possible whenever anyone searches for what you do. Read on to learn our 5 steps for mastering B2B search marketing in 2023. What is search marketing? The two pillars of search marketing are organic (search engine optimization (SEO)) and paid (pay-per-click (PPC) advertising). SEO is a set of practices aimed at boosting your website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERP) through organic means. That means developing content that targets the right keywords, answers searchers’ questions, and cultivates authority through backlinks. PPC is a form of advertising that lets you pay to show your ads on the results page when people search for a chosen keyword. Your ads get displayed alongside the search results and you only pay when people click on the ad. Why is search marketing important in B2B? Because B2B buyers are researching everything online, just like they research where to eat for dinner or which HVAC services provider to hire. One review found that, as of 2023, 98% of consumers read (and write! ) online reviews of local businesses. If nearly the entire U. S. population is putting that much thought into where to order Chinese food tonight, you can be certain your B2B partners are researching the goods and services you provide before they contact you. In fact, one survey found that 77% of B2B buyers said they didn’t talk with a salesperson until they’d done their own independent research — and that research started with a search engine. Decision makers consumed five pieces of content on average before they were ready to speak with a sales representative. B2B buyers need to be able to find your content, and they’re likely going to want to see a lot of it before they’re prepared to make a decision. So not only does your company need to be visible online when businesses search for your services, you need to have marketing content ready to engage them so you can start drawing them through your sales funnel. It’s not enough for them to just make it to your website. What makes B2B search marketing different from B2C? There are a variety of factors that make the B2B customer experience different from B2C. There are more stakeholders in a typical B2B purchasing decision, and therefore a wider array of perspectives to consider and appeal to. The customer journey is often less linear — different stakeholders may be at different stages at different times and your content needs to offer them all a foothold. There are opportunities to target lower volume keywords, since fewer people are searching for small business CRM software or cloud storage solutions than are searching for sneakers or blenders. But that also often means lower conversion rates, especially on big-ticket investments. On the other hand, B2B and B2C marketing are less distinct than you might imagine. Recent studies have shown that more and more businesses are expecting vendors to provide more “consumerized” experiences. 82% of business buyers say they want the same experience as when they’re making a purchase for themselves in their personal lives, and 72% said they expect more personalized engagement. Does B2B search marketing need SEO to be successful? SEO is critical to effective search marketing. PPC ads will only get you so many clicks — your site won’t go far without the foundational brand visibility you get from organic search results, and in order to rank organically your pages need to be optimized for search engines. That’s why you should... --- ### Why Multicultural Marketing is Key to Your Brand’s Success > Multicultural marketing isn’t just the moment – it’s the entire future. Here’s what it is, why it’s important, and how your organization can build DEI-first marketing mixes that last. - Published: 2023-05-26 - Modified: 2024-08-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/multicultural-marketing-and-branding/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing - Tags: Content Marketing, digital advertising, Digital Marketing, marketing, marketing strategy If you didn’t already know, marketing segmentation and targeting have drastically evolved in recent years. Now, we can identify and even predict future customer purchasing and engagement behaviors (see: cookies, geo-location, browsing history and social listening) and learn what tactics and messaging points drive conversions. Scary? A little. Cool? Definitely. With a plethora of customer data at our fingertips – or disposal, to some – us marketers have a holistic, 360º view into the lives of those we do – and don’t – want to target. And as technology has evolved, so has the diversity of these potential customers. As the last decade has seen a stark rise in multicultural consumers, some brands have evolved, while others, well, haven’t. Let’s talk about multicultural marketing, its significance, and how you can build strategies that seamlessly evolve with the times. What is multicultural marketing? You’ve heard of DEI before – diversity, equity and inclusion – and how these components shape workplaces, equality, opportunities and so much more. While DEI is more concerned with corporate cultures, it plays a key role in what multicultural marketing is. Multicultural marketing is the conscious investment in research and robust strategies that authentically market to people of multiple races, ethnicities and genders, oftentimes encompassing people with intersectional identities. Look at Gen Z, for example. Like we’ve talked about before, this generation, who is as old as 25 and as young as 9, is more diverse than any preceding generation. Multicultural marketing addresses this diversity through established goals, objectives and strategies backed by tactics that heavily lean into insights – not stereotypes – from these audiences. Multicultural consumers don’t feel represented. According to survey results released by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 54% of respondents don’t feel culturally represented in online marketing and advertising. Of these consumers, 71% hold brands to the standard of promoting and advocating for DEI in their online tactics. Numbers aside, it’s time for your brand to act. General market strategies are out. For so long, marketing has been laser focused on the dominating (*cough* white) culture. Marketers have relied on blanket assumptions and lumped almost 40% of the US population together, ultimately not connecting with the vast majority of these multiculturally identifying consumers. Sure, the “general market” is still – and always will be – a major focal point for brands and organizations, but the shift toward a more specific, realistic and human audience is imminent. What are some benefits of multicultural marketing? One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to marketing. Or almost anything. And while we just crunched the numbers proving why multicultural marketing is necessary, we need to talk about why it’s important, for your brand/organization and in general. 1. It shows you understand your entire target audience. Everyone wants to feel understood, yet most don’t, especially when it comes to ads. Ultimately, people want to see themselves reflected in the brands and services they buy and interact with. And by leaning into specific nuances and consumer pain points, diversifying your audience and focusing on hyper-specific targeting, your brand will definitely be in customers' good graces. 2. Multicultural marketing accurately reflects society Like we talked about earlier, the population is more diverse than ever before, and is increasingly becoming more and more so. Your marketing efforts should definitely reflect that and so much more. With so many disparities impacting non-white consumers and audiences, speaking to these issues in an honest and non-opportunistic way is always the best route to take. One key thing to remember? Maintain authenticity. No one likes a performative panderer (re: Kendall Jenner ending years of racial disparities with a can of Pepsi). The long-short: diversity is becoming increasingly diverse. According to The Drum, people of color comprise some 40% of the US population, were responsible for 100% of the national population growth between 2010 and 2020, and continue to climb the rankings in buying power. And since 2016, the white, non-Hispanic population has been on the steady decline, followed by their buying power. For example, by 2024, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) consumers are projected to reach a buying power of $1. 6 trillion, Black consumers are projected at $1. 8... --- ### 4 Tips for Digitizing Customer Experience in B2B > Discover expert tips for B2B organizations seeking to digitize your customer experience. Personalized communication and seamless transactions await! - Published: 2023-05-25 - Modified: 2023-05-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/digitizing-customer-experience/ - Categories: B2B Marketing Customer experience (CX) is the entire sum of a customer’s interaction with your brand online. Many successful companies are focusing their efforts on building well-planned, innovative, and high-quality digital customer experiences for their B2B customers — and it's showing results. In case you hadn’t noticed, marketing has gone digital. Really, really digital. Most successful companies — of all sizes — are focusing their efforts on building well-planned, innovative, and high-quality digital customer experiences for their B2B customers. That experience looks a lot like a map — one that guides customers through all sorts of digital channels like mobile apps, websites, landing pages, social media platforms, and — most importantly — back again. Customer experience (CX) is the entire sum of a customer’s interactions with your brand. While UX is designed for a single user, CX sees the bigger picture and revolves around the broader target audience, which is precisely what B2B is all about. If your CX is tailor-made for digital customers, no matter your industry, it’s shown to increase customer satisfaction. As a result, we’ve seen increases in customer retention and greater brand loyalty (or, to use a more fun word, “stickiness”). Plus: word-of-mouth marketing is stronger than ever before, since we have so many “mouths” to choose from (likes, shares, retweets, etc. ). How does digitization improve customer experience? When you’re presenting your customers with a digitized, omnichannel experience, they stay connected with your brand and your products and services no matter where they wander. If your user data is synced across a variety of channels, and you keep the journey front-of-mind, customers know exactly where to go next, and they’ll hang around. What is unique about B2B customer experience? While B2C speaks directly to an end user, your B2B customer isn’t just one person. You’re speaking to an entire group (sometimes a very large group) of stakeholders. That means going beyond a couple of highly-specific motivators and taking an approach that speaks to everyone from executives and accountants to designers and engineers. Not every step in the B2B journey is equally important to those stakeholders (but each needs plenty of attention and strategizing from you). For high-stakes purchases — particularly for companies with lots of decision-makers at the table — the lead-nurturing stage becomes more of a many-branched tree than it is a straight line — which is the B2C model. Decision makers will come and go at different steps in the journey — some are deep in the consideration phase while others have just heard about you. And you’re marketing to both of them at the same time. Plus: they’re having all sorts of interesting (and hopefully enthusiastic) conversations about your product with each other. The value each stakeholder gives to each touch point can be drastically different from one another. And some are uniquely important in B2B. For example: Table stakes, which are the basic requirements for specifications, price, and standards. Functional value, which addresses the broader performance needs of the company. Individual value, which looks at the things that make each brand unique, like design, reputation, and perks. This includes those inspirational things like company ethos, vision, and responsibility. We know, these are broad. And they look, at first glance, like they only apply to stakeholders up in the C-suite. But as stakeholders pass recommendations through their own channels, the influence on that final purchase could come from any department and pay grade. If the CFO is happy about the table stakes and the marketing VP is happy about the individual value — you might have sealed the deal. Why is B2B customer experience important? The short answer: B2B customers are worth more — at least financially. A highly digitally-engaged B2B customer can provide three times the annual value of the average customer. So why is that? The research tells us that B2B customers are six times more likely to try new products and services from trusted brands, four times more likely to refer your brand to colleagues, and twice as likely to favor brand loyalty over product price — or even product quality. Trust carries a ton of weight. The potential lifetime value of B2B customers is usually higher than B2C, so the retention and advocacy phases in the journey are critical. This also helps direct your budgeting. In general, the lifetime value of a B2B customer should be about 3 or 4 times the cost of getting that customer on board. 4... --- ### Macro vs. Micro Thinkers and Why Your Company Needs Both > Understanding macro vs. micro thinkers comes down to appreciating the distinct contributions they make to a team. Learn how you can encourage both approaches. - Published: 2023-05-24 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/micro-and-macro-thinkers/ - Categories: News & Culture Whether you’re naturally a "big idea" person or a stickler for details, as a business owner you know the importance of seeing the whole picture. At Big Sea, we believe having a holistic view of our company helps us identify opportunities for growth and improvement, and set a vision for the company that helps us achieve our goals. But, we wouldn’t accomplish half of what we envision without the detail-oriented, nitty-gritty, micro-thinkers we depend on. Chances are, your company wouldn’t either. Whether you’re naturally a "big idea" person or you're a stickler for the details, as a business owner you know the importance of seeing the whole picture. At Big Sea, we believe taking a broad view of the marketplace helps us identify opportunities for growth and improvement and set a vision for the company that helps us achieve our clients' goals through an agile digital marketing strategy. But we wouldn’t accomplish half of what we envision without the detail-oriented, nitty-gritty, micro thinkers we depend on. Chances are, your company wouldn’t either. That's why it's vital to understand how both macro and micro thinking contribute to an organization's success. What is macro vs. micro thinking? If we use the terms "holistic thinkers" and "specific thinkers" we start to see the benefit that both types of brains bring to an organization. Macro, or holistic, thinkers like to look at the big picture: at longterm goals and overall structures. They tend to think outside the box, and their ability to make connections across two or more seemingly disparate concepts can result in surprising solutions and creative campaigns. Their passion and vision can inspire affinity and motivation in their team Micro, or specific, thinkers tend to focus on the how of a problem. They’re experts in efficiency, processes, and systems. Because they're laser-focused on the specifics they can identify potential gaps or pitfalls in a new process or plan. They may also have a tendency toward goal-completion, which can make them excellent managers and motivators. Why do teams need both micro and macro thinkers? Like "micro-manager," the term micro-thinker can carry a negative connotation. It sounds like small thinking, or focusing too much on superfluous details. This can lead some folks to think that macro-thinking must be the goal, and that micro-thinking is something to be corrected. Nothing could be further from the truth. You need both types of thinkers in order to come up with the big ideas that will move the needle for your company and make sure those big ideas are implemented correctly and efficiently. You need your micro thinkers to help the macros track time, manage projects, maintain budgets, and organize workflows and system processes. And you need the macros to plan strategy, continually innovate, and drive growth. The secret to micro and macro thinkers working together Now that we’ve established that both types of thinkers are equally valuable, how do you get them to see eye-to-eye when they view the world so differently? The answer is: you don’t. To successfully create a cross-functional team of holistic and specific thinkers, you need to do two things first. You need to identify and recognize the thinking types on a team, and you need to validate the contributions of both. Identify your thinkers Listen to how your team members approach a problem, how they resolve conflict, even what details they notice on a project. Find your holistic and specific thinkers, and those rare folks who seem to be a bit of both. Create teams that push these folks to work together. Once your team recognizes the benefit your combined macro/micro thinking brings to your company, the next step is to create a culture that rewards the contributions of both. Then, ask the team to come together and acknowledge their individual thinking styles and how each contributes to the success of the team. This sounds straightforward, but the truth is that people are... well, human. Validate the way they think Macro thinkers may feel they’re being encouraging when they tell micro thinkers to "be more creative" or "think outside the box," but it’s actually invalidating their teammate’s way of thinking. It sends the message that their contributions to the team – the very way they think – is inferior. Instead, welcome micro thinkers into brainstorms and ask them to present the challenge and their solutions as they understand them. You may be surprised at the results. Micro thinkers are just as capable of problem-solving and ideation as macro thinkers, but they come to a challenge from a very different perspective. That’s a good thing! Similarly, you can expect a certain amount of pushback from macro thinkers when it comes to following processes step-by-step.... --- ### 5 Secrets of a Great B2B Buyer Persona > Crafting a B2B buyer persona that reflects your ideal customer comes down to humanizing the B2B buyer so you can understand their journey. - Published: 2023-05-19 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/b2b-buyer-persona/ - Categories: B2B Marketing It's easy to forget that B2B buyers are people, too - people with emotions, challenges, joy, and influence. Building great B2B buyer personas is crucial to knowing how to create valuable content and an aligned customer experience. Everybody’s got a type. When it comes to target marketing, businesses are no different. If you’re looking to make a real connection with a potential B2B partner, you need to know what they’re all about — and speak to their unique interests. The benefits are varied and many. Creating personas for your B2B marketing strategy can: Paint a picture of your customers — allowing for effective targeting See clearly who you should not be marketing to Help you create valuable content that solves real problems they face Observe how different personas interact with each other along the customer journey Guide decision-making in your marketing strategy and customer experience So what’s the impact for your business? Well, now you can personalize your customer experience, create more successful marketing campaigns, develop new products and services, and create more valuable content that aligns with true customer needs. Which leads to the ultimate result: better performance — with increased sales and revenue to match. What is the difference between B2B and B2C buyer persona? When it comes to buyer personas, it's easy to recognize that B2C personas focus on the needs of an individual person. Buyers are looking for solutions to their individual problems. Emotional connections are crucial to building these relationships. It’s easy to forget that B2B buyers are people, too, who also make decisions with similar emotional factors, and with whom you'll need to develop authentic relationships. Understanding the business and human problems facing a B2B buyer is crucial to finding a real connection. When it comes to B2B, buyers want more B2C-like experiences than conventional wisdom advises. For example, a recent survey from Salesforce found that 72% of B2B buyers wanted more personalized engagement. While you’ll hear plenty of talk about making rational or logical connections with these potential partners, remember that you’re still talking to a person. Hopefully, they’ll love what you do and talk about your magnificent brand with the rest of their team. If your persona connects strongly with an individual person-of-influence, they become an extension of your marketing team. What is a B2B end user? An end-user is the one who is going to actively use your product or service. That’s the hard-working person that will actually use your software or service, but they might not actually be the buyer. That's where B2B marketing can get tricky: there are multiple people with varying needs that you'll need to address with your marketing. While some may have no input whatsoever, many end users will play a crucial but hidden role in a purchase. The person placing an order might well have used recommendations from the end users to guide their decisions. That’s why it’s crucial to keep that end-user in mind and get them exactly what they need right when they need it. What are the essential elements of a B2B buyer persona? There are as many personalities in the world as there are people, and it's not enough to rely on surface-level demographic assumptions to define your personas anymore. We can't be certain, but we can definitely assume that King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne – though quite similar in demographic signifiers – are fairly different in how they make purchase decisions. To go a little deeper and really focus your marketing, consider the psychographic and behavioral characteristics of your buyers: Where they research products and services The level of political influence they have (or need) to make decisions How much time they'll spend considering your product among competitors What drives their decision making (speed, price, etc. ) Who in their circle might need input or have a stake in the decision What challenges they face in their day-to-day work life Where they find joy or entertainment How many buyer personas do I need? While there’s no magic number, we commonly see between 3 and 8 personas for B2B marketing purposes. At a minimum, we recommend at least two. Ultimately, use as many personas as you need to represent every influencer involved in the purchase decision for your product or service. Too many personas will divide not only your attention, but your customers’ as well. If any two personas are very similar in their customer behaviors, goals, or... --- ### B2B Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation > Discover B2B demand generation, a strategy to create interest in your product or service by identifying, targeting and nurturing potential customers. - Published: 2023-05-12 - Modified: 2023-10-26 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/demand-gen-vs-lead-gen-the-b2b-marketing-guide/ - Categories: B2B Marketing When it comes to B2B marketing, demand-generation and lead-generation are both vital parts of the full-funnel marketing ecosystem. But what's the difference between the two? And when should you use one over the other? As a marketer in the tech sector, you’ve probably heard the words “Demand Generation” and “Lead Generation” thrown around a lot. But what do they mean? When should you use one instead of the other? And how can you measure success? No worries — we’ve got all the answers in this B2B marketer‘s guide to demand-generation and lead-generation. When it comes to B2B marketing, both demand-generation and lead-generation marketing are vital parts of the full-funnel marketing ecosystem. You’ve got to create interest in your organization and products (demand-gen) and you’ve got to convert that interest into leads (lead-gen). Which approach you’ll focus on depends on your particular organization’s goals, growth plans, and your own capacity. What is B2B demand generation? Demand generation is an umbrella term that covers all marketing activities that are designed to generate interest in your products or services. The ultimate “top of funnel” marketing, demand generation marketing helps establish relationships with prospects before they are ready to purchase anything from you — relationships that can be nurtured and grown further down the road when that person actually needs your product or service. How do you create a B2B demand generation strategy? Keep in mind: you’re not just trying to gather leads here — it’s about creating interest with potential customers who may not even know about your company or even your category yet. Creative B2B demand generation examples Because the goal of demand generation marketing is to reach as many potential customers as possible, the tactics of a campaign might include any or all of the following: Search engine optimization (SEO): Obviously, you want to be sure your site is found when your target buyers are searching for solutions to whatever problems they have, so building TOFU content is vital. Free resources: Just like any other lead-generation campaign, but without the requirement of giving an email address. SEMRush does an amazing job at this, offering free courses and certifications that help their ideal customers learn more about how to do their jobs better. Build a community: Build a community around your topic that becomes so indispensable, your name becomes synonymous with said topic. Use LinkedIn Groups, Reddit, Discord, Slack — wherever your target customers are hanging out. Paid media leveraging lookalike audiences: You know your existing customers, so why not use them to find more people like them using the targeting available to you through paid media? Meta, Google, and programmatic platforms all offer the ability to build targeting to people who are similar or “lookalike” to your existing list. Partner with industry influencers: Is there a popular podcast host, author, or LinkedIn “influencer” who you might be able to invite to a moderated panel about a relevant topic, or co-host a webinar alongside? Look for ways to make their audience your audience. HubSpot’s Academy offers marketers free courses and certifications – a great way to create demand for their product by building affinity for their content. HubSpot’s Academy offers marketers free courses and certifications – a great way to create demand for their product by building affinity for their content. When should you use demand generation marketing? Demand-gen marketing is an important tool for B2B organizations in the following scenarios: Sales have slowed or demand has diminished. Your organization is looking to enter a new market or introduce a new product or service. You have a loyal customer base that you want to grow. Your product or service has a long sales cycle that requires more involved consideration. If a B2B organization values visibility and marketing that recognizes your prospects, builds brand reputation, and drives engagement at scale — then demand gen marketing is the perfect solution. How do you measure demand-generation campaigns? Generally speaking, tracking “vanity metrics” like impressions and clicks on campaigns across all channels is important, along with tracking visits to its associated landing pages for content assets. Longer-term, measuring cost per acquisition (CPA) and ROI can provide insight into the larger picture of campaign effectiveness. There are also more specialized tools like demand waterfall attribution models, which factor in timely attribution for multi-touch marketing activities throughout the customer journey. Combining real-time dashboard analytics with marketing automation software like HubSpot can give... --- ### 10 Nonprofit Mission Statements that Drive Donations > Our Top 10 Nonprofit Mission Statement examples to help you craft a message that conveys your values and attracts a strong donor community. - Published: 2023-05-05 - Modified: 2024-09-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-mission-statement-examples/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing Mission statements should be as varied as the organizations that launch them. But, sadly, many fall into the habit of overgeneralizing. Here are 10 top-notch examples of nonprofit mission statements that are guaranteed to drive donations by getting the right message to the right people. We’ve all seen the dreaded cliche mission statements filled with vague, meaningless rhetoric. But you know as well as we do — nonprofits have to be different. Your work is not about brand loyalty or building confidence in your executive experience. You want to reach people, not customers. And if you connect with them effectively, they’ll join your mission as donors. Ultimately, this statement is part of your fundraising toolkit. When creating a mission statement (sometimes conflated with “vision” statement) you might be tempted to throw around some well-worn industry talk. You’ve heard it all before: “We efficiently operationalize strategies and leverage our core competencies to holistically administer an exceptional brand trajectory for the consumer,” etc. But you can do better. Here’s how. What makes a good mission statement for nonprofits? First of all, it’s got to be clear. Very, very clear. You’ve got to 1) tell donors your story; 2) convince them that you can make an impact; and 3) encourage them to support your work. Second, make it concise. With a handful of exceptions, short and sweet is the most palatable kind of mission statement. Much like a great advertisement, it gets to the heart of your nonprofit work immediately — with minimal distracting decoration. Third, make it useful. Every word counts, especially when you’re trying to tame the wandering eyes of phone-scrollers. Tell the potential gift-giver what they must know. What’s your service area? Which communities are you helping? And — perhaps most importantly — what do you want the reader to do now? What are the 3 key elements of a strong nonprofit mission statement? There are some key elements that — if you maintain a sharp focus on them — will keep you on course. You can capture your own unique voice by communicating your unique cause, the actions you take, and the impact you have. That’s what a potential donor wants to know: what do you do, exactly? What is the mission? The Cause This is your who. Who are you fighting for? What community, habitat, or project gets you up in the morning? Donors have to know that this is something — or someone — worth going to bat for. “Save the Whales” and “Save the Children” might not sound very interesting. But you know who the work is for. The Action This is your how. What’s the action plan? Keep it verb-heavy. Maybe you’re going to educate new parents, promote policy changes, share resources, or protect an ecosystem. This action should directly serve the cause. The Impact This is your so what. What’s the end result of the actions you took? Diseases might be cured, forests might continue thriving, or people might have homes to live in. But be sure you’ve thought about the very end result. It ties directly back to the cause. “Building houses” is not the impact. The impact is that families now have a safe place to live. 10 Outstanding Nonprofit Mission Statement Examples Mission statements should be as varied as the organizations that launch them. But, sadly, many nonprofits fall into the habit of overgeneralizing. Here are 10 top-notch examples of nonprofit mission statements that are guaranteed to drive donations by getting the right message to the right people. 1. African Wildlife Foundation “To craft and deliver creative solutions for the long-term well-being of Africa’s remarkable species, their habitats, and the people who depend upon them. ” AWF frames their work not only around the animals and their environment, but also the people that live among and from them. That’s an added impact that many conservation organizations forget to highlight. The cause: protecting Africa’s unique species. The action: craft and deliver solutions. The impact: secure long-term well-being. 2. charity: water “Bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. ” The conciseness of this statement is part of its magic — just the facts in 11 words. Bonus points: favoring “developing” over terms like “third-world” or “underdeveloped” keeps the mission goal-oriented and emphasizes the respect that charity: water has for communities it serves. The cause: safe water for developing countries. The action: bringing it. The impact is enormous, and clearly implied. No need to tell... --- ### Top 7 Nonprofit Social Media Marketing Tips > Boost your nonprofit social media marketing efforts with our top effective strategies to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and drive donations. - Published: 2023-05-02 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/top-7-social-media-marketing-tips-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing, Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Nonprofit, nonprofit marketing, Social Media, social media marketing We’re far enough into the twenty-first century now that every nonprofit organization knows they ought to be on social media. You probably have a decent foundation in using one or two social media platforms – but those might not be the best ones for your organization’s needs. Even if they are, do you need to be on others? And how do you learn? Getting to know the in’s and out’s of a new platform can feel like a full-time job – and you’ve already got one of those. With that, here are our 7 tips for social media marketing to really kick your nonprofit into high gear. Why should nonprofits use social media? Social media offers unprecedented opportunities to expand your outreach, encourage donations, get volunteers, organize events, spread awareness, and share your story. And you can do all of that for free. If you know what you’re doing. But the benefits of getting it right are too much to pass up. Back in 2014, the ALS Association nearly tripled its annual funding when the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral. If you stay on top of the trends and focus your efforts on the right platforms, opportunities abound. 1. Figure out your target audience You’ve probably already done this, but if you haven’t, now’s the time: decide who you want to talk to. We always recommend putting together a donor profile – an imagined person who is the ideal recipient for your organization’s messaging. The more info you can put together about the people who donate to your nonprofit, the better you can tailor your message to appeal to them. That means not just basic demographic information (age, education, family), but also psychographic information (interests, opinions, preferences). If you're already on social media, don't overlook the value of the data you've already collected, especially if you're using a CRM like HubSpot or some other social media management option to create pots. Questions to ask about your nonprofit audience How old is your audience? What do they do for a living? Have they donated to other organizations in the past? Why do they donate to your organization? What are their opinions and interests? What kind of online content appeals to them? When do they check social media? The better you understand the people who share your concerns and who are likely to give to your organization, the less you need to worry about starting from the ground floor when you make the case that your organization’s cause is important. 2. Choose the platforms that reach your audience Now that you know something about who you’re trying to reach, figure out which social media platforms they visit the most. Don’t just join every platform you can; a well-cultivated presence on just one or two social media sites works better – and is more manageable – than shallow efforts at all of them. For instance, if your organization loves to tell human-interest stories about your community and your impact, Instagram carousels are the ideal place to capture those intimate narratives. But if you’re about fast growth and mobilizing volunteers and organizers, a more rapid-response platform like Twitter or Facebook is likely a better investment. And, of course, if you’re interested in developing a deep culture around your nonprofit's mission, TikTok and YouTube are still leaders in making moments – and organizers – go viral. Picking the right platform depends on what kind of content you want to share and what audience you’re trying to reach. Understanding your nonprofit community What do your typical donors look like, demographically? Are they older? Younger? Middle-aged? What motivates them to give to nonprofits? What kind of content do they interact with online? Are you planning to run a hashtag campaign? The more you can figure out these details ahead of time, the better equipped you’ll be to adapt to the platforms you choose. 3. Set a social media strategy This may sound intimidating at first, but don’t worry – you’re not building the Roman Empire, you’re just putting together a social media plan. Set some achievable goals, give yourself a deadline, then figure out how to measure what you’ve accomplished. The name of the game here is... --- ### Why Are Websites So Expensive? > User expectations, design considerations, conversion optimization, and many other factors help explain why websites are so expensive today. - Published: 2023-04-24 - Modified: 2024-09-12 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-are-websites-so-expensive/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: custom development Users (and site owners) have expectations for highly-interactive functionality, for mobile (or responsive) design, for bells and whistles and personalized experiences. Demands and requirements are more complex and expectations are much higher than they were as recently as two years ago. If you've been building websites for a while now, you've probably noticed the price of seems to be going up and up. Even without taking into account the amount of time and effort required to properly plan, research, photograph, record and write for a website, the cost to design and develop for the web is much higher than it used to be. Why is that? 4 Reasons Why Websites Are So Expensive The expense of websites comes down to several factors, some of which account for why the price continues to increase over time. Understanding what websites offer today that they could not in the past, as well as what the public expects from a good website, can help you make more informed choices about your web budget and propel your web development ROI. 1. Expectations are Higher Today, people and businesses want options, customization, and the ability to manage their own content -- and rightfully so. Users (and site owners) have expectations for highly-interactive functionality, for mobile (or responsive) design, for bells and whistles and personalized experiences. Demands and requirements are more complex and expectations are much higher than they were as recently as two years ago. This makes our process far more laborious. You're probably used to (and enjoy) the experiences you have on million-dollar websites like Apple. com or Facebook or eBay - and you expect similar experiences for your own site's visitors. Unfortunately, this comes with a larger price tag. This level of "simplicity" is difficult to achieve and takes time to plan, code, refine, and test. One could compare building a website to building a new home. If you think about it, that’s exactly what you’re doing with a website... building a new digital home for your business. You can choose the contractor-grade laminate or the finer granite countertops - but it comes at a price for our time and consideration. Not to mention that there are so many more design choices available today. Let’s take a look at the essential (and some of the not-so-essential) elements to creating a highly-functional website that will still be relevant two+ years down the road (unlike many others)... 2. Design Implications The design elements that comprise the aesthetic face of your site are not just happy accidents. Designers spend time finding, creating and experimenting to arrive at the perfect textures, shades, palettes, flourishes and design treatments that will communicate most effectively. It is a designer’s job to consider details such as branding, themes, concepts, design flow, user interface, image manipulation, typeface selection, and more. The elements that our design team spend more time on include: Initial concepts. These include research into your industry, exploring your existing brand elements and/or creating new brand aesthetics. We have to dig through libraries with thousands of typefaces to find web-friendly fonts, palettes with subtle, nuanced color shifts and layout elements that number in the dozens. Revisions. The design team will have revisions from the project manager and creative lead before we present them to you, and you'll have revisions. Just how many revisions you want will influence how much time we need to spend. Sometimes, what you think is a "little change" actually involves many layers and masks that need to be altered. Multiple screen sizes. If we're designing a responsive site or app, we need to design not just one - but 3, 4 or 5 (or more! ) versions of each page so that the developer understands how the site should react on various browser and screen sizes. Don't even get me started on retina displays. We're not just designing down anymore - we're also designing up. Interactivity. Because websites can move and change when you hover or click, we need to consider what happens from an aesthetic perspective for each button, link, image, or element and design those too. Page layouts. Every site needs a homepage, but unless you're looking for an off-the-shelf generic WordPress theme, we can't make every other page look exactly the same. Your blog post shouldn't look exactly like an event calendar page, for instance. The designer needs to create page layouts that help tie the copy and imagery together visually, in a creative and... --- ### How LinkedIn B2B Marketing Builds Communities > From creating groups to LinkedIn stories and beyond, learn how LinkedIn B2B Marketing and community building can power your brand strategy. - Published: 2023-04-19 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/linkedin-b2b-marketing/ - Categories: B2B Marketing - Tags: linkedin, Nonprofit, nonprofit marketing With a user base of over 875 million professionals looking to connect and collaborate, LinkedIn provides remarkable opportunities for B2B brands to build these kinds of communities. When your online community is really humming, networking, collaborating, and developing leads all start to feel like second nature. What makes a good community? Participation, for one thing. Engagement. Shared purpose. Passion. When all of these elements come together authentically, we experience the joy of learning from and working with people we respect and admire. With a user base of over 875 million professionals looking to connect and collaborate, LinkedIn provides remarkable opportunities for B2B marketers to build these kinds of communities. When your online community is really humming, networking, collaborating, and developing leads all start to feel like second nature. That’s why we’ve got some suggestions for how to develop your LinkedIn B2B marketing strategy around active and engaged communities. Why LinkedIn B2B Marketing Works According to LinkedIn's own internal data, B2B Marketing on the platform is not only effective, it's also a preferred channel. They report that 96% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute their content, and 80% opt for paid content on the platform. LinkedIn Conversation ads also boast 4x the open and engagement rates compared to email marketing. 6 Tips for LinkedIn B2B Marketing and Community Building LinkedIn has turned out to be something of a dark horse candidate in the world of social media marketing. Facebook snatched up all the attention early on. Instagram’s flashy. Twitter makes news. But it isn’t too hard to see why a social media site specially tailored to professional networking has become a must for B2B marketing. Let's dive into our top tips for a successful LinkedIn B2B Marketing campaign. Post early and often Posting and sharing relevant content on a consistent, regular basis will grow your brand’s organic reach. Organic reach — remember that? It’s harder and harder to come by on social media these days. But it’s still alive and well on LinkedIn — 40% of users organically engage with at least one page every week. That’s why consistent new content is the name of the game. Company pages that post weekly have 5. 6 times more followers than those that post monthly — and their followings grow 7 times faster. If you haven’t laid the groundwork for an inbound marketing strategy, now’s the time to start. What is the 60-30-10 rule for LinkedIn? There’s a rule of thumb for social media posting called The 60-30-10 Rule. 60% of what you share should be content from third-party sources — that includes sharing other people’s LinkedIn posts, which is a must. Regular sharing and commenting shows you’re human and engaged. 30% of what you share should be content you’ve created: that could be just a post, it could be blog content that lives on LinkedIn, or it can be inbound content on your company site. Just 10% of what you share should be direct calls-to-action that link to landing page offers. Know your niche and know your audience For all marketing, always, step 1 is always, always: know your audience. Well-developed buyer personas are critical to your marketing efforts. I know, I know — you don’t want to limit yourself. But trust me, if you’re trying to talk to everyone, you’re talking to no one. Fortunately, B2B marketers have a little bit of a leg up because their products and services are more niche than your average direct-to-consumer company. Anyone might buy a toaster — even a really great one — but B2B marketers know they’re talking to a smaller audience. Your Aunt Gertrude isn’t in the market for semiconductors or cloud storage solutions. (At least, not that we know of... ) Understanding your customers will go a long way toward generating ideas for what will engage them. When you’re attuned to their needs and concerns, you’ll recognize shareable content that solves their problems. Now if only there were a website that aggregates user-entered data about the businesses you’ve worked with... Hang on a sec. We’re talking about it right now! LinkedIn offers a wealth of info and a wide variety of targeting parameters that will help you hone in on the businesses and the decision-makers you want to reach. Create a Group on LinkedIn One way to give an online community a more concrete reality is to create a group. (Here are the steps. ) Groups on LinkedIn help you gather like-minded people with common professional... --- ### A B2B Guide to Customer Journey Management > Customer journey management uses software tools and behavior science to optimize the experience your B2B customer has moving through the sales funnel. - Published: 2023-04-14 - Modified: 2023-05-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/customer-journey-management/ - Categories: B2B Marketing - Tags: customer journey management When it comes to managing customer experiences, B2B businesses face a unique set of challenges. Managing a business’ progress from potential client to ongoing satisfied customer is a complicated process that requires time, attention, and technical coordination across teams. When it comes to managing customer experiences, B2B businesses face a unique set of challenges. Managing a business’ progress from potential lead to ongoing satisfied customer is a complicated process that requires time, attention, and technical coordination across teams. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you get started planning and managing your customers’ journeys. What is customer journey management? Customer journey management is the process of mapping out and continuously improving the experiences you want your prospects and customers to have as they move through your sales funnel. It pays particular attention to the nuances of user experience and the transition points from one stage of the customer journey to another — making sure their needs are taken care of. What are the 5 stages of the customer journey? There are five stages to the customer journey: awareness, consideration, decision, retention, and advocacy. (Sometimes businesses refer to these as “The 5 A’s” or “The 5 E’s” — but we think they’re clearer without the alliteration. ) Awareness — A customer has a problem or a need and they’re starting to look for solutions. They’re looking for information instead of a sales pitch, so educational offers such as blogs, infographics, white papers, and ebooks work best at this stage. In some cases, the awareness stage is about educating potential customers about what you do before they’ve even recognized a need for your product or service. Getting your message in front of them as early as possible will position you to be top of mind when they begin to recognize a need. Consideration — At this point customers are beginning to compare offerings from different companies and may begin reaching out to brands for more information. The focus should move from high level overview to more detailed comparisons. Success stories, case studies, email nurturing campaigns, and webinars work well at this stage. Decision — This is the critical juncture. Here the focus moves from marketing to sales. Customers at this stage are now qualified leads actively preparing to make a purchase. They’ve filled out a contact form, and they’re ready to request a demo and speak to sales or support staff. This phase draws on case studies, testimonials, and intros to existing customers. Retention — You did it! You made the sale! Job’s over, right? Nope. This step is about keeping customers happy and engaged to increase their lifetime value for your business. Product promotions, loyalty programs, and customer training sessions demonstrate the continuing value your brand provides — plus investing in customer retention is more cost-effective than acquisition. Advocacy — This is when customers start advocating for you. You’ve worked hard to impress them and they’re ready to tell others. These are the customers who provide testimonials, write reviews online, volunteer for case studies, and fill out Net Promoter Score surveys on your behalf. What tools are used in customer journey management? In order to manage your customers’ journeys, you’ll want tools for data management, audience segmentation, marketing, and analytics. A good CRM (customer relationship management) software is the best place to start. A lot of companies invest in industry-specific CRMs primarily as a tool for their sales team without considering how it can support their broader customer journey, only to find out later that their features are limited. Though every organization has different needs, we generally recommend businesses choose CRMs that either have their own native martech built in (such as Hubspot or Marketo) or CRMs that have robust, open API that’s flexible enough to incorporate additional marketing tools (such as Salesforce or Pipedrive). CRMs from Hubspot, Marketo, Salesforce, or Pipedrive are all worth considering. Remember: customer journey management is about attending to the quality of your customers’ experiences, especially as they transition from one part of the journey to another (from the consideration to the decision phase, for instance). This requires coordination between different teams at your company, such as marketing and sales. That’s why you should pay particular attention to how different teams can coordinate their tools to minimize discrepancies and make sure customers don’t fall through the cracks. How is the B2B customer journey unique? There are a number of factors that B2B companies... --- ### 10 Essential Tips for Nonprofit Branding in 2024 > Nonprofit branding is the creation of a distinct, memorable identity for your organization. Here’s our guide to industry-leading best practices and examples. - Published: 2023-04-14 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/nonprofit-brand-guide-2023/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Branding, nonprofit marketing If you’ve worked with a nonprofit before, you know the struggle: you have to stand out amongst the millions upon millions of other organizations out there. Not to mention, you have to consistently attract donors to stay afloat, especially in today’s finicky financial climate. So how does nonprofit branding strategy help you stand out in that dreaded sea of sameness – whose monetary waters continue to recede? At Big Sea, we work with a number of organizations, like these, to help build, develop, and pivot with the times. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking for a boost in growth, we’ve got some must-know strategies. Let’s dive in. What is nonprofit branding? Nonprofit branding is the creation of a distinct, memorable identity and personality for your organization. But there’s more: that identity keeps your target audience (in this case: stakeholders, donors, volunteers, etc. ) in mind. Put most simply, nonprofit branding is how you develop your organization’s logo, visual identity, mission, voice, and positioning to set yourself apart from all those other nonprofits in the world. Why is branding important for a nonprofit? Branding means recognition, no matter what industry you’re in. Picture the Apple brand, for example. Apple’s logo (and Apple itself, at this point) is so iconic, in fact, that you don’t even need any text to recognize the brand. Big-name nonprofits can achieve the same level of clout. Look at the YMCA (the Y) and St. Jude logos. Reaching this level of recognition can be even more crucial for a nonprofit because beyond expanding your community, most nonprofits have the goal of spreading an important mission locally or even across the globe. Your brand conveys a set of values that you want to share with the world, whether or not they choose to give time or money to your organization. 10 Tips for Nonprofit Branding There are a few key concepts that help inform any successful nonprofit branding strategy. These include diversity, storytelling, audience personas, and consistency. Let's explore how each of these plays a role in the essential elements of a great strategy: 1. Dedicate time to your name What’s in a name? For a nonprofit, everything. Your nonprofit brand’s name is pivotal to its messaging points, personality, voice, design elements and, in turn, your brand’s memorability. Words mean things – lots of things – and it’s important that your name is specific, unique, and strongly connected to your mission. Consider, for example, the World Health Organization. Not only do these three words instantly preview the organization's mission, but the acronym itself (WHO) does as well, because it's really the health care providers (the organizations "who") that form the backbone of the organization. 2. Define your story Defining your story not only allows you to understand your brand more deeply, but it also helps your audience connect with your organization in a more human way. While you can have abstract ideas of what you want your nonprofit brand to be, it’s best to use descriptive and factual language in your story. To get started, consider these questions: “What exactly is your brand? ” and “What do you want to be known for? ” Jot down your answers, and work with other members of your organization to start to flesh out your narrative. Let’s say you’re a progressive, inclusive nonprofit determined to fight for the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals. Maybe you’re an inviting, warmhearted nonprofit dedicated to providing local families with the resources they need to survive and thrive. While these are representative of totally different causes and might not match your own mission, you can see how each description can be differentiated – or tailored to fit your organization. 3. Get to know your target audience Who’s going to engage with your brand? Whether it’s the recipient of services, important stakeholders, donors, or prospective volunteers – you have to know them. What media are they consuming? How are they searching for resources? According to Marketing Evolution, over $37 billion is wasted each year in ad spending because marketers fail to engage with their target audience. A few things you can do to make sure you’re on the right track are: Do that market research. Explore... --- ### A Comprehensive Guide to Nonprofit Email Marketing > A clear, strategic plan for nonprofit email marketing empowers you to connect with your audience often and authentically. - Published: 2023-04-11 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/guide-to-email-marketing-for-nonprofits/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: email marketing, nonprofit marketing After this comprehensive guide to nonprofit email marketing, you'll know how to turn those digital messages into a core communications asset for your organization. Learn the tips and tricks of a nonprofit email marketing strategy to achieve greater awareness and loyalty to fuel your nonprofit. If you’re working with a nonprofit, you’re probably always on the lookout for all the possible ways to keep your organization alive and thriving. Enter email marketing, easily the most important promotional tool nonprofit organizations have at their disposal. There are, however, a few key issues that nonprofits like yours face when it comes to running effective email marketing campaigns – tight staffing lines and even tighter budgets, for instance. So how do you stay in touch with key stakeholders without breaking the bank? A consistent, targeted, and creative nonprofit email marketing strategy. With email, your organization can organically connect with supporters on a regular basis, which directly impacts your fundraising goals and community reach. Why nonprofits need an email marketing strategy Let’s start with the basics. Nonprofits are less focused on the immediate sale and more on the long-term relationships with their audiences that pay off in both donations and ambassadorship down the road. That's why email marketing can help your nonprofit build a loyal donor base that’s always engaged, caring and sharing. The biggest virtue of email marketing is consistency. No one wants to receive an email asking for money every day during the week of #givingtuesday and then not hear from an organization again until next November. Your donors are worth more than that to you! A clear, strategic plan for your nonprofit’s email marketing empowers you to connect with your audience often and authentically. (And with personalized and engaged messaging, a successful email campaign will drive more donations to your organization. ) How to choose a nonprofit email marketing tool Before you even start to think about your strategy, messaging, or audiences, you need the right systems in place. Email marketing tools can vary widely. A simple Gmail client allows you to send one-to-one messages, but you’ll likely need a more comprehensive marketing solution. That’s when CRM systems enter the equation. 5 best CRMs for nonprofit email marketing CRM, short for customer relationship management, has become an invaluable part of email marketing today. It’s the connection between a customer database that stores valuable information about your individual contacts, and a communication tool designed for outreach. Of course, there are hundreds of potential solutions on the market today. So how do you find the right one? More specifically, how can you find the best CRM tool not just for nonprofits in general, but your vertical and situation specifically? The right tools are affordable on tight nonprofit budgets, and intuitive to use for staff that might not be marketing experts. They also have a comprehensive support system designed to train and improve your email marketing skills over time. Here is a great list of top nonprofit email marketing tools: 1. HubSpot This tool shines in its ability to gather information about your contacts and leverage those into more segmented campaigns. (And they offer 40% off for nonprofits! ) 2. MailChimp They’re known for their intuitiveness and user-friendly interface. The templates are beautiful and can give you a running start. 3. Campaign Monitor Far more in-depth and complex than its predecessors, this tool offers great reporting features. We’ll get into why those matters further down in this guide. 4. MailerLite This is a highly straightforward tool that’s great if you’re just starting out. It’s almost impossible to get confused in its interface, but the tool lacks some advanced features of its competition. 5. SendGrid This is a great tool for personalizing emails that speak directly to individual donors rather than larger segments of your audience. How to automate nonprofit email marketing So, you’ve found that email platform that works best for you. We love to hear it! Now, it’s time to start building your first campaign or, more specifically, set your strategy. Here’s what you need to consider. 1. Define your email sequences Memorable email marketing efforts are never one-off messages. They’re always connected to a larger goal, whether that be welcoming new subscribers or encouraging loyalty among existing donors. Each of these sequences should be its own mini-campaign, consistent within itself and in the broader context in which it lives. The first step in building a strategy is to think through what types of sequences you might need... --- ### Leveraging LinkedIn for Nonprofits and Museums > LinkedIn for Nonprofits offers free and discounted tools for nonprofit organizations. Learn how to navigate the platform and connect with donors. - Published: 2023-04-07 - Modified: 2023-10-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/leveraging-linkedin-for-nonprofits-and-museums/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums, Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: linkedin, museum marketing, nonprofit marketing LinkedIn is an incredible platform to build relationships with potential donors and create meaningful connections through storytelling. It can also reward you with an ongoing education in the trends of the world around you. Here's how you can leverage organic LinkedIn for your museum or nonprofit. With over 190. 1 million members in the US (and growing! ), LinkedIn is a powerful tool for nonprofit and museum marketers looking to expand their mission, grow their community, and ultimately drive donations. But how can they use this platform to reach the right people? Let's take a look at several ways to leverage organic LinkedIn to compliment your museum marketing efforts. Is there a LinkedIn for nonprofits? Yes, there is! LinkedIn for Nonprofits has an entire hub of resources specially designed for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes. They've got tips, tricks, and tools to help you connect with potential donors, fundraise effectively, hire and train new talent for your team, and get your mission and message out into the world. Is LinkedIn free for nonprofits? Yes, it is. Sort of. Nonprofits get free access to virtual events and summits, plus blog and newsletter subscriptions. For actual products, you'll need to spend some money. The good news: eligible nonprofits can get discounted rates on talent, learning, and fundraising products created by LinkedIn for Nonprofits. They've got solutions for everything from sales navigators to recruitment and marketing platforms. The eligibility requirements are easily met by most nonprofit organizations. How much are LinkedIn’s paid services for nonprofits? LinkedIn has nonprofit member discounts for organizations that qualify. And yours just might. If so, you can benefit from as much as 75% off their major services: Sales Navigator Core and Recruiter Lite. For example, eligible nonprofits can get a Sales Navigator Core subscription for $25 a month with a 12-month contract or a Recruiter Lite subscription for $42. 50 a month. What is the best way to use LinkedIn for Nonprofits? While many nonprofits saw record-breaking donations during the pandemic, the past year has normalized donations back to 2019 levels. New ways to connect with your community and donors is essential to maintaining engagement and interest in your organization. Start with why So why LinkedIn? For one, LinkedIn is a great place to connect with a younger audience. Our nonprofit and museum clients are working hard to attract a younger donor base, and over 78% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 18-34. A whopping 84% of millennials donated to charities in 2021 — and LinkedIn is overwhelmingly where they spend their time. Learn and grow LinkedIn isn't just about broadcasting messages; it's also about making connections and learning. Whether you're involved in the marketing, development, or programming of your organization, you'll find a community of leading experts in your field sharing volumes of tips, trends, and ideas to make your work better. Follow those leaders to learn and grow, and when you're ready, share a little of the behind-the-scenes magic of your success, too. Building your own following doesn't require a budget or advanced marketing degree - just start commenting and sharing! Share stories of impact It's important to remember that when using social media platforms like LinkedIn people don't want to just be constantly asked for money or donations. Instead, share stories of the impact of those donations. Stories help to create emotion around your cause and encourage people to act. Use this platform to share stories about the impact of not donating, too. What happens when the problems your organization solves are left unchecked? And definitely don't forget about those personal stories of impact from staff members or volunteers. People want to feel connected and inspired by what you are doing - let them in on the journey! hbspt. cta. load(386058, '992196c4-b595-48ca-8530-383588c49a58', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Make connections Great development professionals know that 99% of the work of fundraising happens before the ask, and LinkedIn is a great place to identify and connect with possible donors. You can use the platform to build meaningful relationships and keep connections engaged with your organization. Don't forget referrals, too - if your direct network can't always help, they're often willing to share and connect you with people who can. Share your collections Another great way for nonprofits and museums to use LinkedIn is by sharing stories about their collections or original research relevant to your mission. Whether it's about a piece of art or a historical event or a global trend,, these stories have... --- ### LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) > LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index (SSI) measures your effectiveness at using your professional brand on LinkedIn to attract leads and grow your network. - Published: 2023-03-31 - Modified: 2024-09-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-determine-your-social-selling-index-on-linkedin/ - Categories: Digital Marketing If you are using your personal LinkedIn account as part of your brand's social selling strategy, you should keep an eye on your social selling index (SSI). And if you're not using your personal LinkedIn account, you should be. If you are using your personal LinkedIn account as part of your brand’s social selling strategy, you should keep an eye on your social selling index (SSI). And if you’re not using your personal LinkedIn account, you should be. LinkedIn is the new popular kid I have loved LinkedIn for over a decade. I feel like I “get” LinkedIn. For most of its existence, LinkedIn was the black sheep of the social media world. Facebook was Prom Queen, Instagram and Snapchat had full dance cards, and even Twitter had plans for Friday night — but LinkedIn sat alone in study hall. Now LinkedIn is one of the most effective B2B Sales and Marketing channels. It’s one of the only places where people who are passionate about what they do can talk about the why, the how, and the who of their industry. It’s devoid of fluff, but not of authenticity, inspiration, and positivity. It's a great place not only to connect, but to learn more about your customers. LinkedIn is home to intelligent discourse on manufacturing, digital transformation, marketing, corporate culture, and so much more. It’s like a never-ending networking event, and your SSI is a scorecard of your ability to “work the room. ” What is the Social Selling Index (SSI) on LinkedIn? Your SSI measures your effectiveness at using your professional brand on LinkedIn to attract leads and grow your network. It uses four pillars of measurement to produce your score: 1. Establishing your professional brand This metric is tied to your LinkedIn profile. A complete and professional profile with plenty of endorsements and recommendations is a good start. LinkedIn also looks to see how many articles you’ve published and how many followers you have. 2. Find the right people LinkedIn social selling is all about Identifying the right prospects. LinkedIn recommends using its Sales Navigator Lead Builder tool. You can also do this organically, reaching out to key decision makers with engaging, insightful content. 3. Engage with insights LinkedIn measures your ability to initiate and nurture relationships through your posts. It scores the number of Likes, Shares, and Comments your posts receive, as well as your incoming and outgoing Direct Messages. 4. Build strong relationships The fourth SSI pillar builds on the previous two. This measures your ability to network with influencers who can introduce you to key prospects. Metrics include your people searches, how many profiles you view, and how many days you’ve been active. How to check your Social Selling Index score Curious what your LinkedIn SSI is? Finding your number couldn’t be simpler. Here’s what you need to do: Login to LinkedIn. Click this link. Your LinkedIn Social Selling Dashboard should appear. You can see where your LinkedIn profile stands compared to the rest of your industry, as well as how you stack up against the rest of your network. How do I improve my SSI score? There are a number of ways to improve your SSI score organically. Polishing and fleshing out your profile is one of them. Post quality content that draws the attention of other members of your network and provides real value. Put thought and energy into building out your network to connect with other leaders and influencers in your field. Engage with their posts to demonstrate your own engagement. The more enmeshed you are with your business community, the more your score will grow. And, your SSI is updated daily, so get ready to check-in often! Consider investing in Sales Navigator Not surprisingly, LinkedIn boosts your score if you are a Premium member and use its Sales Navigator. If I were a CMO I would certainly pony up the cost for the tool, but at $800 a year, you have to carefully weigh ROI. I’ve raised my SSI to the top 4% within my industry and the top 15% within my network. I did it organically and without a paid membership. Regardless of whether you’re a paid member or not, there is plenty you can do on LinkedIn to elevate your SSI. Optimize your personal LinkedIn page Your LinkedIn company page is still an important channel for sharing company news and content, but your personal LinkedIn account has a... --- ### Understanding B2B Inbound and Outbound Marketing > B2B Inbound marketing focuses on attracting, converting, and satisfying potential customers, while outbound marketing proactively reaches out to prospects. - Published: 2023-03-24 - Modified: 2024-09-06 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/inbound-marketing-vs-outbound-marketing-for-b2b/ - Categories: B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing - Tags: B2B, Digital Marketing, inbound, Outbound What’s with the divide between inbound and outbound marketing that's haunted the rise of digital advertising? Why is there a rivalry between these two strategies, and as a B2B business, which team do you join? The truth is that in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, both inbound and outbound work, depending on your goals. It’s not really a one-size-fits-all solution. Both approaches provide you with tools to get noticed by potential customers, but you need to find the formula that’s more suited to your top priorities. So let's take a deep dive into the two teams so you can better understand how each strategy aligns with your B2B digital marketing goals. What is Inbound Marketing? Inbound marketing is a methodology that focuses on finding, attracting, converting, and satisfying potential customers. Inbound marketing believes that delighted customers will become promoters of your business. As brand evangelists, your customers can help your business grow organically and exponentially — an effect HubSpot calls the flywheel model. That’s why high-quality content marketing is a critical component of inbound marketing. In fact, 53% of marketers say blogging is their top content marketing priority — they intentionally create content that helps potential and current customers learn about your business, and what you offer. Inbound marketing aims to attract potential customers when they’re using search engines or social media sites. You can grow website traffic by creating helpful and relevant content that pulls people toward your company and its products or services instead of pushing your brand out to your audience with traditional forms of (outbound) advertising like print, radio, TV, and direct mail. What are the three steps of inbound marketing? Inbound marketing generally works in three steps: Attract: Use high-quality marketing content to draw potential customers and start conversations around how you’re the answer to their needs. Engage: Share insights and potential solutions that position your business as the most likely candidate for the customer. Delight: In addition to a fantastic product offering, empower your customers with help and support so they find success with their purchase. These activities increase your chances of being found by potential customers via search engines such as Google or Bing. (But, you know, mostly Google. ) What are some examples of inbound marketing? Intriguing e-books and guides that customers can download for free from your website, but require that they submit their email address Exciting and engaging video content for your website and/or social media accounts Content on your website that explains more about your service or product Responding to questions on crowdsourced informational sites like Quora, and then directing the user to your website Using keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) to make your website more visible to customers when they search for those specific keywords Podcasts shared on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter Is social media considered inbound or outbound marketing? Social media marketing is a type of inbound marketing because it involves creating content to attract, engage, and delight customers. A recent survey revealed that 54% of B2B buyers use social media to learn about the vendor, their services, and their products. But too many brands use social media just to talk about themselves: their products, their deals, their business. The reality is that no one on social really goes there to be flooded by ads. That’s why effective social media marketing for B2B businesses doesn't focus on you personally, or your own story, for social media content. To make an impression on your audience, show how your company positively impacts/changes the lives of your customers. If you know how to tell stories that matter (and delight), you'll have a much better chance of connecting with your audience. That connection may increase sales, brand awareness, ROI, and your company may soon be rocking the market! Why is social media important to B2B inbound marketing? Using social media for B2B marketing allows you to: Save money. Platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter enable you to communicate with your customer base at any time, regardless of their location. Provide improved customer service. Using social media, you can provide more robust, transparent and public customer service through live chat, direct messaging, and other means that your customers... --- ### 7 Innovative Strategies for Digital Fundraising > Digital strategy is vital for fundraising. Here are 7 ways you can boost your virtual game plan to drive engagement and increase donations. - Published: 2023-03-20 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/7-innovative-fundraising-strategies-build-engagement-raise-more-money-online/ - Categories: Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: fundraising, Increase engagement, Nonprofit Donors have moved online, and nonprofits are following. But this is a real transition for organizations, not business as usual. A reactive response, where you’re simply transferring what you've done well in a live mode into digital spaces, is not a strategic one -- it’s not setting you up for success. The online landscape is crowded, and can feel impersonal, which makes standing out all the more critical as you try to raise money. This is why strategic innovation is key. Engaging your audience is critical to reaching your goals for fundraising, fostering goodwill and community building. We can help with that. COVID-19 radically changed the fundraising landscape for nonprofits. Organizations that previously relied on in-person events to raise donations were forced to pivot to an online environment that presented a unique set of challenges. Now, even though lockdown has been lifted, digital fundraising still remains a crucial component of nonprofit revenue building. Online alternatives endure in part because they continue to be more cost-effective and efficient, while also giving your audience more convenience and thus greater opportunity to engage and donate. Simply put, donors have moved online, and nonprofits are following. Still, the online landscape is crowded, and can feel impersonal, which is why strategic innovation is key. We can help with that. Check out these 7 creative ideas we’ve outlined for online fundraising that will connect you meaningfully with donors and help your organization build momentum in a digital environment. Digital Fundraising Best Practices Before we launch into our strategies, let’s consider a few elements of a successful digital fundraising effort. No matter what form your online fundraising campaign takes, you want to make sure to Elevate the level of engagement to excite the community and move you closer to your fundraising goals. Build a community of passionate donors and supporters that help drive fundraising efforts organically. Develop your nonprofit’s story and share it with the digital community. Choose the right digital fundraising platform for your nonprofit. Understand your nonprofit personas and use them to develop a digital fundraising strategy. Finally, check out the latest nonprofit marketing trends for more ideas about how to power your broader digital marketing strategies. 7 Digital Fundraising Ideas From virtual events to exploring online channels to sharing your story in order to build community, here are seven ways you can boost your digital fundraising efforts and reach your goals. 1. Virtual Concerts and Events Even if you’ve returned fully to in-person fundraising events, there are a few reasons to consider continuing many virtual activities. Virtual concerts allow you to bring together both local and distant musicians who support your cause. The same is true of donors, who may no longer live as close to your HQ as they once did or may prefer to enjoy an event from the comfort of their home. Gated only entry creates a more exclusive experience for donors and musicians, which in turn fosters engagement and delight. You can enhance the experience by adding a VIP event before or after the main acts. This could be a hosted zoom session in which donors get to meet musicians or request songs for additional donations. You can apply this strategy across virtual events. Galas, movie nights, and even relevant speakers — things that bring your audience together while driving donations. As long as the event feels like a true experience to your donors, you’ll get plenty of interest in and funding for your cause. 2. Crowdfunding Opportunities Don’t underestimate your audience’s desire to help out, especially when it comes to supporting a cause they believe in! Crowdfunding is proof of the power of audience support, given how critical a role it played for many nonprofits during the pandemic. The core concept is simple: instead of asking for donations yourself, current donors and other stakeholders ask on your behalf. You can provide the backend and messaging support they need to be successful, but otherwise sit back as they get their peers involved. Crowdfunding sites, like Donor Box and GoFundMe Charity, can help you set up a system where donations are easy to gather and direct toward your nonprofit and cause. You can build a system that gives your advocates basic messaging and information, or go more hands-off and just give them the link or set-up they need. While you probably don’t want to entirely replace your digital fundraising efforts with crowdfunding, you do want to create opportunities for organic fundraising among your supporters. Passionate donors will be happy to share their passion with peers and play such a personal role in advancing your cause. 3. Live Streaming Fundraising Drives Remember those old-fashioned phone drives, with celebrities taking calls for a good cause while millions watched on TV? They’re no longer passé — they’re vintage. The key to success? Live streaming, which attracts... --- ### How to Advertise During a Recession in 2023 > Learn ways to advertise your nonprofit during a recession. We know the 2023 inflation is impacting businesses and Big Sea is here to help. Schedule a consultation today. - Published: 2022-12-01 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/advertising-during-recession-2023/ - Categories: Digital Marketing, Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: marketing, marketing strategy, nonprofit marketing You can’t just go into hibernation while you wait for good times to return. If you did that, you’d be a bear — and last time we checked, bears don’t make any money. If you start figuring out how to adapt now, your organization will be stronger by the end of it. “Recession” is a scary word. One of the all-time worst. It makes us think about our favorite stores and restaurants cutting their hours – or even closing for good. Of people losing their jobs. After the Great Recession of 2008, the not-quite-over-yet Covid pandemic, and now jaw-dropping inflation, it’s easy to panic about news of the next big, bad thing coming ‘round the corner: another recession. Nonprofits are always struggling to stay afloat, living in survival mode at the best of times. And during all this financial upheaval? It’s not pretty. As tough as it is to see through the fog, it’s important to keep investing in your organization’s growth with very strategic marketing. But it might look a little different from a few years ago. With all that in mind, here’s our guide to the recession – what it is, and how to advertise during it. First off, what is a recession, really? A recession isn’t just a blip on the economic radar. The National Bureau of Economic Research defines it as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months” – two financial quarters is the rule of thumb. So since the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) declined in both Q1 and Q2 this year, we’re technically in a recession. But experts agree, it’s a weird one. Because even though the economy has shrunk a little this year, employment is actually going up. That hasn’t happened during any other recession in the last 80 years. The fact is, there are still more job openings than there are people to fill them – 11 million openings, actually – so lots of companies are hesitant to start laying people off at the first sign of smoke. While we’re talking about big scary words, let’s talk inflation. Inflation is when the dollar gets less valuable and the things you need to live get more expensive. A little inflation is usually a good thing; economists generally consider it a sign of healthy growth. But the inflation rate broke 9% in June this year, and that – more than anything – is shaking consumer confidence. Why should you advertise during a recession? So what does this mean for your organization? And why should you invest in advertising if there are signs of hard times ahead? There are lots of good reasons – we can think of about 20 – but here are the top three: People are still trying to find you. While the rest of us stay home and make sourdough starters, the world keeps spinning. During a recession, less profit and less spending form a feedback loop. If you’ve lost customers, the last thing you should do is stop advertising – you’ll be less likely to gain new ones to replace them. Your message will come through more clearly. You shouldn’t spend less on getting your message out there, but other people probably will. And that can work to your advantage. When the economy is booming, it’s harder to make your voice heard; but when other companies are pulling back, you have the chance to expand your reach and make a bigger impact with your advertising budget. Good marketing will help you learn and pivot. The economy isn’t static. You can’t just go into hibernation while you wait for good times to return. If you did that, you’d be a bear – and last time we checked, bears don’t make any money. If you start figuring out how to adapt now, your organization will be stronger by the end of it. The Great Recession hit legacy retailers hard, but discount stores grew and thrived. The Covid shutdown closed countless businesses, but it fueled massive growth in e-commerce. Smart advertising doesn’t just get your message out there – the performance data that comes back will help you understand the marketplace. It’ll let you see the changes that are taking place as they happen. When the economy gets better – and it will! – you don’t want to be stuck playing catch up. What should you focus on? When you’ve got plenty of money, you’re open to buying all sorts of things. A... --- ### The Why and How of Rebranding Your Business > Why would a business want to rebrand? Learn more about the how and why of rebranding your business in this blog from Big Sea. - Published: 2022-07-01 - Modified: 2023-11-22 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/business-rebranding/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: best practice, Branding, Design, Digital Marketing Your brand is your story. It connects people to who you are and your values. Your brand expresses what you do to elevate others' lives. Organizations and businesses grow and change over time. It's a given. It's also a given that branding follows suit. That's why most organizations need to rebrand: to stay modern, stay relevant, stay effective. There are several reasons why your organization should rebrand. Maybe you are trying to attract new business, entering a new market segment, setting yourself apart from the competition, need to stay current, expanding your operations, or have a poor reputation. A proper rebranding strategy can help your organization thrive. It's a mistake to under-invest in branding because you think it's nothing more than a name and logo. A successful brand includes your customers' total experiences with your organization. If you find your brand identity is undermining your growth efforts, it's time to rebrand. Please keep reading to learn more about business rebranding, strategies, and how to go about it. What is brand awareness? Brand awareness is how well your target audience recognizes your brand and its products. Ideally, brand awareness includes the qualities that distinguish your products and services from the competition. Brand awareness is essential because it's the first step in your marketing funnel and a crucial foundation for acquiring customers. Establishing brand awareness is key to marketing and promoting your business and products, especially when launching new products, reviving an older brand, or entering a new market segment. Successful brand awareness can embed your business or organization into consumer purchase habits and lifestyles, so they don't think twice before becoming customers — time and time again. You can use several strategies to achieve and increase your brand awareness. These include: Marketing your brand on social media platforms Giving your brand a personality Using influencer marketing Using content marketing to generate organic traffic back to your website Creating referral programs Creating more video marketing content Focusing equally on online and offline campaigns Additionally, below are a few ways to measure your brand awareness: Do surveys via email, telephone, or website Use Google trends data Look at your website traffic Look at your search volume data Use social listening Check your social media followers Use brand tracking software Businesses with excellent brand awareness enjoy increased customer trust and loyalty, increased credibility, lower price sensitivity, high sales and revenue, etc. What's the reason for rebranding? Companies need to continually evolve to remain competitive, including redeveloping their brand and branding strategy. Rebranding can occur for several reasons, such as: You no longer love your logo, name, or design, or you believe your current brand aesthetic no longer speaks to your organization's values and products. You're thinking of expanding your business scope to enter a new market, and your existing name is too limiting. You realized your brand is not doing a good enough job differentiating you in the marketplace. Most companies, including some of the most successful brands, rebrand. Rebranding can work wonders for any organization struggling to modernize, escape a lackluster reputation, or differentiate itself from the competition. What are the benefits of rebranding? Rebranding is an excellent way to shake things up and change your target market if you feel your business isn't appealing to the customers you want. It's a great way for businesses and organizations to stimulate growth, expand, gain a competitive advantage, increase profits, and strengthen their workforce. However, don't assume that rebranding will solve internal problems or new management changes. It takes effort and time, so the changes may occur over an extended period, not right away. Before rebranding, ensure you have the time, innovation, workforce, and resources to pull it off smoothly. When Should You Rebrand? Companies should consider rebranding when the business needs a refresh. Most companies will opt to rebrand once every seven to ten years to grow and strengthen their external appearance. The right rebranding strategy infuses new energy into your business or organization, but it should complement your overall business and marketing strategies. Below are reasons to consider rebranding: To differentiate your organization from the competition. Avoid generic branding, because it makes it difficult to differentiate your brand from others with identical logos,... --- ### Video Marketing: A Primer > Learn more about video marketing with Big Sea Digital Marketing. - Published: 2022-06-10 - Modified: 2022-06-10 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/video-marketing/ - Categories: Video Marketing - Tags: video, video marketing How many videos do you interact with daily online? One, ten, a hundred? Think of your shopping patterns and interactions with product reviews, entertainment videos, skippable and unskippable video ads, and content from your favorite influencers on social media. How many videos do you interact with daily online? One, ten, a hundred? Think of your shopping patterns and interactions with product reviews, entertainment videos, skippable and unskippable video ads, and content from your favorite influencers on social media. Video marketing is here, it's thriving, and if you're not yet in, you're missing out. Businesses worldwide use video marketing to market products and services, improve customer engagement, and educate consumers. International brands such as GoPro, Patagonia, Pepsi, and Moz have cracked the video-ad code and are using their content to engage millions of consumers. What's more, video production is now more affordable than ever. You can create 4K video with your phone! There are also plenty of inexpensive cameras, lighting equipment rigs, and editing applications. At a time when online content is flooded with short videos, live-streaming, and 360-degree interactive videos, you can't rely on written content and images alone. However, if you've never shot and edited a video for your business, getting started can be tough. We created this guide to help you launch your video marketing strategy. We’ll cover everything from choosing the type of video you need to producing engaging video content for your brand. Why Should You Invest in Video Marketing? Videos are compelling, engrossing, and stimulating. They package and deliver information faster than text and images, while entertaining viewers and invoking their emotions. In short, videos are engaging, hence their dominance in marketing. Brands use videos to produce content in a conversational, practical, and measurable way. You can use video content to entertain your audience, promote content to increase click-through rates, and personalize marketing to encourage conversions. Video content is helpful throughout the customer journey to boost brand awareness, nurture customers, increase conversions, and provide a positive customer experience. However, the popularity and effectiveness of video content is not a call to purchase costly equipment, over-edit content or invest in professional film production. In fact, many consumers prefer lower-quality videos because they feel more authentic than high-quality, over-edited videos. How Do I Create a Video Marketing Strategy? If you are getting started with video advertising, it's good to begin by defining your video marketing strategy. Your video content marketing strategy guides your storytelling, budget, timelines, production process, conversion metrics, creative processes, etc. Here's how to build a video marketing strategy. Define your video marketing goals Find your target audience Incorporate storytelling into video marketing Define your creative elements Have a realistic budget Create your timelines Distribute your video content Track video content performance Define your video marketing goals Before shooting video content, you need to know why. What is the purpose of the video content, and what action would you like your audience to take after viewing it? Why are you launching a video campaign, and what metrics will you use to measure success? If you have multiple players in video creation, you can prepare a questionnaire and use it to create your briefs and scripts. Ideally, the purpose of your business videos will fall into any of the four categories of a video marketing funnel: Awareness In this stage, a customer experiences the symptoms of a problem and researches to frame their issue better. Your video marketing goal is to help potential customers communicate their problems and become aware of your business as a solution provider. Social media videos and SEO videos are great for increasing brand awareness. In addition, if you make awareness videos, your measurable metrics should be related to brand discovery — for example, the number of views and viewing duration. Consideration In the consideration stage, potential customers are considering solutions for their problems. They're looking for recommendations, product reviews, and cost-effective solutions. To ensure that you develop a relationship with a potential customer, you need to show that you're an expert in your field. Important metrics include click-through rates to show how many people were captivated enough to click on your content, and view length to show the engagement level of your video content. Conversion In the conversion stage, you need to nurture your prospects to make a decision and choose your business. Your videos should prove why a customer should choose you over your competition. Delight In the delight... --- ### Big Sea Stands in Solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ Community > Read about what’s happening, find organizations to support, and amplify the voices of LGBTQIA+ individuals. - Published: 2022-03-11 - Modified: 2023-10-26 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-stands-in-solidarity-with-the-lgbtqia-community/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: Nonprofit As an agency with employees in Texas and Florida, we find these actions hitting close to home. Please join us in amplifying and supporting resources that provide gender-affirming care, legal advocacy, and financial, food, and rehoming assistance to those in need. SAINT PETERSBURG, Florida – Big Sea stands in solidarity with Trans kids, the LGBTQIA+ community, their loved ones, and their educators. Recent legislation is endangering LGBTQIA+ students. We believe our kids have a right to protection and support. As an agency with employees in Texas and Florida, we find these actions hitting close to home. Please join us in amplifying and supporting resources that provide gender-affirming care, legal advocacy, and financial, food, and rehoming assistance to those in need. Even if you’re unable to donate, we kindly ask you to share: Read About What’s Happening In Florida In Texas Resources To Donate To (Or Share) In Florida National LGBTQ Task Force LGBTQ+ Center of Bay County Metro LGBTQ Welcome Center In Texas Black Trans Texas Connection Thee Gay Agenda The HELP Center Free to Be Me: A Toolkit to Protect LGBTQIA+ Students' Rights In General National Center for Transgender Equality Trans Housing Coalition Fund For the Gworls --- ### Big Sea Acquires Tampa-based Sparxoo Digital and Sparxoo Studios > We're thrilled to announce that Big Sea has acquired Tampa-based digital agency, Sparxoo, and video production company, Sparxoo Studios. - Published: 2022-03-01 - Modified: 2023-04-07 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-acquires-tampa-based-sparxoo-digital-and-sparxoo-studios/ - Categories: News & Culture We're thrilled to announce that Big Sea has acquired Tampa-based digital agency, Sparxoo, and video production company, Sparxoo Studios. After a decade of friendly competition, we've realized that we really are better together. The depth of talent and creativity, the breadth of intelligence and kindness – together, Big Sea and Sparxoo teams are already making waves. Look out for expanded services in branding, video production, web development, and marketing. --------- ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 1, 2022) – Big Sea and Sparxoo announced today that they are merging, combining two of Tampa Bay area’s leading marketing agencies to form what will be one of Florida’s top full-service digital marketing companies. For over a decade, Big Sea and Sparxoo have been on parallel paths in building award-winning digital agencies. Now the new, larger Big Sea will offer full-funnel marketing, branding, video production, and web development services. Joining forces will also provide clients with stronger digital capabilities, specifically in areas like performance marketing, experience design, and video storytelling. “Our clients are asking for deeper strategy and more thorough research, and we’re excited to grow our capabilities and consultative services to do just that,” said Andi Graham, CEO and Managing Partner of Big Sea. “Knowing we have the team to execute across the vast digital landscape, we can develop even more innovative and effective campaign strategies. ” Graham, Big Sea’s CEO and Managing Partner, and Dzuy Nguyen, Big Sea’s COO and Managing Partner, will retain their titles with the combined agency. Sparxoo President Rob Kane will keep his title as he joins Big Sea, and Sparxoo Studios will now be led by Michael Martz, serving as President of that organization. David Capece (CROOW, formerly of Sparxoo), Rob Kane (President, Big Sea), Andi Graham (CEO, Big Sea), and Dzuy Nguyen (COO, Big Sea) David Capece, Founder and CEO of Sparxoo, will leave the agency after a transition period to focus on growing his software company CROOW, an innovative platform that streamlines creative collaboration for faster, better and smarter projects. The merger creates a company with 42 employees and approximately $6 million in annual revenues. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The two agencies serve clients in a wide range of industries, from technology and higher education to e-commerce and nonprofits. Big Sea, a 22-employee agency based in St. Petersburg, was founded in 2005 and has such clients as Mote Marine, The Sun Magazine, HealthWarehouse, Accusoft, Stetson University College of Law, and the University of Tampa. Sparxoo, a 20-employee agency based in Tampa, was founded in 2010 and has such clients as Tech Data, Cigar City Brewing, Florida Atlantic University, Amalie Oil, Summerland Wine, City of Clearwater, Hyatt Hotels, and Brooks Rehabilitation. “Big Sea and Sparxoo have the same vision and focus on our clients' digital marketing, with like-minded cultures of passion and growth," said Sparxoo's Capece. "The news has been very well-received within both companies and by our client brands, who see the opportunity to continue to build on their digital initiatives. " For Big Sea, a larger, even more diverse team enhances the agency’s ability to help all types of clients – each of which comes to Big Sea with its own set of marketing challenges and opportunities. “Blogging, email and Facebook are so 2020,” said Big Sea’s Nguyen. “These days, customers are also browsing TikTok, listening to podcasts, and chatting on Discord. The Big Sea team helps our clients’ brands engage with their buyers where they are and where they want to be. ” About Big Sea Big Sea is a marketing agency founded in 2005 with offices in St. Petersburg, Florida and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Led by partners Andi Graham and Dzuy Nguyen, the agency earned a spot in Inc. Magazine’s 2019 list of Best Workplaces, based on employee surveys that measured workplace culture, benefits and employee engagement, and was named 2019 “Marketer of the Year” by the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Marketing Association. Its team provides full-funnel, content-focused digital marketing services to mid-market brands across the nation. For more information, visit https://bigsea. co. About Sparxoo Sparxoo is an award-winning digital agency that delivers strategically creative impact to empower market leadership for clients. With a results-driven mindset, Sparxoo’s... --- ### How to Create a Successful Marketing Campaign on TikTok > Advertise and build your brand on the most downloaded app of 2021. - Published: 2022-01-06 - Modified: 2022-04-13 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/create-successful-tiktok-campaigns/ - Categories: Digital Marketing, News & Culture - Tags: ads, Digital Marketing, TikTok ads, TikTok Marketing The raging social media app TikTok has been around since 2018, but it’s quickly garnering mainstream traction. TikTok is used by everyone – and I mean everyone, from celebrities to teenagers to hip grans. But how beneficial is TikTok as a marketing tool? Want to advertise and build your brand on the most downloaded app of 2021? Look no further. The raging social media app TikTok has been around since 2018, but it’s quickly garnering mainstream traction. TikTok is used by everyone – and I mean everyone, from celebrities to teenagers to hip grans. But how beneficial is TikTok as a marketing tool? Superficially, the platform appears to be a destination for comical lip-sync videos, rather than a medium for promoting products and services. However, there’s great potential for businesses to leverage TikTok and reach out to their customers in unique ways. And as our team has seen first-hand, TikTok has the potential to easily outperform other social media advertising platforms. What is Tiktok, and why should you care? TikTok presents itself as a platform for brief mobile videos. Envision a video-based Instagram or a short-form YouTube, with a slew of additional features: that’s the Tok. TikTok videos can range in length from 5 to 60 seconds, and users can effortlessly apply filters and nifty effects to their posts. TikTok also offers an extensive music collection. Users can choose tracks to use in their videos, to overlay new sounds, and to lip-sync. On the back end, TikTok's algorithm employs artificial intelligence to recommend videos to users based on their previous viewings. Thanks to this algorithm, it’s simple for users to discover new material, making it easier for creators (and brands) to reach newer, bigger audiences. The app is growing rapidly. At the end of 2021, it’s become the sixth-largest social media platform. 2022 projections? Even higher. Here are a few more staggering figures that might just persuade you to include TikTok in your marketing strategy: Since 2018, the TikTok app has seen over 1. 65 billion downloads It was the most downloaded app of 2021 The average user visits the app over eight times a day 53% of users are over 30 years old; however, 18-24 year-olds are the largest single demographic How is Tiktok changing marketing? Target’s TikTok profile More than half of the globe uses social media, and enterprises are increasingly turning to social networking sites for advertising. Like any other medium, businesses must first research and plan content for these channels to maximize their appeal, and in turn, their ROI. However, content development can also be expensive and time-consuming, especially for people who lack the necessary tools. This is where Tiktok comes in handy. TikTok For Business, the application's new self-serve advertising model, enables businesses, schools, and organizations to reach a larger audience by providing simple tools for generating and analyzing content productively. On TikTok, it doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time user, small business owner, or part of a global corporation — you can succeed with the platform as long as you tell authentic stories and maintain an active presence in the community. In fact, TikTok ads work so well for enterprises because they allow them to engage in the viewers' native experience. TikTok doesn't have any annoying pop-up commercials or unskippable video ads; alternatively, ads are tastefully weaved into users' For You feeds (TikTok’s algorithmic feed for each user). In this way, you can share your brand's message without interfering with the overall user experience. Businesses can opt to meld in with the other suggested material or stand out to capture attention. TikTok, unlike other applications, was created with sound in mind. According to studies, 80% of Facebook users view ads without sound. Users on most other sites similarly watch ads on silent, instead opting to read subtitles when a relevant ad plays. This is often unfortunate, because music and general audio play an important role in storytelling, communication, and emotional bonding with an audience. This is a significant creative advantage that TikTok has over other platforms. How different is TikTok Marketing? Marketing on TikTok is very affordable compared to other platforms. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on expensive, high-end video production because the app favors authentic, original content. You also don't have to pay for tools to edit content or track your performance because the platform allows you to handle these activities on your own. Businesses can quickly capitalize on user trends to raise... --- ### A Quick Guide to Hulu’s New Advertising Beta Testing > What You Need to Know About Hulu’s Newest Ad Manager - Published: 2022-01-06 - Modified: 2022-04-13 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/hulu-advertising-beta-testing/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO, Digital Marketing - Tags: ads, Content Marketing, Hulu Advertising, Video ads, Video Con You probably know Hulu, at least as a user. And if you're familiar with Hulu, you've probably come across Hulu's ads. Just a few years ago, advertising on Hulu was minimal and required users to work directly with a Hulu account manager. However, Hulu has been shaking things up with the new Hulu self-advertising option. So, how can business and brand owners take advantage of this new platform, and how much would it cost? Read on for our primer about this great new platform. Should your marketing strategy bet on Beta? Here’s what you need to know about Hulu’s newest ad manager. Advertising on Hulu You probably know Hulu, at least as a user. And if you're familiar with Hulu, you've probably come across Hulu's ads. Just a few years ago, advertising on Hulu was minimal and required users to work directly with a Hulu account manager. However, Hulu has been shaking things up with the new Hulu self-advertising option. So, how can business and brand owners take advantage of this new platform, and how much would it cost? Read on for our primer about this great new platform. What is Hulu Advertising Beta Testing? Hulu advertising has existed for a while, despite the launch of the new beta-testing platform. Unless you have a restricted commercial-free plan, all Hulu advertisements show before, during, and even after streaming users' content. No matter which platform you're using, this advertising principle cuts across all of them. These advertisements last for 7-230 seconds and allow advertisers to show video ads to engage and captivate their audience as they wait for their show to resume. There are no fast-forwarding options on these ads, meaning that they will probably reach their target audience and deliver a brand’s information. On-demand services have also become dominant compared to traditional cable TV, suggesting that these ads are essentially superior to television commercials in most cases. Hulu claims that its advertising platform can be incredibly effective when it comes to creating brand awareness. According to their case study, notable brands like HP, Manscaped, Filippo Berio, and even Toyota have experienced a surge in brand awareness, purchase intent, and message association through Hulu advertising. There's also plenty of data to back this up, which includes: A 40% likelihood of making travel reservations online after Travel advertised their brand on the Top Chef finale in Hawaii. An increase of 76% incremental reach and more than 88% total sales for beauty and personal care. An increase of 40% on the lift in sign-ups for financial services. There are a lot of other benefits that clearly illustrate how effective Hulu advertisements can be. But it seems things are just getting started, especially with the introduction of Hulu Advertising Beta Testing. How Does the Hulu Advertising Beta Testing Compare to the Other Options? With the most recent self-service option, Hulu also offers two additional advertising options, which include: Premium Programmatic: This advertisement option is suitable for brands that want to influence audience CRM matching, lookalike audiences, and behavior segmenting in their ad campaign. Action with Broad Appeal: Through this option, advertisers can integrate their brand with Hulu's customized content collections and deliver their adverts through an innovative format. These two options restrict advertisers from customizing and managing their advertisements directly. An account manager would approve and help you set up your campaigns, unlike the new self-advertising platform. The new self-service platform also targets small and medium-sized businesses with low budgets, as low as $500, which is reasonable for many of these businesses. There's a reason why Hulu has gone a step further into allowing beta-testing self-service advertisements. With digital companies like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram offering self-service advertising platforms, Hulu had no choice but to get into this new trend. Besides that, these digital companies have established lots of success through their self-service advertisements, making more sense why Hulu has decided to adopt it. Like Facebook Ads or Google Ads, you can create your campaign and be creative with the new Hulu beta testing, but must abide by the terms of service. This self-service platform also allows you to manage campaigns and access analytics. How Much Does Hulu Advertising Cost With the Beta Testing Option? Hulu ads have been averaging between $30-$40 per thousand impressions. However, these rates have recently gone down to close to $20 with the new self-service option. With the increased number of subscribers, it makes perfect sense why Hulu is reducing its pricing and targeting small and medium-sized enterprises. However, the honest answer to the cost of a Hulu advertisement narrows down to the specific type of advertisement that you pick. Here are the top ad choices available on Hulu. Standard Video Ads A... --- ### 437% More New Donors and 140% More Online Donations: How We Did It > Smart digital marketing delivers outstanding results for this incredible non-profit. Gain 9:1 on your ad spend; grow online donations. - Published: 2021-12-08 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/new-donors-through-targeted-advertising-case-study/ - Categories: Case Studies, Nonprofit Marketing - Tags: Case Study, Nonprofit, paid media, search engine optimization, SEM, social, Social Media When the pandemic took hold during their regularly scheduled Easter campaign planning, Metropolitan Ministries and Big Sea worked hand-in-hand to pivot messaging and provide a safety net for over 244,000 people who needed help when it mattered. Big Sea developed campaign creative and executed media planning and buying across SEM, social and programmatic channels to help drive online donations up by 437%, all to support those hit hardest by the quarantine and shut-downs. Metropolitan Ministries provides practical services (food, housing programs, and education) for disadvantaged communities and families in Tampa Bay, and is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the region. When the pandemic took hold of the state during their regularly scheduled Easter campaign planning, Metropolitan Ministries and Big Sea worked hand-in-hand to pivot messaging and provide a safety net for over 244,000 people who needed help when it mattered. Big Sea developed campaign creative and executed media planning and buying across SEM, social and programmatic channels to help drive online donations to support those hit hardest by the quarantine and shut-downs. Our specific objectives were: Communicate the increased need for support during a pandemic Grow online donations to support the increased need Heavy competition for donor dollars Metro's biggest challenge was encouraging donors to choose Metropolitan Ministries over other nonprofits. They turned to Big Sea to create creative media campaigns that spoke to their audience and drove immediate action. Our campaigns had to be highly agile, since donation and resource demands shifted regularly and in real-time. Strategic storytelling and paid media overhaul Big Sea tackled paid media first, increasing return on ad spend with revamped targeting, optimized account structuring and updated creative across PPC, social media and programmatic channels. We knew there was a huge opportunity to recapture donors who had previously given to the organization, so we focused on reactivating lapsed donors as well as growing new ones. To overhaul messaging, we visited the massive Metropolitan Ministries campus and met with volunteers and staff members. We listened to heart-wrenching stories of the families Metro serves. Then we helped donors understand that Metro, while huge, is 100% local. Our holiday campaign emphasized the local impact of each donation. We shared real stories of hope and healing. “So happy to partner with Big Sea. We can't accomplish our mission without you. Thank you for your part in helping us serve so many families in need — we were able to impact the lives of 244,000 people! It was a crisis and people responded. Our marketing mix was spot on. ”Justine Burke, VP of Marketing, Metropolitan Ministries Our cross-channel approach engaged donors on all fronts and emphasized specific needs when they arose — like a shortage of Christmas hams. This approach included retargeting, contextual email marketing, and an optimized donation landing page. The Results New donor acquisition doesn't have to be such a struggle. Your investment will pay off in spades - let us help. --- ### From 3:1 to 6:1: How PPC Optimization Drives Results > HealthWarehouse.com set big goals to expand their brand, reach more customers, and drive revenue growth — and Big Sea helped them deliver. - Published: 2021-11-10 - Modified: 2022-12-13 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/ppc-optimization-case-study/ - Categories: Case Studies, eCommerce - Tags: Case Study, search engine optimization HealthWarehouse.com set big goals to expand their brand, reach more customers, and drive revenue growth - particularly through SEM, the company’s primary source of revenue, but was hitting a ceiling with their spend and ROAS. Big Sea was able to optimize and restructure their campaigns to double their ROAS and overall spend. But HealthWarehouse.com needed help. By early 2020, their reliable SEM performance had shifted from steady to stagnant. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) averaged about 3:1, and they weren’t sure why their numbers were sinking. To propel their revenue forward in 2020 and meet growth goals for 2021, HealthWarehouse.com brought Big Sea onboard. HealthWarehouse. com is America's leader in Digital Pharmacy. Their mission? Providing affordable pharmaceuticals and exceptional service nation-wide. To do this, their skilled team of professionals prioritize compassion, convenience, and transparency. In April 2021, HealthWarehouse. com set big goals to expand their brand, reach more customers, and drive revenue growth — particularly through SEM, the company’s primary source of revenue. The Problem: Unlimited Budget, But Limited Results But HealthWarehouse. com needed help. By early 2020, their reliable SEM performance had shifted from steady to stagnant. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) averaged about 3:1, and they weren’t sure why their numbers were sinking. To propel their revenue forward in 2020 and meet growth goals for 2021, HealthWarehouse. com brought Big Sea onboard. Big Sea took a deep dive into campaign analysis, which is how we uncovered structural issues that may have put some holes in the SEM strategy — namely internal bidding. Internal bidding is when different ad groups or campaigns use 2 or more of the same keywords. This can cause a brand to bid against itself, in turn raising the price of conversions. HealthWarehouse. com’s continuous optimizations weren’t resulting in optimal ROAS for the brand, so Big Sea knew they needed a stronger setup for their ongoing Google Search campaigns. In the discovery process, Big Sea uncovered another problem: the campaign was struggling with how to spend the daily budget. In an attempt to drive more traffic, HealthWarehouse. com raised the cap on spending substantially — only, that didn’t fix the original problem. (A properly optimized campaign should have no trouble spending all of the daily budget. ) The good news? Big Sea’s deep dive brought all of these bugs to the service. Back on land, Big Sea set out to develop a strategy that enabled us to deconstruct the campaign and rebuild it for optimization without interrupting HealthWarehouse. com’s consistent ROAS. The Solution? Keyword Optimization and Campaign Restructuring The first step to optimizing HealthWarehouse. com’s SEM was keyword optimization. We ran every query you could think of to analyze profitability, with the goal of cutting spending to low-performing keywords and irrelevant terms for HealthWarehouse. com’s services and products. Then we eliminated duplicate and conflicting keywords across ad groups. Now, the key to any high-performing SEM campaign is getting each campaign, ad group, and ad tailored to exactly what the searcher typed in. So our next task was restructuring HealthWarehouse. com’s ad groups based on common phrases. Finally, we created new ads to reflect those targeted keywords. Right away, HealthWarehouse. com’s campaign saw a lower cost per conversion — but daily spending was still low and few of their tests were converting. This told Big Sea that Google couldn’t gather enough conversion data to bid effectively for these campaigns. We devised a 4-week test: Let’s set daily budgets back to their original cap and switch each campaign to a “Maximize Conversion” bidding strategy. This fixed the spending issue, but it also raised the cost per conversion. Since the goal of our test was to gather more conversion data for each campaign, we were able to learn from those results and optimize back to a low cost per conversion and high ROAS. The Results? Highest ROAS in History and Continued Success HealthWarehouse. com’s campaign saw the highest ROAS in 18 months, going from 3:1 to 6:1. The average CPA before Big Sea was $14. After our optimizations, the CPA dropped to $11. Since the test increased spending to the full daily budget, Big Sea knew we’d optimized the campaign. Want to see results like these for your ecommerce brand? Let's talk - it's what we do (and we do it well). --- ### How Your Higher Ed Email Marketing Can Thrive in a Post-Pandemic World > Embrace these higher ed email marketing best practices designed to optimize your results and turn your emails into a viable recruitment driver. - Published: 2021-10-22 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/effective-post-pandemic-higher-ed-email-marketing/ - Categories: Higher Education - Tags: email marketing, higher education marketing, post pandemic In higher education marketing, personalization is no longer optional. As prospective students grow increasingly tired of virtual communications, any effort to reach them has to include highly targeted, personalized outreach that specifically speaks to their needs and preferences. Enter: email marketing. In higher education marketing, personalization is no longer optional. As prospective students grow increasingly tired of virtual communications, any effort to reach them has to include highly targeted, personalized outreach that specifically speaks to their needs and preferences. That can be difficult to achieve. After all, higher ed marketing is often driven by inertia, a desire to stick with the status quo in the face of shrinking budgets. Enter: email marketing. A long-standing favorite tool of admissions offices, it provides a way into your prospects' inboxes but, if done wrong, won’t cut into their short attention spans. After all, the average person now receives more than 125 emails every single day. And yet, email marketing remains undoubtedly powerful. When done right, it can nudge both prospects and their families in the right direction, prompting them to request more info, visit, apply, and even submit an application to their admissions department. This is the time to embrace email marketing and get it right. Let's dig in. The Enduring Power of Email Marketing in Higher Ed Don't make the assumption that Gen Z is too young to use email. In fact, the opposite is the case. One study into Gen Z's email habits included a few fascinating findings: The majority of Gen Z started using email when they were 10 years old or younger. A full quarter, 25% of Gen Z, check their email when they first wake up every morning. It doesn't end there, either. Nine out of ten U. S. citizens under the age of 24 use email at least once a week. Meanwhile, some studies show email marketing to be 40x more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined. It's a good thing, then, that 98% of high school students are willing to share their email address with colleges. None of that may come as a surprise to you. After all, email marketing has been a staple of admissions recruitment for at least a decade. The key, though, is not just jumping into the deep and starting to blast emails out; instead, it's all about doing it right. The End of the List Buy Email Blast Every admissions office has been there. You buy a list of SAT test takers, and send an e-blast to every one of them to introduce your school and prompt them to apply or visit campus. It's an easy way to do email marketing, but it also doesn't typically work. The average open rate for purchased lists is just under 10%. Compare that to our most recent email campaign partnership with Stetson University's College of Law, which received an open rate of just under 50%. When digging deeper into the preferences and expectations of Gen Z, that makes intuitive sense. More than any generation before them, they thrive on personalization. Personalized emails are 26% more likely to be open, resulting in an average 14% increase in click-through rates and 10% increase in conversions. Sending emails to purchased lists of test takers is not inherently bad. Sending a single email to your entire list without considering the uniqueness of each recipient, though, can be. Modern higher ed email marketing has to be more than simply pushing out your broad message at all costs. Its power is only unlocked by leveraging its unique features for Gen Z. 10 Email Marketing Best Practices to Reach and Engage Your Audience "Email done right" means different things to different people. In higher education, of course, it's much easier to nail down a few specific best practices designed to optimize your results and turn your emails into a viable marketing and recruitment driver. We've outlined some of the most important best practices below: 1. Always Segment Your Lists Segmentation is the absolute key to higher ed email success. Through effective CRM management, you can separate your prospects into segments focusing on anything from their interests to their location and field of study. Each segment can then receive more personalized, custom email messages and message flows relevant specifically for them. The ideal scenario is never sending out an email that goes to your entire prospect pool. Every email sent should be segmented on at least one variable to be as relevant as... --- ### What Does eCommerce Website Traffic Look Like This Year? > Travel and in-person shopping are picking up and web traffic is shrinking. How is this going to impact your e-commerce sales? - Published: 2021-07-30 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-does-website-traffic-look-like-this-year/ - Categories: eCommerce Our educated guess is that the 2021 holiday season is going to see another spike in eCommerce sales that will not only be larger than Q4 2020, but also that of Q4 2019. Families will be together, gifts will be given. Consumers are relying on new and improved eCommerce websites for ideas, convenience and price factors. We don’t see this slowing down in Q4 at all! With the increase in vaccines and CDC guidelines being lifted (we hope! ), travel has definitely been pickup up here in the U. S. According to ABC News, American Airlines said it expects to fly approximately 90% of its 2019 system seat capacity this summer. United Airlines said bookings for summer 2021 are "far outpacing bookings for summer 2020. " Hotels and car rentals companies are seeing the same type of increase. While international travel is being tested, domestic travel is like testing the waters. So, how will this affect your website traffic, and ultimately online conversion and eCommerce? But first: Were websites spoiled during the pandemic? A little. According to eMarketer, U. S. adults spent 13:38 per day with both Traditional and Digital Media media in 2020. Of this total, a whopping 7 hours and 50 minutes – nearly 8 full hours! – was spent with digital media. This was a 9% increase from 2019, which is a lot considering there has not been that kind of jump since the internet started! Consumers are definitely taking a much-needed break from the computer to hit a vacation and make up for lost time. What does this mean for eCommerce? Of course, people will be shopping online, as usual – just maybe not as much this summer as they did last summer. Online sales hit $791. 70 billion in 2020, up 32. 4% from $598. 02 billion in the prior year, according to the U. S. Department of Commerce. That’s the highest annual online sales growth of any year for which data is available. In Q1 2021, growth in eCommerce was still happening. Online sales increased 39% year over year in Q1 2021, nearly triple the 14% increase in Q1 2020. As the vaccine was beginning to roll out, stimulus checks came as well as tax refunds, people were still home and still in front of their computers a lot. Currently, Q2 has seen a huge increase in travel and travel-related items to prepare for their post-pandemic life. So, what will the remainder of the year look like? Brace yourself for Q4! Normally, there is a decrease in website traffic over the summer months, but nothing these days is normal. As we move into July, we are seeing some slight decreases in traffic for some of our retail brands, but is that normal? Compared to last year, it is not. Comparing it to previous years, it's on par, if not slightly higher. Consumers are getting out! They want to experience life again after a year and a half of being virtual. They want to travel; they want to hug people; they want to meet new people. All of these things happen face-to-face, not on the internet. So, unfortunately for eCommerce, people will want to shop in person as well. Is it all doom and gloom? No! Our educated guess is that the 2021 holiday season is going to see another spike in eCommerce sales that will not only be larger than Q4 2020, but also that of Q4 2019. Families will be together and gifts will be exchanged. Consumers are relying on new and improved eCommerce websites for ideas, convenience, and price factors. We don’t see this slowing down in Q4 at all! How can Big Sea help? Is your website ready? Now is the time to make sure it’s optimized with a great user experience for when the summer ends and people are shopping, whether that’s for back-to-school or for the holidays. Between strategy and media buying expertise, we know how to build recommendations that will fit your budgetary needs and secure the goals you are looking to achieve. Contact us and learn how we can help you reach your goals in an ever-changing digital landscape. --- ### How to Leverage Influencer Marketing for Higher Ed > Want to go beyond admissions brochures and college fairs? Influencer marketing should be a part of your admissions higher ed marketing plan. - Published: 2021-07-12 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-leverage-influencer-marketing-for-higher-ed/ - Categories: Higher Education As graduate enrollment for Generation Z students is on the uptick, grabbing their attention and guiding them toward your school is becoming harder than ever. If you’re finding that your traditional marketing tactics aren’t resulting in the conversion rates you’d like, you might be wondering what you should do next. Influencer marketing can be an easy and highly-effective way tool in your higher ed marketing toolbox. As graduate enrollment for Generation Z students is on the uptick, grabbing their attention and guiding them toward your school is becoming harder than ever. Believe it or not, embracing influencer marketing for your higher ed program might be the solution. If you’re finding that your traditional marketing tactics—targeted emails, print flyers, or radio and newspaper ads—aren’t resulting in the conversion rates you’d like, you might be wondering what you should do next. Rather than waste your higher ed recruiting dollars on ads that aren’t resonating, you can learn to market your higher ed institution in a way that’s mindful, intentional and in-tune with Gen Z students’ needs. As a cost-effective and impactful marketing tactic, influencer marketing is shaping prospective students’ final enrollment decisions. Below, we’ll discuss how your institution can leverage this powerful advertising tool. What is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is the ultimate hybrid of social media and word-of-mouth marketing. It takes everyday people with dedicated social media followings on channels like Instagram or TikTok, and organically sells products and services to their audiences. According to RNL research, some 63% of surveyed high school juniors and seniors claimed that social media sites were most helpful in their college searches. This is huge. Word-of-mouth and peer-to-peer marketing have drastically evolved in recent years. The common consumer—especially college hopefuls—prefers recommendations from those they trust before buying products and services. It’s no wonder that 53% of consumers trust influencers more than the brands whose products and services they are selling. Read more: Higher Education Marketing: Revise Your Messaging for Generation Z >> 6 benefits of influencer marketing for higher ed According to Mark Schaeffer in Return on Influence, there are six key benefits to leveraging social media marketing for your institution’s recruitment efforts: 1. Higher reach & awareness Influencers are selected based on their high levels of outreach, meaning that they typically have a semi-high following on social media or on-campus, depending on their status as a student, alumni, or even professor. This level of influence can appeal to students far and wide, who will apply or even choose to enroll at your university based on the student-led culture. 2. Better research As you’re (hopefully) relying on influencers with a true connection to your institution, you can also rely on their perspective and experience to inform you of your influencer campaign’s efficacy. They have direct access to and insights on the day-to-day of student life, which can lead to quality idea generation and messaging updates. 3. A minefield of content Influencers offer a unique perspective on the ins and outs of campus life and so much more. Not only can influencers serve as liaisons between prospective students and your institution’s content, but they can help create more relevant posts, secure more followers and help boost content views — whether that be evergreen or campaign-specific. 4. Strong SEO and site authority Influencers have a special knack for creating content that includes mentions of your brand, specifically from a website and social media perspective. This is especially helpful if a key goal of your campaign includes ranking for the right keywords—whether you’re launching a new landing page or pushing SEO updates to your current recruitment site. 5. Strategic leverage over other institutions Higher ed is a highly competitive field, and landing the right influencers has the potential to help you stand out amongst the competition, especially if they’re not leveraging these skilled ambassadors themselves. Once people see that you’re making efforts to truly connect with them, they’ll be more attracted to your institution. 6. Advocacy from actual human beings Influencer marketing campaigns truly need to come from the heart. Hiring a genuine, authentic influencer to represent your brand and help connect with potential students—with the right content, of course—is your best course of action. Influencers should believe in the power of your institution’s brand and offerings, and this should always shine through in the content they help build out. How to Effectively Leverage Influencers in Your Higher Ed Marketing Set intentions and stick to them While marketing, at its core, is about telling people what’s in it for them, Generation Z consumers crave emotional connection from any ad placements, influencer-based and beyond. Marketing... --- ### The Importance of Emotional Connection in Higher-Ed Marketing > The more your advertising emotionally connects with potential students, the more likely your institution is to be a top contender. - Published: 2021-06-07 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-importance-of-emotional-connection-in-higher-ed-marketing/ - Categories: Higher Education Emotions fuel decisions. Emotions influence. The more your advertising emotionally connects with potential students, the more likely your institution is to be a top contender. Dale Carnegie once said, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creations of emotion. ” Thanks to advances in neuroscience, we now know that up to 90 percent of the decisions we make are based on emotion – not rational thought or measured considerations but rather how we feel. So why is this important for marketers to understand? Because it requires us to shift our traditional transactional mindset and tap into understanding aspirational identity. Aspiration vs. Inspiration Aspirational identity refers to who your customer ultimately wants to become or wants to be known as. Aspiration should not be confused with inspiration – a common mistake. Think about scrolling through your Pinterest feed. You may decide you want to paint your living room walls a fun bright color or you may feel you too can make the perfect chocolate chip cookies (almost always a Pinterest-fail)! In these examples you are being inspired – you are experiencing a temporary stimulation to do or feel something. Aspirations are more long-lasting. They are meaningful ways to achieve or become something. Perhaps you aspire to be a great role model to your children or become a successful entrepreneur. These life-long goals evoke passion and give you purpose, driving decisions that will help you become who you want to be and how you want to be known. The key to customer’s aspirational identities is to push past inspiring them, and rather, get to know what makes them tick. At Big Sea, we put on our investigator hats and dive deep into your institution’s goals during our discovery and research phase. This extensive strategic and technical endeavor sets the tone for the entire client relationship and is intended for us to learn, to plan, and to get the specific details we need to work together in harmony. Composed of a variety of elements of quantitative and qualitative research, keyword and competitive analysis, stakeholder interviews, persona story crafting, and journey mapping, this process is not your typical cookie-cutter “getting to know you” exercise. Your internal stakeholders, strategic partners, target audiences, and subject matter experts will play a pivotal role in the direction and success of this initiative, which will build a solid foundation for our partnership. “Big Sea’s team does their research, not only on cutting edge web design trends but also truly gets to know their client's mission and goals. They’re creative and make the process fun while putting in serious work into their strategy,” says Sarah Tackett, Web Communications Manager at The University of Tampa. For this project, in addition to conducting competitive research and hosting workshops with UT’s marketing and communications team, we visited campus to spend time getting to know what makes UT special. With all of this, we were able to inform the revision of key admissions pages with fresh copy and messaging to help prospects not only find key information but also picture life in downtown Tampa — a visceral, emotional addition to the existing informative messaging. Emotion in Higher Ed Marketing In the higher ed space, it is important as a marketer to understand the feelings your advertising evokes in potential students. How does your message influence how they see themselves at your institution? Understanding where they aspire to go next in their life journey and how your institution can help get them there will set you apart from your competitors. When tapping into aspirational identity, your institution is not the hero of the story; the student is. Today, the student is dreaming about who they can become by attending your institution. As a marketer, it is your job to learn all you can about their ambitions and then weave an emotional thread through your campaigns that will ultimately influence their decision-making process. Research shows that tapping into this emotional mindset, in addition to or instead of the rational mindset of the student, can bridge the gap between institutional awareness, understanding and desire for affiliation. In other words, students want to feel heard and listened to with a higher ed brand in addition to seeing stats on financial aid and majors. Having that messaging across your marketing mix, from Instagram ads to email nurturing... --- ### 5 Coaching Skills That Enhance Your Clients' Experience > Invite your clients to react to ideas, questions and perspectives to take you closer to the truth. Use these five key skills to elevate their experience - Published: 2021-05-21 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-coaching-skills-that-enhance-your-clients-experience/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Communication is hard. It’s a wonder we get anything done when you consider how many ways it can break down. The good news is that we can learn skills that help us improve communication and deepen partnerships. Communication is hard. It’s a wonder we get anything done when you consider how many ways it can break down. The good news is that we can learn skills that help us improve communication and deepen partnerships. Recently, I took a coaching course from the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) in which we learned how to guide people through a series of questions to uncover and arrive at their own true insights. While we typically think of coaching as a relationship between a coach and coachee, many of the skills used in a coaching relationship can help build stronger client/agency relationships, too. After all: communication is the key to any good relationship, and a great client relationship helps us produce great work. Below are five key skills that anyone at your agency can use to elevate your client's experience. 1. Articulating What's Going On (AWGO) This is defined as voicing what we hear, see, experience, or sense is happening — it can be incredibly valuable for anyone communicating with the client. A designer sharing a deliverable who notices some hesitancy from the client can say, "I sense you may not be loving this and that's totally okay. Let's talk about what you're not sure of or don't like. " An account manager in a client meeting who senses tension can say, "It feels like we're disagreeing but I hear us saying similar things. " By articulating what's going on (AWGO), you are facilitating open communication and transparency at that moment, and also making sure there isn’t any misunderstanding down the line. The result is the foundation for a collaborative, open relationship with the client that inspires trust and confidence down the line. 2. Asking permission Described as asking the client to empower the relationship by granting access to uncomfortable areas of focus, this skill has the potential to open lines of communication and deepen the relationship. This can also be coupled with AWGO as a way to ask your client if you can offer an observation about a pattern you're experiencing. For example, an account manager can say, “I remember you voiced similar feedback last time. Can I offer an observation that I think may help move us forward? ” Not every client is going to want to go there and your intuition will play a part in whether you test these waters. Keep in mind that literally asking for permission can go a long way in opening someone up to hearing what you have to share. 3. Bottom-lining This is one I need to work on myself. Get to the point, then stop talking so your clients can share what they think. An added benefit to the practice of brevity is the thoughtfulness that comes with fewer words. Many of us tend to belabor our points by unnecessarily restating things in different ways, adding color that doesn't add value. This can lead our clients to feel like we're trying to persuade them, rather than sharing information with an open mind. 4. Powerful questions These are questions that move a client towards action and are characterized as being concise and open-ended. Another trademark of a powerful question is that it generally begins with ‘what’ or ‘how. ’ This is a natural skill for a strategist who is used to asking, “What are your goals? ” But anyone can ask a client a powerful question that evokes thought, clarity, discovery, or insight. For example, a content strategist can ask, “What is the most important point you want to communicate on your homepage? ” A designer could ask, “What do you want to achieve on this page of your website? ” Bottom-lining with a powerful question is a way to maximize the potency. 5. Reframing Defined as providing the client with a different perspective, this skill could be useful in redirecting the energy. Depending on the circumstance, it may be easier to provide a new perspective by the way of a question. For example, “What if we shift our focus to how your customer would experience this? ” Sometimes we become stymied on a decision and the invitation to alter our perspective offers a break. It’s also possible that the reframe will provide... --- ### Enrollment Marketing Tips > Update your enrollment marketing strategy to include strategic, targeted video. Use these 11 tips to make the most of your budget. - Published: 2021-04-25 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/enrollment-marketing-tips/ - Categories: Higher Education - Tags: video marketing This year, marketing automation giant HubSpot found that when presented with text and video, 72% of people preferred to learn about a product or service from video. Your prospects, especially those who hail from Generation Z, expect to engage with video. If you're showing them old video, or worse, no video at all, you're not going to stand up to your competitors. Set aside part of your admissions budget for video, and approach that tactic strategically. You hear it all the time in admissions: “If I can get a prospect on campus for a tour, it’s a done deal. ” The only issue is that campus visits are quite a ways down the funnel. The challenge is to nurture prospects and guide them toward the decision to visit — and incorporating video at different stages in your enrollment marketing strategy can get you there. Last year alone, website visitors consumed 12. 2 billion minutes — or 23,200+ years — of video content on Wistia, a popular video marketing platform (2021 State of Video Report). But with increased consumption comes higher expectations. Your prospects, especially those who hail from Generation Z, expect to engage with video. If you’re showing them an old video, or worse, no video at all, you’re not going to stand up to your competitors. 11 Enrollment Marketing Tips to Make the Most of Your Video Budget The problem is that creating a high quality, impactful video is often considered out-of-reach, whether due to budget, time or technical concerns. With the right approach and execution, however, things like budget and editing skills become non-issues. Admissions teams can incorporate video throughout the enrollment process — from initial contact to orientation week — by producing and crowdsourcing video content smarter. 1. Stay true to your educational institution’s brand Before you can tell a story using video, you must know that story. What’s your brand? How is your institution different from the competition? Do your individual graduate programs and schools have unique brands? Even if you’re shooting a series of talking heads, you need to have a strong understanding of your brand to make sure the final cut communicates who you really are. Consider hosting a brand workshop if you’ve never done so before, or if your brand is in need of a refresh. Gather your key stakeholders and marketing department for a day to craft the story of your brand, your institution, and values. Discuss your brand voice and messaging, vision, and values; include your mission statement, and explore what it means to attend your institution. Only then can you create powerful video that’s on-brand and authentically you. Even if you just spend a few hours, you’re better off being in alignment than winging it or leaving the direction up to one person. In video, there are countless “time-sinks” that often snare marketers, especially those that are new to video. Editing 4K footage on your 2011 MacBook is going to take forever; any substantial b-roll shoot (the kind where you get action shots of students, campus, and classes) will take twice as long as you think; but the most detrimental — and most expensive — pitfall of all is heading into a shoot or edit unprepared. Knowing your brand story is the first step to creating video efficiently. When the Director of Admissions sends you a 20-minute student interview to edit for YouTube, you can at least base your edits on the story and values of your brand. 2. Understand exactly who you’re speaking to You may be a trade-focused school looking to recruit working parents, or a liberal arts school going after Gen Z, or a liberal arts school that’s faith-based and wants to attract students with similar core values. Defining your audience before you shoot video helps you identify which differentiators will really impact them in your video. Take time to flesh out buyer personas through a mix of research and interviews with current students, parents of students when applicable, and alumni. Consider what defines your ideal students (things like student behavior, age, academic background, and personal goals), and develop personas to embody those “ideal students;” this is who you’re creating for. 3. Know the story you want to tell Narratives connect prospects to your brand. Use storytelling techniques to tell them how they fit into the bigger picture and, above all, show them what connecting with your brand will mean to them. Don’t make it all about you. Focus on creating concrete value for your audience — things like career advancement, unique programs, or a supportive learning community. Video gives you the power to tell short, impactful stories that speak directly to the... --- ### Building For a Post-COVID World: 5 Marketing Strategies Museums and Attractions Can Implement Now > Prepare for the future with these 5 marketing strategies that will bring much-needed revenue and foot traffic back through your physical space. - Published: 2021-04-20 - Modified: 2021-08-17 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/museums-and-attractions-post-covid-world-marketing-strategies/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums Your attraction, like most in the industry, is likely still reeling from the current and recent effects of COVID-19. That's a major challenge, but it can also become an opportunity. In fact, building up awareness of your brand and investing in tactics that pay off long-term while adjusting your marketing strategy for current sensibilities could give you a core advantage over other attractions that just aren't ready to take that step quite yet. The last year has been unlike any other for museums and other types of attractions that rely on foot traffic. The global COVID-19 pandemic pushed tourism down to a minimum, effectively wiping out the main revenue source for thousands of otherwise successful businesses and non-profit organizations. Long-term reserves, alternative fundraising sources like Zoo drive-throughs, and short-term government assistance can't last forever. Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel. COVID-19 cases have been declining across the United States for months now, with ongoing positive news about vaccinations providing more optimism across both public health experts and the museum and attractions industry. We're not health experts. But, as marketers, we see the potential of a summer that, as some experts predict, will be comparable to the Roaring Twenties after the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918. After more than a year of quarantines and self-isolation, newly immunized with vaccines, large swaths of the population want to travel again. And the perfect time to prepare for that trend is now. Of course, we won't see a future in which the COVID-19 pandemic is simply forgotten. Rather, we predict a more cautious, but still optimistic summer. Through these five marketing strategies, you can prepare for a future that, while still uncertain, should finally bring some much-needed revenue and foot traffic back through your physical space. 1. Prioritize Awareness-Based Marketing Let's face it: over the past year, our priorities have shifted. Even the toilet paper panic and bread baking craze of March and April 2020 seem like things of the past. Your audience could be forgiven for not really thinking about the museums, amusement parks, or other attractions that used to be on their bucket list. Now is the time to start changing that. Especially in colder climates, as the weather begins to warm again, your audience will begin to research their next trip. According to one survey conducted in January, less than half of Americans now believe that leisurely travel is still unsafe, and more than half are in a "travel-ready" state of mind once again. That means now is the perfect time to start building up awareness of your core offering once again. Think about reaching your customers through a few core digital advertising tactics: Social media advertising, focused on segmented audiences within your target demographic. Search engine advertising, especially when based on travel-related keywords in your area. Video advertising, designed to get the attention of your audience on channels with heavy noise. Programmatic display ads, visually representing your brand to an audience ready to think about travel. This is only a sampling of options, of course. These types of ads tend to be the best way to get your name and value proposition in front of your audience once again, which is a major win in the current environment. When they keep you in mind as they begin thinking through their travel plans, the potential for them to book a trip with your attraction on the itinerary increase drastically. Read our in-depth post on digital advertising for museums and attractions for more information. 2. Build Your Email Subscription Lists Modern digital marketing is complex, but can often be boiled down to a simple truth: if you get your audience interested enough to get their contact information, your chances of success increase drastically. That's the essence of inbound marketing, which prioritizes relevant content as a way to hook your audience and prompt them to subscribe to your email newsletter or fill out another type contact form. With new leads in your database, you can send automated marketing emails as well as engage in more targeting messaging on an as-needed basis to meet and exceed your audience's expectations. As potential tourists and visitors begin to make their travel plans, now is the perfect time to engage in this type of strategy. Getting your audience into your CRM system or contact database now means you'll have significant opportunity to follow up with updates, promotions, and other relevant content once summer nears and travel restrictions begin to lift. To accomplish that feat, you need to offer something of value. Perhaps the most notable piece you could offer is just what we've mentioned above: a... --- ### Building your CBD Brand with Strong Positioning > The CBD market is growing and you don't want to be left in the dust. Stand out amongst competitors with strong branding that connects with consumers. - Published: 2021-04-15 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/building-your-cbd-brand-with-strong-positioning/ - Categories: CBD - Tags: Branding, CBD There's no doubt the CBD market is saturated. Hundreds of brands are jumping into the market at a rate that far outpaces the growth of the customer base. With crowded store shelves and dozens of D2C sites popping up, how do you get your brand to stand out and get noticed? There's no doubt the CBD market is saturated. Hundreds of brands are jumping into the market at a rate that far outpaces the growth of the customer base. With crowded store shelves and dozens of D2C sites popping up, how do you get your brand to stand out and get noticed? Grandview research shows that the CBD market, currently valued at $2. 8 billion, will grow some 21. 2% between 2021 and 2028. That’s a lot of herb, and a lot more competition. For your CBD brand to capitalize, it must easily stand out from the competitors and uniquely appeal to consumers. Below, we’ll dissect brand building and positioning for CBD businesses and offer best practices for bringing your products and services to life. What is branding, and why is it important for your CBD business? Most people hear the word “branding” and immediately think of aesthetically-pleasing packaging. While this perception isn’t necessarily wrong, it fails to paint a holistic picture of the full-service brand marketing strategies, tools, and efforts poured into building your CBD business from the ground up. Ultimately, branding and strong positioning will help distinguish your products, services, and overall brand from competitors. Branding helps create a unique, highly accessible, and relatable persona that shapes consumers’ perceptions of your business. Branding shapes how consumers perceive your company and creates a unique and highly-relatable persona to help boost customer loyalty, recommendations, and sales. . There are different elements that help distinguish a brand, like logos, taglines, colors, tone of voice, customer experiences, and even fonts used in marketing pieces. How can you build a strong CBD brand? In today's consumer-driven market, branding is critical for business success. However, it goes beyond having a logo and a tagline and can take a long time to develop. When branding efforts are not well-executed, the result will be undesirable and the investment a total waste. Therefore, as you attempt to build a brand that will last, it is essential to go about it the right way. 1. Know your audience The first and arguably most important step in CBD positioning is determining who your ideal audience is. While it’s easy to assume that every CBD consumer is a potential customer, that's simply not the case. Within the consumer base, there are varying segments, each with unique needs and profiles. By targeting a broad audience, you will not meet each segment's unique needs, causing you to miss out on all. Determine which segment you wish to target and niche-down as much as possible. Go beyond general niches such as wellness, health, recreation. Though this may seem like reducing your customer base, it will strengthen your grip on the target market you choose. Once you have determined the specific niche you will target, understand their needs. This will guide product development, marketing, and branding strategy. In this process, you should seek to determine: Who they are Their problems Their experience with the problems they face Impact of their problems Emotional effects of the problems Demographics Where they spend their time Their mode of making decisions Other things they enjoy From a branding perspective, your goal is to demonstrate to your target audience that you understand their challenges and have the ideal solution for them. For maximum effect, branding should evoke emotions to create a connection with your audience. With a clear picture of your target audience, you should also customize your marketing strategy accordingly. Make sure your ads and content on your website reflect their unique needs and the solutions. 2. Know your competitors Ideally, all entrepreneurs would prefer exclusive access to their target market. Sadly, that's rarely the case, more so for CBD companies. The industry is rife with companies trying to increase their market presence. Some are much larger with more resources and market share, whereas others are startups hoping to carve out a market of their own. If used well, competitors can be an excellent source of motivation that will spark your growth. This is why understanding and monitoring your competition is an essential aspect of CBD positioning. Competition may come in two key forms; direct and indirect. Direct competitors are those who offer similar products and target the same... --- ### End of Year Appeal Campaign Results in 115% Increase in Donations > Using compelling messaging and cross-platform marketing, our end-of-year appeal campaign resulted in a 115% increase in donations. - Published: 2021-02-07 - Modified: 2023-10-03 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/end-of-year-appeal-campaign-case-study/ - Categories: Case Studies - Tags: Digital Marketing Champions for Children is a Tampa Bay nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect by providing support and services for families in need. Serving 40,000+ children and adults per year, Champions is a critical fixture in our community, especially because Hillsborough County consistently ranks highest for child removal due to child abuse and neglect. Our work with Champions began with our Wavemakers Grant, which provides businesses or nonprofits looking to elevate their marketing a $30,000 grant. We selected Champions for Children as one of the grant recipients in 2019 due to their powerful mission and the great potential for marketing to amplify it. With this grant and an additional budget, we were able to launch a new website for Champions for Children as well as collaborate with them on their end-of-year appeal campaign. The Goal: Increase Revenue and Unique Donors 2020 was Champions’ third year running an end-of-year appeal campaign, and they had two main goals: increase revenue and increase the number of unique donors. Increasing donations is obviously important, but why unique donors? Well, Champions is looking to expand their reach in the area, and unique donors, regardless of the donation amount, are an important part of building a network of “Champion Builders” (recurring donors). The Strategy: Compelling Appeals and Cross-Platform Messaging We knew that a cross-channel strategy was essential for accomplishing both of their goals. We had to put Champions’ message in front of a wider audience while also crafting creative that would stand out in the giving season. So, we started with the story. Developing a core campaign narrative Collaborating with the development team at Champions on the core messaging for the end-of-the-year appeal, we started with a campaign narrative. We focused on the impact that the pandemic has had on already vulnerable families in our community. These families need immediate relief as well as long-term support, which was important to convey in our messaging to foster recurring donations and paint an accurate picture of how Champions’ services help families. Rebuilding the donation landing page After composing the narrative, we split up the asset deliverables across the Big Sea team and Champions’ development team. Our top priority was creating a new landing page that would speak to our campaign narrative and also encourage recurring monthly donations. We included the following copy elements on the landing page to compose our appeal: Testimonial: Above the fold, we included a quote from someone who has been helped by Champions during the pandemic to immediately show the donor how they can make a personal impact. Statistic: Then, we included statistics specific to Hillsborough County to show the dire need in the donor’s community. Results: Finally, we listed how donations contribute to immediate help by listing actual numbers on the supplies that Champions provides, as well as ongoing support by showing how Champions provides long-term stability for families in the area. Crafting display and social advertising Display and Facebook advertising were new to the organization, so we knew that we had to start with their main mission — stopping child abuse and neglect. While we included our campaign narrative in our ad copy, conveying that core message in our advertising creative was key. The copy and creative had to be simple, emotional, and impactful. Telling a story through email marketing While display and social advertising helped us to put Champions’ message in front of new audiences, we used email to tell more in-depth stories to Champions’ existing audience. In a three-month email marketing campaign, we used a range of compelling appeals related to our narrative, such as listing statistics on child abuse, telling personal stories of recovery, highlighting community programs that make a difference, featuring quotes from supports on why they donate, and more. The Result: Large Gains in Revenue & Unique Donors In only their third year of running an end-of-year appeal campaign, our partnership with Champions resulted in the following results compared to 2019: 115% increase in revenue 145% increase in unique donors We’re proud to have set a new standard for their end-of-year giving campaign. Every donation helps strengthen families in the Tampa Bay area. “There were likely a number of factors that played into this growth,... --- ### B2B Digital Marketing: Your Trade Show Alternative > As trade show cancellations pile up, pressure mounts to attract buyers. Learn how to get the most out of your budget by transitioning to digital marketing. - Published: 2020-12-15 - Modified: 2023-02-24 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/digital-marketing-your-trade-show-alternative/ - Categories: B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing As trade show cancellations pile up, pressure mounts to boost marketing efforts and attract prospective buyers. Although you may participate in virtual events, you still need a way to talk directly to leads. Fortunately, B2B digital marketing tactics can connect you to potential customers and amplify your message across many platforms. Learn how to get the most out of your budget by transitioning to digital marketing. Why digital marketing? Few activities can replace face-to-face conversations. However, for many companies, the pandemic and subsequent business closures confirmed the need to improve online communications. When faced with event cancellations and shutdowns, marketers said they planned to boost social media content creation by 66%, blog content by 57%, and video production by 50%, according to a Sirkin Research and NewsCred survey. By going all-in on digital marketing, companies maintained relationships and built trust with customers during difficult times. But, the rewards of digital marketing don't end when trade shows come back. Instead, the work you put in today will continue to pay off over many years, making it a cost-effective way to generate high-quality leads. Better audience targeting Not everyone who attends a trade show is a potential buyer. Although the same goes for website visitors, your online strategy makes it easier for your target market to find you. Moreover, you have more tools to qualify leads in the digital world than you do at a convention. After spending a few days on the road, your sales crew has a lengthy process of following up on leads, many of which will turn out to be duds. With digital marketing, you can add fields to forms or use ads to target decision-makers and qualify leads before they ever hit your sales floor. And, you can do all of this using a clear digital strategy designed to deliver personalized messages tailored to your buyer and their engagement journey. Cost-effective techniques From travel expenses to exhibit design fees, attending a trade show is expensive. With over $25. 3 billion spent yearly on trade show displays, the average company allocates just over one-third of its budget to events and exhibitions. While conventions are a great place to network, following up takes time and isn't always fruitful. With digital marketing, you can communicate with prospects without travel costs and see a consistent return on your investment. For example, previous studies show that email marketing ROI "can be as high as 4400%," and "88% of marketers are satisfied with the ROI of their video marketing efforts on social media. " Plus, you simply have more options for different sized budgets. By combining a robust marketing strategy with automation tools like HubSpot, you can choose when, where, and how to reach your audience to get the most out of every dollar. Measurable results and attribution It's hard to tell how many people you reach at trade shows. Sure, you know the total number of attendees, but you can't track every person who walks by your booth. However, digital media lets you see how many prospects stop by, what they click on, and where they go after leaving your site. By setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and continually analyzing content performance, you learn more about your audience and how they interact with your brand. Having access to real-time and historical data helps you focus your tactics on high-impact actions that deliver the most leads. Ongoing delivery Unlike trade shows, your B2B digital marketing efforts generate leads throughout the year, giving you many opportunities to boost brand awareness and share your story. Plus, your content doesn't sleep, so your audience can find what they're looking for at any time. Along with ongoing campaigns, you can repurpose and reuse the content in fun new ways to keep your leads interested and returning for more. B2B digital marketing strategies to implement Shift your trade show budget to digital marketing and start driving leads to your landing pages, website, and social channels. Instead of waiting for trade shows to resume, use these digital marketing strategies to achieve your goals now. After all, your prospects already shop and work online, so it's a matter of finding them, grabbing their attention, and delivering value from afar. Identify... --- ### How a Targeted Ad Campaign Increased Conversions By 121% > Learn how Big Sea utilized programmatic advertising with a solid strategy to increase W3 Marine Insurance's conversions by 121%. - Published: 2020-10-15 - Modified: 2020-12-18 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-a-targeted-ad-campaign-increased-conversions-by-121/ - Categories: Case Studies Wallace, Welch & Willingham (W3) is an insurance company that provides a variety of insurance products to its clients, including commercial, homeowners, auto, boat and life insurance, as well as employee benefits coverage. In business for 95 years, they have offices in St. Pete and Sarasota, and have been named a Top Place to Work in Tampa Bay. The Goal: Deliver more requests for boat insurance quotes In the past, W3 had the majority of their leads for marine insurance come from referrals and word-of-mouth. Running outbound ad campaigns delivered limited results, and there was difficulty in targeting the right audience targeting. Previous campaigns faced some of these challenges: Low ROI: With limited resources, every dollar spent on ads needs to deliver. Previous campaigns were limited in their ability to track attribution, resulting in lower than hoped for return on investment (ROI). No targeting: Lacking the ability to specifically target this niche audience in past campaigns also led to low ROI and conversions. Greater visibility: The marine site has its own domain, separate from the company website, so it has less organic traffic and visibility. The Strategy: Geo-targeting & strategic messaging We knew it was important for this campaign to hone in on a specific audience — boat owners — with a specific type of insurance — boat insurance. Both the creative and in the audience creation needed specificity to be effective. We came up with a programmatic advertising strategy that would target their niche audience with specific messaging and geo-fencing. The Tactics Specific messaging Due to COVID-19, we knew people were going to want to spend more time outside and on the water, as that’s one of the few safe things we can do. So, the offer of new boat insurance with a message about getting rid of your worries was extremely relevant due to those circumstances. The imagery we selected showed people out on the water, which is where they want to be! Geo-targeting Targeting local marinas in the state of Florida allowed us to deliver ad impressions directly to people at the marina, on their boats, and for 30 days after we captured them in the geofence. Focusing on the marina means a greater chance of targeting boat owners who can benefit from our message, creating a specific target audience. The Results: The Most Conversions, Ever 121% increase in total submissions 438% increase in total website users 67% increase in monthly submissions With a strategic targeting and messaging, our advertising campaign for W3 was simple yet wildly effective. In the four months the campaign has been running so far, its click-through-rate is higher than the industry standard and it has hundreds of thousands of impressions. We are continuing to optimize the campaign by refreshing creative and refining our targeting, but we know that we are running a campaign that works. Are you interested in creating or refining your advertising strategy? Let’s talk. --- ### Big Sea Wins AMA Marketer of the Year – Again! > All three of our submissions were selected as finalists. In the end, we took home two wins — for Market Research and Content Marketing. - Published: 2020-09-14 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-wins-ama-marketer-of-the-year-again/ - Categories: News & Culture - Tags: strategic approach There were no fancy dresses or expensive cocktails, but the celebration surrounding the 2019 Marketer of the Year Awards was just as exciting for team Big Sea as all three of our submissions were selected as finalists. In the end, we took home two wins — for Market Research and Content Marketing. Marketer of the Year (MOY) is a results-based marketing competition that evaluates nominees in the categories of objectives, strategy, tactics, and results. The entries are judged by other American Marketing Association chapter officers (this year, by the Birmingham chapter). The competition was fierce, including entries from most of the top area agencies and organizations. Marketer of the Year in Market Research One thing Big Sea does really, really well is research prior to developing our marketing strategies. We dig into existing brand positioning; conduct messaging, SEO and website performance audits, evaluate competitors and review all current marketing efforts. We work closely with our clients to identify target markets and produce ideal buyer personas. This year, we submitted the in-depth research and discovery brief that we completed for the University of Evansville in Indiana. During our initial discovery calls, the team at UE had a difficult time explaining why students chose the University, and finding differentiators we could leverage for our campaigns. We had to find out what made UE special, which of those things resonated with prospective students, and how we could break through the clutter to deliver that message to prospects. To do so, we went directly to the source. We flew a team into Evansville to tour campus and meet with key stakeholders for an in-depth workshop. We surveyed hundreds of current students, incoming prospects, and alumni. This work led to the creation of some unique student personas that helped us create messaging and narrative strategy for our campaigns. Once we nailed down the messaging, we utilized third party research, competitive analysis, keyword research, and a thorough content audit to establish a baseline for how and where to distribute our marketing messages. The results are an intense and comprehensive research brief provided to the client to support our marketing strategy and tactical plans for spring 2020. Our programmatic ads (display, OTV and CCTV) and email campaigns speak to highly targeted audiences based on our research, giving us lower CPM and higher conversions because of our specific and relevant messaging. Most importantly, the client expressed that they had never had access to so much quantitative and qualitative data about themselves or their competitors. Now, when asked what makes them special and unique, they're prepared to answer that question. Marketer of the Year in Content Marketing Content marketing, done well, isn’t always pretty. Painstaking SEO research and competitive positioning, combined with thoughtful and informative copywriting, are the hallmarks of successful campaigns. But they don’t always show well in awards ceremonies. Luckily, the Marketer of the Year ceremony is one that truly focuses on the ideas behind and results of the execution — and not just the pretty pictures. This was fortuitous as we were competing in this category against high-budget videos and integrated campaigns produced by Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Visit Tampa Bay, MONIN Syrups, and Farmore Marketing for TECO People’s Gas. Our Content Marketing award was won for our long-standing client at Herman and Wells, a law firm devoted to representing clients in claims related to personal injury or homeowner’s insurance. We developed a keyword-driven content marketing strategy that resulted in explosive organic traffic growth, keyword rankings, and organic leads for the practice. In a highly competitive market, content marketing gave this local law firm a leg up against massive firms that — while more visible online — don't have the ability to provide the personalized attention Herman and Wells gives each one of their clients. Through highly-structured long-form content, niche service pages, blog articles, premium content pieces, FAQs, videos and more, we have loaded the Herman & Wells website with useful information and a narrative that converts. The results include amazing year-over-year growth from 2018 to 2019. Website traffic grew 181%, leads coming from their organic search efforts increased 278%. Total keywords ranked in top 10 rose 210% and total keywords ranked grew 34. 6%. Award-Winning Marketing... --- ### SEO Overhaul and Website Redesign Increase Leads by 250% > Discover how Big Sea rebuilt a client's website and doubled down on a powerful SEO strategy to boost rankings and increase lead generation for them. - Published: 2020-09-11 - Modified: 2020-11-19 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/seo-overhaul-and-website-redesign-increase-leads-by-250/ - Categories: Case Studies Reusable Transport Packaging (RTP) is a packaging reseller, distributor, and custom manufacturer based in St. Petersburg, Florida. They came to Big Sea with a pretty serious problem: they were managing multiple domains and conflicting web properties, and their main site needed a major overhaul to meet the demands of modern users. The company was also bogged down by outdated — and even counterproductive — SEO strategies. Their website was actively hurting their business, and they needed a trusted partner to step in and help. Big Sea approached the problem with a total overhaul. We rebuilt their main website, consolidating messaging and marketing efforts, and doubled down on a powerful SEO strategy to repair their rankings and introduce them to a much wider customer base. Part 1: A Complete SEO Makeover SEO isn’t a one-and-done project. To properly optimize your web presence for search engines, it’s essential to regularly update your strategy to uphold SEO best practices. Between Google’s algorithm updates and growing user expectations, Big Sea helps organizations stay on top of these expanding standards as a part of our SEO services. Before coming to us, RTP was struggling to rank despite being a leader in their industry. Throughout their content, they were employing old-school, blackhat SEO strategies. They owned different domains and had multiple similar websites, and all of these domain properties were linked together. Years ago, having more traffic might have been considered advantageous by some in the SEO world, this strategy is now vastly outdated and not at all beneficial to your search engine presence. In fact, it was actively hurting RTP’s search traffic. SEO is constantly changing, and it’s important to keep up with the latest practices and requirements, as old tactics can have negative effects on your whole website if left undealt with. Untangling this web of linked domain properties was like untangling a string of multicolored Christmas lights: it’s hard to see each light as more than a blur until you detangle the whole string. After we identified and sorted through the linked domain properties, we worked with RTP to execute one of the biggest web page redirect strategies we have ever completed. It was critical to maintain the content from the existing properties while streamlining it all and sending it to one location. Part 2: Website Redesign We dedicated a full, in-house development team to redesigning and rebuilding RTP’s main website. We approach every web design project with a focus on the customer by incorporating user data and the buyer’s journey into how we design. This led us to creating an extensive product database to make it easier for customers to find what they were looking for. Having a comprehensive inventory of their products was critical for them, as they wanted the website to serve as an online resource for those seeking information on the range of reusable packaging products available in the market today. So, we collaborated with RTP by manually migrating and tagging 4,000+ unique products, and product pages, with an extensive tagging system — this way, all products could be sorted in a way that makes sense for the user. Their original website only provided six product categories and no search feature. The new website has sixteen categories for products, as well as a search function. We also sorted everything by industry and applications on their website in the header, so that there were three different ways for the user to get to the product they are looking for. In addition, we migrated all product pages and marketing materials to their revamped website, and optimized content and page information for modern SEO best practices. The Result Our team came together to create a streamlined RTP website by effectively and efficiently completing a huge 301 redirect, domain consolidation, messaging alignment, and a product page migration. In doing so, RTP unified their brand and digital marketing and dramatically increased their revenue from online sales. With the extensive product database built by Big Sea — featuring thousands of products, customizations, and tags — RTP’s organic traffic surged. Overall, results include: Significant increase in lead generation from the website’s extensive product and service catalog — a 250% year-over-year increase Nearly double sales and revenue... --- ### Big Sea Acquisition Adds Focused Expertise in E-commerce > Big Sea, one of the Tampa Bay area’s top marketing agencies, has acquired 70% ownership of Pineapple Development. - Published: 2020-06-30 - Modified: 2021-09-15 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-pineapple-development-acquisition/ - Categories: News & Culture ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (June 30, 2020) – Big Sea, one of the Tampa Bay area’s top marketing agencies, has acquired 70% ownership of Pineapple Development, a St. Petersburg-based web development agency. Big Sea’s online marketing expertise expands with the addition of Pineapple Development, which specializes in building and maintaining e-commerce platforms using Shopify and Magento for clients like Pinch-A-Penny Pool Patio Spa. This specialized e-commerce expertise benefits Big Sea’s clients like Global Turf Equipment and Stillpoint Aromatics which have robust online marketing campaigns that lead to online stores. “Now our clients will have a seamless experience in developing their e-commerce platforms and driving traffic to their online stores," said Andi Graham, CEO and Managing Partner at Big Sea. “This partnership brings together experts who can deliver on both complex technical functionality and lead generation, which leads to success with online marketing. ” Pineapple Development CEO Donny Minchillo will remain in his leadership position and retain 30% ownership of the 12-person fully distributed firm. Its developers are located throughout the world, allowing the firm to attract and retain top talent and be fully responsive to client needs. “As developers, we’ve been able to build powerful and nimble e-commerce platforms, but our clients have sometimes struggled to generate enough traffic to the online stores,” said Pineapple Development CEO Donny Minchillo. “That changes as they have greater access to Big Sea’s online marketing experts. ” In addition, Big Sea and Pineapple Development have partnered on Pineapple Pickup, which is an affordable option for restaurants to offer online take-out and delivery orders. Restaurants use Pineapple Pickup to create custom menus, set hours, communicate with customers and easily pull reports. Pineapple Pickup’s fees are a fraction of the cost of platforms like UberEats and DoorDash at only 7% of total pre-tax sales. About Big Sea Big Sea is a marketing agency founded in 2005 with offices in St. Petersburg, Florida and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Led by partners Andi Graham and Dzuy Nguyen, the agency earned a spot in Inc. Magazine’s 2019 list of Best Workplaces, based on employee surveys that measured workplace culture, benefits and employee engagement, and was named 2019 “Marketer of the Year” by the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Marketing Association. Its team of 20 experts provide full-funnel, content-focused digital marketing services to mid-market clients across the nation. For more information, visit https://bigsea. co. # # # --- ### The Ultimate CBD Email Marketing Campaign Guide > Email can be used in many ways for marketing your CBD company. Check out our ultimate CBD email marketing campaign best practices guide. - Published: 2020-05-22 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/the-ultimate-cbd-email-marketing-guide/ - Categories: CBD The CBD industry has long faced marketing and credibility challenges that can be difficult to overcome. To be successful in CBD email marketing, you have to get it right. This guide will help you do just that. Email marketing is as simple as it is successful. You get your audience’s contact info, then send them a compelling message. Before you know it, they’re your customer. That sounds simplified. But there’s a reason email marketing leads to 180% more conversions and, according to some sources, has a whopping 44:1 return on investment. Of course, getting to that point is far from automatic. The CBD industry has long faced marketing and credibility challenges that can be difficult to overcome. To be successful in CBD email marketing, you have to get it right. This guide will help you do just that. 4 Basics Steps Before You Jump Into CBD Email Marketing Let’s start with the basics. What we’ll discuss in this section is not limited to email marketing. Still, it includes a few crucial elements that you absolutely need before you hit send on that first message. Start here. Then, work your way towards the actual types of emails, best practices, and marketing integration. 1. Know Your Brand Promise You may hear about this concept as anything from brand promise to differentiator or value proposition. The basic meaning is the same: it answers the question of what your business is actually about. In other words, what can you provide your customers, both tangibly and intangibly, that other businesses in the CBD industry can’t? Your brand promise has to both truly represent your business and match up with audience needs. Otherwise, you’ll either fail to follow up or shout into the void. That starts with defining it, in a sentence or two, as your core competency and advantage compared to your competitors. 2. Identify Your Brand Voice Your brand voice is the personality with which you communicate to your audience. In CBD, simply talking like any other small business probably won’t work. You need to be personable, but also maintain your balance to stay credible and authoritative. Once you identify your brand voice, every piece of communication (including all your email messages) should reflect that personality. 3. Understand Your Marketing Goals What, exactly, are you trying to achieve? Are you looking to merely raise awareness of CBD products in general, or do you already have a large interested audience that just needs that final push to become customers? Your marketing goals will inform the types of emails and calls to action that you build. 4. Find the Right Email Provider Finally, you need to find a platform that helps you send messages out correctly. The still somewhat murky legal situation of the cannabis industry can make that difficult; even though CBD is legal from a federal standpoint, some providers tend to restrict their platform to exclude the entire industry. Find a provider that you know will support you and your business. 5 Types of CBD Marketing Emails to Support Your Business In many ways, email can be the backbone of your digital strategy. It allows you to engage anyone from visitors who just heard about you to long-time customers. To accomplish that feat, you can leverage these five basic types of marketing emails relevant to any CBD business. 1. Helpful Content These types of emails focus on value above sales. They aim to offer general tips, industry trends, and other items that build credibility in the eyes of their recipients. They’re immensely valuable if your goal is education about your CBD products as a precursor to sales. In digital marketing, you might also see this content referred to as nurturing emails. 2. Sales and Promotions On the other end of the spectrum, you have simple sales and promotional emails. As their name suggests, these messages alert your subscribers about special sales or offer coupons. If you’re just looking for that final revenue conversion, they’re a perfect push to get across the finish line. 3. Email Newsletters Nestled between the first two email types are email newsletters. Sent on a regular cadence, newsletters tend to be a summary of a variety of topics that are interesting to the audience. That might include industry articles and trends mixed with current sales or new product announcements. The common denominator, once again, is audience relevance. 4. Welcome Emails How you welcome a new customer can... --- ### Digital Marketing During a Recession: Build Your Strategy Today > Don't become paralyzed by the shock of this global crisis. Use digital marketing to mitigate a downward economic turn during this recession. - Published: 2020-04-15 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/digital-marketing-during-a-recession/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Every recession has three stages: the initial drop, the slow climb out of it, and the growth that follows. The impact of a recession will depend on the depth of the drop and how long it takes to resurface. Right now, we're in freefall. There's nothing exhilarating about that. It's frightening, and there's an unprecedented emotional weight associated with it as we empathize with the staggering number of people directly impacted by COVID-19. As marketers and business leaders, we can't allow ourselves to become paralyzed by the shock of this global crisis. The actions we take now will give us the foundation to survive and even thrive as the economy stabilizes. You have a lot to sort out when it comes to external and internal communication around this crisis — how you work with your employees and community, and how you speak to your customer base. Let's focus specifically on digital marketing for now. In 2008 and 2009, digital marketers faced their first recession. Consumer confidence hit an all-time low, prompting marketing responses that ranged from panicked cuts in all digital marketing budgets to increased digital advertising spends. As we face a growing economic crisis once more, we must look back at how the previous recession played out. At the same time, we must keep in mind that we're in thoroughly uncharted territory. This is more than a drop in consumer confidence — we're facing a global health crisis and looking for hope and guidance. Here are some steps you can take now to use digital marketing to mitigate a downward economic turn. Don't hit the brakes and cut marketing spending As tempting as it might be to conserve resources by cutting spending dramatically, this will only create a bigger hole for you to climb out of. You'll save in the short-term but you'll lose in the long run. Post-recession, when your competitors haven't experienced as much of a dip because they stayed the course, you'll have to spend more to get back to where you were. Why keep spending on digital advertising? In 2009, ad spending dropped 9 percent. You could actually be better positioned if the overall volume of advertising in your industry drops. This is an opportunity to stand out and even a chance to launch a new product and service with less white noise to compete with. It's a buyer's market for advertisers. You'll see a lower CPM/CPC when bidding. Take advantage of the opportunity to launch targeted SEM, paid social, and programmatic campaigns at a more affordable rate. COVID-19 has disrupted our physical patterns and spending habits, but these changes are so fresh that new rhythms have not been established by most people. Historically this would make it difficult to target your digital advertising messages to your audience. But with the advent of addressable geofencing, and with much of the country staying at home for the time being (on devices), you can deliver digital advertisements straight to peoples' devices in their homes. People might not be buying newspapers or driving by billboards, but they're definitely online. Internet use has grown a stunning 70 percent with streaming up 12 percent. Tailor your campaigns to speak to this highly engaged audience — while being aware of and sensitive to the reason why they're online so much. All this being said, you shouldn't keep on keeping on with what you were doing before. The campaigns you developed two months ago are likely irrelevant now. Put that advertising money behind campaigns that speak to your audience with sensitivity. Of course, if you are not able to remain in operation, you'll need to rethink advertising. While it could make sense to maintain a level of brand awareness, it would not be appropriate to advertise services that are temporarily unavailable. Better yet, develop products and services that people truly need right now — even if that requires a serious pivot. People will remember who helped them. Market like a good citizen of the world This is the time to consider your core values as an organization and as a leader. This isn't the time to wonder how you can profit off a crisis. Do you have what it takes to weather... --- ### CBD Marketing Ideas: Break Through the Noise With Content Marketing > Use these CBD marketing ideas to reach a wider audience with targeted, helpful content. Content marketing gives you an advantage in a crowded space. - Published: 2020-03-20 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/cbd-marketing-ideas/ - Categories: CBD CBD marketers face a unique challenge: how can you market a medicinally beneficial product while fighting misinformation and misconceptions that are already entrenched within your audience's mindset? How can you market your CBD brand in a way that both educates your potential customers and convinces them that your product is the right choice for them? CBD is just getting started. The market has exploded in recent years and is slated to hit $22 billion by 2022. Unfortunately, it has grown more quickly than education can follow. As a result, CBD marketing professionals face a unique challenge: how can you market a medicinally beneficial product while fighting misinformation and misconceptions that are already entrenched within your audience's mindset? How can you market your CBD brand in a way that both educates your potential customers and convinces them that your product is the right choice for them? That's where content marketing becomes an undeniable opportunity. Already a powerhouse regardless of industry, it's uniquely suited for an industry like CBD. In this article, we'll explain the unique match of content marketing and CBD before exploring the nuances and best practices of this match. It's a valuable guide for any CBD business looking to make an impact and build a better marketing strategy. The Unique Power of Content Marketing for CBD Brands The concept of content marketing is simple: it's the creation of content that's valuable for your audience rather than promotional. By addressing audience pain points and answering pressing questions, content marketing seeks to pull potential customers into your brand rather than pushing simple marketing messages out to them. The results tend to be pretty powerful: 72% of marketers say content marketing increases engagement. 72% say it has increased the number of leads. Content creation is a top priority for 53% of marketers. We could keep going, but the point is simple: focussing on value over promotion means more engagement, more interest, and ultimately more customers. And that's just general stats. Narrow the focus on CBD, and the value of content marketing becomes even more obvious. As mentioned above, the degree of misinformation about this industry is a serious challenge for most businesses in the space. A recent survey showed that while most Americans now know CBD, about two-thirds of them are concerned about its widespread use. Meanwhile, the same survey found that 23% of U. S. adults think it can become a gateway drug to recreational marijuana. Perhaps for that reason, Google and Facebook tend to treat CBD the same way they treat recreational cannabis. The world's two largest digital ad platforms treat it as an "unsafe supplement" and don't allow for any ads promoting the product. This is where content marketing for CBD use especially shines. It can serve specifically to clear up misconceptions, while also offering an alternative to paid ads. It's a way to get the word out about your business in a way that both educates and convinces your audience to become your customers. This is how. 8 CBD Marketing Ideas that Leverage Content At its core, content marketing means building valuable content, most likely on your website or social media presence, and then making sure your audience sees it. Of course, the framework behind that simple concept is much more complex. These 8 best practices can help you build a comprehensive CBD content marketing strategy. 1) Build an Audience Overview Every type of marketing starts with an understanding of your audience, but it matters even more in content marketing. To truly be able to provide valuable content, you have to understand not just their demographics, but also their interests, passions, and--perhaps most importantly--their pain points. Great content about CBD products answers pressing questions that your audience has. Do you know, or can you predict, what those questions are? One proven method that can help you build this in-depth audience overview: buyer personas. Think of them as hypothetical profiles of what your ideal customers look like. Personas are based on your audience research and insights but have a name, image, and background that helps you paint a more complete picture. For instance, your core target persona might be Rachel, a 32-year-old nurse who is looking for supplements that can help her naturally relieve stress. Because they're so specific, single buyer personas are typically not enough. Depending on the variety within your typical customer base, build between two and four personas to cover your entire target audience. 2) Align All Content With Your Audiences Building buyer personas, of course, is only the beginning. To... --- ### Digital Advertising for Museums > Learn how to get more people in the door with this comphensive guide to digital advertising for museums. Build, launch, and measure ad campaigns that work. - Published: 2020-03-13 - Modified: 2022-11-17 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/digital-advertising-for-museums/ - Categories: Attractions and Museums - Tags: digital advertising, museum, museum marketing, paid ads Even the greatest exhibits will go unnoticed if you don't know how to effectively get the word out to the local community and out-of-town visitors. It's not as easy as setting up a few ads and hoping for the best. This guide will help you build this system in a way that maximizes your marketing ROI. Museum and attraction marketers know "if you build it, they will come" is simply not true. Even the greatest exhibits will go unnoticed if you don't know how to effectively get the word out to the local community and out-of-town visitors. Learn how to use digital advertising for museums to make a difference when it comes to getting people in the door. Word of mouth can only get you so far. The challenges modern museums face are plentiful, from declining visitor numbers to increasing competition from other attractions and opportunities. In this environment, paid advertising becomes an important tool. Make no mistake: unpaid, organic marketing efforts are also important. Your website, especially when optimized for relevant search terms, is crucial. Having a social media presence and an email marketing strategy that keep your visitors engaged and communicate the essence of the space are also essential. Digital advertising for museums doesn’t replace these efforts, nor does it replace the traditional, in-community marketing that smaller museums and attractions have become so adept at. Instead, paid ads offer a crucial addition to the overall marketing mix: a more reliable, structured way to reach your audience, from getting their attention to ultimately convincing them to visit. It’s not as easy as setting up a few ads and hoping for the best. Effective digital museum ads are structured to guide your audience throughout the funnel, creating a comprehensive system of messages that ultimately gets them in the door. This guide will help you build this system in a way that maximizes your marketing ROI. Step 1: Understand the Value of Digital Advertising for Museums Let’s face it: museum marketing budgets tend to be very limited. That’s why the first step has to be a comprehensive understanding of why you should invest in paid ads to begin with. Consider these five reasons to invest in paid digital ads: Expand your reach. Even spending a few hundred dollars on a Facebook campaign can get your message in front of thousands of potential audience members you wouldn’t otherwise reach. You no longer have geographic or demographic limits, or have to rely on your audience finding you. Reach targeted audiences. Reach matters little if you can’t focus on your target audience. Fortunately, you can leverage digital ads to reach audiences with a specific interest in what you offer. Facebook alone offers hundreds of segmentation options, from age and gender all the way to recent travel and purchasing information. Meanwhile, Google allows you to focus on exact keywords and phrases that relate to your museum. Cost-effective outreach. Compared to more traditional means like radio and billboards, digital ads across platforms tend to be extremely cost-effective. As mentioned above, you can stand up an ad or campaign for as little as $100 and still reach a good segment of your audience. Opportunities across the funnel. We’ll dive into this piece more throughout this guide, but it’s important to understand as a general benefit of digital ads. You can create campaigns that accomplish anything from just spreading the word to actually getting visitors through the door on opening night. The value of a Google grant. In its effort to support non-profit organizations, Google (responsible for more than a third of all digital ad revenue) offers significant financial support to entities like museums. The search engine giant offers grants that match up to $10,000 in ad spend every month for 501(c)3 organizations. These points make digital advertising for museums a no-brainer solution for any museum or attraction looking to gain a consistent audience and revenue stream. Feel free to use them as a business case to your supporters or supervisors to ensure that you have the budget necessary for the below opportunities. Step 2: Build Your Audience and Targeting Opportunities The general benefits of digital advertising for museums are clear, but it’s important to understand one caveat: you will only succeed if you know exactly who to target. Defining your audience and understanding how to target them should thus be your first step in building successful digital marketing campaigns for your museum. It starts with defining your target audience to make sure that you find the people who look most like your potential... --- ### Common Marketing Myths > Stop letting these 5 marketing myths minimize your efforts. Uncover new ways of reaching your audience and improve your tactics. - Published: 2020-02-27 - Modified: 2023-10-26 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-marketing-myths-that-are-holding-you-back/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Our beliefs have the ability to shape the decisions we make and can even affect how we see the world around us. Belief is a powerful thing, but what if some of the things we believe are wrong? In this rapidly evolving digital world, there are certain marketing myths that could be holding you back. Our beliefs have the ability to shape the decisions we make and can even affect how we see the world around us. Belief is a powerful thing, but what if some of the things we believe are wrong? In this rapidly evolving digital world, there are certain marketing myths that could be holding you back. Throughout history, there have been myths that have shaped our ability to experience new discoveries. If you believe the sun orbits the earth, you have to build a complicated system to make sense of the movements of the heavenly bodies. If you believe the earth is flat, you may not explore too far for fear of ‘falling off. ’ Some myths may be harmless, like my son’s unwillingness to wash his game socks during football season fearing it will break the winning streak. However, others may lead us to make decisions that are not in our best interests. In the marketing world, there are many myths that could be holding your brand back from experiencing its full potential. Dispelling these myths can help you uncover new ways of reaching your audience. Myth 1: Email is DEAD! We’ve been hearing this for years. No one opens emails anymore. Emails from companies are seen as spam. With Gen Y and Gen Z turning more to in-app messaging for communication, it is no surprise that people are eulogizing email once again. Sound familiar? The same prediction was made in 2007. The Truth: Email is changing but not fading away. Trust in social networks is on the decline and research indicates that 60% of consumers prefer signing up for a brand’s email list compared to 20% who follow brands on social for promotions. On average, people spend 2. 5 hours per workday checking personal emails, according to Adobe. If your brand is going to stand out in the inbox, you need to make sure your email is personalized, optimized for mobile, and has a strong subject line. For every $1 spent on email marketing, emails average $42 in ROI. So, I suggest you let your competitors hold onto this myth while you keep sending emails. Myth 2: Every lead is a good lead. If sales are missing their numbers this month, the easiest solution is to acquire MORE LEADS. We need every lead we can get. But do we really? The Truth: Marketing automation and lead scoring pays off. Trends indicate that it’s taking more touchpoints to reach your buyers. On average it takes 18 calls to actually connect with a buyer. That’s all the more reason to make sure your leads are qualified before that first call. By implementing marketing automation that nurtures prospects and creating the rules that score leads based on engagement, you can provide sales with leads that are ready to go. For better leads, your sales and marketing teams need to be on the same page and the right tools can reduce work in the long run. Myth 3: More content is better. Content is king, so we should produce a ton of it, right? Just keep writing and you are bound to strike gold eventually. The Truth: Better content is better. Long gone are the days that you can just post a blog article or throw together an ebook and expect to see traffic as a result. Today, content that matters for your brand requires strategy, research, and monitoring to gain web traffic. In 2019, Google released a core update that changed how content is evaluated. Now the content game is E-A-T or be eaten. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness, and unless your content demonstrates these characteristics, you may be left in the dust. This change has led us to take a hard look at our existing content. We have employed a ‘keep, kill, clean’ approach to improve the overall quality of our content. This approach creates a list of content that should be removed from your site, content that should be kept, and content that should be cleaned or repurposed. This approach allows us to spend more time on long-form content that provides long-term value both to our website and our clients. Myth 4: Marketing ROI is hard to measure.... --- ### What to Expect After Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency > Learn how to make the most of getting started with a digital marketing agency so you can establish a strong marketing partnership from the get-go. - Published: 2020-01-09 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-to-expect-after-hiring-a-digital-marketing-agency/ - Categories: Digital Marketing While there's no such thing as an effortless onboarding process, you can take steps to set yourself up for success. It's all about embracing the chaotic nature of unique personalities and backgrounds coming together — while being practical about what you can predict. Let's dig in and prep you for the best relationship ever. Just like any new relationship, the first 90 days with a digital marketing agency can feel like they're moving way too fast or way too slow. But that doesn't have to be uncomfortable. While there's no such thing as an effortless onboarding process, you can take steps to set yourself up for success. It's all about embracing the chaotic nature of unique personalities and backgrounds coming together — while being practical about what you can predict. Let's dig in and prep you for the best relationship ever. Getting started with a digital marketing agency There's no honeymoon phase at the beginning of a digital marketing engagement. Honeymooners already did the hard work of getting to know each other. We're at the awkward second date phase. We haven't quite mastered communication yet. At this stage, expect some back and forth as communication styles fall into place. (In)famously, I bobbled a client conversion during this tenuous 90 day period by using the word "sucks" to a client who wasn't on board with that kind of language. The faux-pas comes up quite often in good-natured ribbing — a reminder that we're all individuals connecting as best we can. Ultimately, this isn't a date. It's your investment. It's your future and your business. We take that seriously, and any marketing agency should. Your agency will most likely expect a few things from you. Even if they don't expect it, being prepared will help the relationship run smoothly. Raise your hand If you have questions, ask them. Marketers and specialists are deep in their world. They're just as anxious to get rolling, and they're brimming with ideas. That sometimes means that they forget to slow down and make sure you understand what they're excitedly sharing. To further complicate things, every agency has its own processes. Even if you've had extensive experience working with digital marketing agencies, you may be exposed to new ways of doing things. hbspt. cta. load(386058, 'f23148ea-768e-4c2f-801f-1828694de088', {}); There truly are no dumb questions. Never be afraid to raise your hand and ask how your agency approaches a specific process, or what an acronym means, or what the timeline will look like. Why? Questions facilitate not only answers, but momentum toward your shared goals. Speak your mind The most successful partnerships involve open, clear communication. That means giving constructive criticism early and often. There's no room for ego or hurt feelings in marketing. So don't worry about what your agency contact is going to feel. It's much better to course-correct early on than to realize you could have improved your service or communication months before. A good agency will facilitate back and forth dialogue that may involve sharing constructive criticism with you, too. A great agency might buy you a beer afterwards. Why? Your perspective will help shape a fruitful, mutually respectful partnership. Learn how — and when — to give feedback Pretty early on in your relationship, you'll be asked to give feedback or approval on deliverables. No matter how confident or experienced your agency is, this is when they'll be holding their breath wondering how things are going to go. It isn't because they don't believe in their work, it's because the feedback process can be bumpy at best — and disastrous at first. The best way to navigate potential friction is to clearly define what feedback should look like. That's on your agency. Your role is to try to be open to the parameters you're given. Sometimes your favorite color will matter. Oftentimes it won't. On the other hand, your relationship with your clients should never be compromised by your agency's work. Why? Developing a healthy feedback cycle will keep digital marketing projects on time and on budget. Know where you've been In order to be successful, your agency needs to know how things have been going so far. Be prepared to pull together the data or the people required to give an accurate, detailed picture of how your business and marketing have been running up until now. You should have a good sense of what's worked in the past and what hasn't worked. Your agency will want to dive into how your sales team aligns with your marketing... --- ### Here's Why People Can't Resist Video Content > There are two main reasons you need to be producing video content for your marketing and sales channels. New to you? Then you need to read this! - Published: 2019-09-09 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-with-video-content/ - Categories: Video Marketing - Tags: video Video in marketing (and sales) is here, people. For you hungry marketers and sales folks out there eager for growth, do not take this post lightly. Video isn’t an “it’s the next big thing” situation anymore. That time, much like the great Fidget Spinner boom of 2017, has come and gone. If you’re in the waning percentage of industries or companies who still have not implemented video as a fundamental part of your content and brand strategy, now is the time to get nervous because you’re officially in catch-up mode with the rest of the modern world. Video content in marketing (and sales) is here, people. If you are eager for growth, do not take this post lightly. Video is no longer the next big thing. That time, much like the great Fidget Spinner boom of 2017, has come and gone. If you’re in the waning percentage of industries or companies who still have not implemented video as a fundamental part of your content and brand strategy, now is the time to get nervous because you’re officially in catch-up mode. Video content is irresistible for two key reasons There are two reasons we Big Sea creatures believe this monumental shift has taken place. Ironically, both of these are tied to the same concept: our evolution as a species. One stems from our past and how we’re primitively programmed to connect with other humans. The other is directly correlated to our present and how our brains have been rewired over time regarding how we prefer to consume new information. #1: Human connection Regardless of how advanced technology becomes and how that translates into our personal or professional lives, nothing will ever replace our innate desire to connect on a human-to-human level. No email, texting/messaging or chatbot can possibly replicate the chemical reaction that happens when meeting another person face-to-face – or, at the very least, seeing who they are and actually conversing with them. Their tone of voice, demeanor, personality, sense of humor, warmth – all of that and more is powerfully tied to your first impression, trust, comfortability, and confidence gained in any new relationship. Enter the magnetic appeal of video content and our intrinsic pursuit of what “used to be”. Have you noticed the rampant outbreak of retro themes with entertainment and pop culture in recent years? The countless live-action Disney film remakes, or the remakes that Hollywood is rattling off like Top Gun: Maverick and Bill & Ted Face The Music, or the global obsession with Netflix’s golden child, Stranger Things? (hurry up Season 4! ) Large media companies have tapped into one of the strongest dopamine triggers humans have: nostalgia. Anything that takes us back in time (almost always to a simpler and happier time) sparks immediate comfort and longing. It’s just how we’re wired. And while there’s abundant proof on the media side, this is also directly tied to why video has surged to the #1 form of in-demand content relating to branding and marketing. It launches us back to an era where businesses and partnerships were built through handshakes and hellos. Actually seeing the people you’d be working with. Watching them speak with emotion, personality and humor. You actually feel connected again. This biological yearning for that connection can never be replaced; at least not in our lifetime. Enrollment Marketing: Make the Most of Your Video Budget >> #2: Our deteriorating patience When was the last time you cursed out (in your head or under your breath) the WiFi, the rendering time of a website page you were looking at, or one of your phone apps for not loading fast enough? Two hours ago? Two days, max? When you share a Facebook post with your friends or family, how many of those posts include a video versus just written content? How much would you say that scale has tipped toward posts with videos in your last 1-2 years of sharing content? This trend is clearer than the Bahamian bathwater of Exuma, feral pigs and all. Long gone are the days of understanding that for technology to work its magic, it would take time. Time is now our enemy and something we’ve become accustomed to not having to sacrifice when it comes to accessing the internet, gathering information, answers to our questions, research on products or services, etc. We all want it now. Faster. Bigger. Better. Case and point in this statistic → "Pages that load within 2 seconds have an average bounce rate of 9%, while pages that take 5 seconds to load have a bounce rate of 38%. " This is where the patience part of the engagement riddle gets solved. From your perspective as an active buyer, how would you prefer to learn about a company’s: Products and services? Value... --- ### 27-hours of Creativity, Team-Building and Innovation: Ship It Day 2019 > Ship It Day 2019 was a 27-hour marathon of creativity, innovation, team-building, and yes, beer. You gotta see some of these amazing Big Sea projects! - Published: 2019-08-28 - Modified: 2021-08-20 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/27-hours-of-creativity-team-building-and-innovation-ship-it-day-2019/ - Categories: News & Culture Last week, the creatures of Big Sea took on our fifth annual Ship It Day. 24 hours (well, 27 if we're being specific) of designing, building, coding, writing, creating and making something new. It's an annual opportunity for the team to focus on unbillable passion projects individually or in teams, or together as a collective. The projects range from physical to artistic to code-based, and they always make us smile, laugh or gasp. It works like this: One week before: Ideas are pitched; teams are formed. One day before: Each team submits Shipping Orders for their project, an outline of their project and how it's going to happen. At noon on Day 1: We wrap up our work in the morning and begin with lunch. After lunch, it's all systems go. 6pm: We order dinner and push on through the evening. People come and go as necessary to pick up kids or walk dogs. 11pm: Things get weird. There's whiskey and Lizzo and Rock Band. We are still working. More people start to leave. 4:30am: The last people standing either leave or set up a sleeping area using the blankets and pillows they've brought from home. We are still working. 8am: Our annual cereal bar makes its appearance (along with bagels and donuts of course). Those who went home start appearing again. We are still working. Noon: Lunch is served. 2pm: Announcements are made to start wrapping things up and working on presentations (a required part of the awards ceremony! ). 3pm: Everyone presents their project and we vote on a winner, who takes home an incredible prize. (If you're interested, you can review another blog post recap from 2015, or check out the videos from 2017 and 2018 – just don't judge our amateur video skills). This year, the projects absolutely blew our minds. Veterans of years past were nodding and acknowledging that this was indeed, our best year ever. A few of us took this seriously and worked on Big Sea projects – things that we needed internally or wanted to use for clients. For instance, Krista designed and planned an "introductory" marketing consulting package we can offer to new clients, and both Stephen and Autumn worked on earning various advertising certifications. Cory and Alex, with Autumn's help, created most of a new Capabilities slide deck that we can send to prospects and clients. Erika and Malaika created a much needed Big Sea dashboard that keeps everyone up to date with our goals and calendars, integrated with all of our tools and platforms. Geoff built a little Slack integration that pings random online coworkers to ask them to review a live URL for quick quality assurance when we push new copy or small updates live. Adriana and Dzuy worked on a library of video tutorials to help our clients learn how to use their new websites, and Maria wrote, designed and built a small website for one of our very favorite client's new personal brand. We got some office improvements, including a new bike area to go with our bike-friendly certification (we're shooting for Gold! ), and Rich painted a mural on the back door. Thomas "smartinized" the pit (our work area) with smart lights, wired speakers, and all kinds of fun commands through our new Alexa and Alexa button. We also gave back to the community. Kristen and Shannon worked with the Friends of Strays "Doggy Day Out" program to "rent" an adoptable dog, creating social media stories in an effort to get Princess adopted within the 24-hour timeline (it worked! ). Krista prepped and helped us all create our own dog toys, for personal use and donation back to shelters. Kristen also spearheaded a community art project that was distributed all around downtown St. Pete for Free Art Friday, and she and Chasity built a simple website for their new zine press, Press We Can. Andi planned, wrote and designed a landing page and workflows for the new Big Sea Big Grant, a donation of our time and expertise that we'll be launching in 2020. Some of our favorite projects were the videos. Geoff (with videographer Alex's help) created an 80s sitcom opener using a Fiverr-commissioned... --- ### Compliance: The Missing Piece of Your Marketing Plan > With the rise of privacy and security scandals, it is becoming clear that there's one critical piece missing from many marketing plans: compliance. - Published: 2019-07-26 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/marketing-compliance/ - Categories: Digital Marketing You've identified your personas and their pain points, aligned your content and messaging around primary keywords, and created your first marketing campaign using all of your available marketing channels. You're ready to rock, right? Wrong. There's one more critical piece to your marketing plan. You've identified your personas and their pain points, aligned your content and messaging around primary keywords, and created your first marketing campaign using all of your available marketing channels. You're ready to rock, right? Wrong. There's one more critical piece to your marketing plan: compliance. Adherence to basic marketing and advertising standards of truth, as well as compliance with federal — and in some cases, international — standards ensure that your customers aren't misled, their privacy is respected, and their data is protected. Compliance can be a confusing issue, and when I'm confused, I turn to an expert for help. For this blog, I asked Danielle Kucera, Principal Officer and Quality Director at 360 Advanced, to weigh in and make sure I'm giving you accurate information. Full disclosure: 360 Advanced is a former Big Sea client. What is marketing compliance? Marketing compliance means making sure that your company’s marketing abides by rules and regulations set by the government. These standards are meant to protect the consumer from being misled or lied to by businesses. Why is it important to be compliant? Everybody, to varying degrees. Mom-and-pop shops often skirt compliance regulations because "Hey — we're too small for the law to notice. " That's not a good idea. You may get away with it, but if you don't, it could cost your business big time. Even a small, family-owned business can find itself in hot water if it doesn't follow the rules of marketing compliance. Fines for false advertising and other non-compliant practices can be crippling, and even if you don't suffer a financial penalty, your reputation can take a devastating hit. Don't panic just yet. Marketing compliance isn't a terrifying ogre meant to keep you from reaching out and engaging your prospects and customers. In fact, when you are following all of the best practices you need to, marketing compliance is a unique value proposition you can share with your customers. Kucera recommends a strategic, phased approach. "Compliance can seem overwhelming. The smart approach for a small business is to take it one step at a time. Research which regulations and standards apply to you. Are you already in compliance? If not, what changes will you need to make to get there? Can those changes have a net positive benefit beyond compliance? Compliance becomes more manageable when it is part of a strategy that positively impacts your entire business. " The basics of marketing compliance Let's start with a no-brainer: You can't lie to your customers. Specifically, according to the FTC's Truth in Advertising guidelines, you can't make claims that are untrue or misleading. This applies to your ad copy, but also social media posts and even email subject lines. An email that has the subject line, "Here's $5 toward your next coffee purchase" better have a $5 coupon inside — preferably without a bunch of hoops for the customer to jump through. Especially if it's $5 for coffee. Don't play with my emotions when it comes to coffee, people! If your company is running a deal or contest, the details and terms of the promotion need to be clear and prominent. Even if it's just a Facebook contest for your local small business. Facebook, by the way, has strict rules regarding contests on its network. Clearly defined terms around a promotion also protect the business, as SunnyCo Clothing discovered when its bathing suit giveaway on Instagram went viral — for all the wrong reasons. Influencers and Endorsements "Open and honest, always" is more than the first Big Sea core value. It's also the FTC's directive to companies when employing influencers and endorsements. Here's a short checklist that will keep your influencer marketing above board: Did they actually use your product? The answer better be "Yes," or you could be accused of fraud. Did you offer them compensation (goods, service, or monetary) for the endorsement? If the answer is "Yes," they need to state that clearly in the endorsement. Are their claims about your product true? Influencers can't lie on your behalf. If your protein shake can't actually cure eczema, don't let someone else say it does. Blog articles, Instagram posts, or tweets, your influencers have to disclose their... --- ### Big Sea is One of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces of 2019 > Big Sea is one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces for creating an exceptional workplace with a vibrant culture, engaged employees, and great benefits. - Published: 2019-05-16 - Modified: 2021-09-15 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-is-one-of-inc-magazines-best-workplaces-of-2019/ - Categories: News & Culture I am delighted to share that Big Sea has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces for 2019. We were selected out of nearly 2,000 submissions and honored for creating an exceptional workplace through our vibrant culture, employee engagement, and the benefits we offer our people. I am delighted to share that Big Sea has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces for 2019. We were selected from thousands of submissions and honored for creating an exceptional workplace through our vibrant culture, employee engagement, and the benefits we offer our people. We've been winning a lot of awards lately, for our work, for our sustainability, for our cool office. I'm proud of all of them, but this is different. This award directly reflects the effort and intention we put into building a company that people love showing up to every day. "Our mission is to cultivate impactful connections through meaningful work, and we believe that the key to this is focusing on people: Employees, clients, our clients' customers," says COO and Managing Partner Dzuy Nguyen. "It's such an honor to win this award because it lets us know we're on the right track creating an environment for our people to be valued and unafraid to take risks. When we prioritize people, our work becomes that much more meaningful and our connections even more impactful. " https://www. youtube. com/watch? reload=9&v=yDOnbTBWAb8 How was Big Sea selected as one of Inc. 's best workplaces? To be considered for this prestigious recognition, we took part in an employee survey, conducted by Omaha’s Quantum Workplace, on topics including trust, management effectiveness, perks, and confidence in the future. Inc. gathered, analyzed, and audited the data. Then they ranked all the employers using a composite score of survey results. We have always been a "people before profit" organization, even when it's expensive or difficult. We work really hard to foster a culture that rewards both kindness and accountability. Where work-life balance is intentional and enforced, and not just a buzzword. Our culture prioritizes people "It's easy to claim to have a strong work culture, and plenty of places have a beer fridge or a ping pong table," says Account Manager Erika Stanley. "What Big Sea has is so much more than that. Our core values permeate our communications with each other, our clients, and pretty much anyone that comes through the door. I’ve learned that we don’t just talk the talk, we also walk the walk, in a way that makes me proud to call Big Sea my home. " We carefully foster an environment where people are excited to come to work and do great work that makes a difference in the world. We recognize achievements and contributions, we foster a diverse and inclusive environment, and we empower our people to elevate themselves and each other. "Big Sea has empowered me to be a better marketer and a better human," says Senior Marketing Strategist Autumn Sullivan. "We equally value honesty, empathy, intuition, curiosity, and research, data and strategy. That checks all the boxes for me. I get to do great work with great people (both our team and our clients)! " Work is evolving — and we're proud to be at the forefront I'm honored that we've been recognized among other companies that are making work better. While researching the finalists, Inc. and Quantum saw distinct themes that show that workplaces are evolving to prioritize the people who power great work: 99 percent provide health insurance—and some cover the cost (including us! ) 49 percent allow employees to bring pets to work (yep! ) 65 percent take employees to offsite retreats to relax and recharge 16 percent offer paid sabbaticals to reward length of service. "With today's tight labor market, building a great corporate culture is more important than ever,” says Inc. magazine editor in chief James Ledbetter. “The companies on Inc. 's Best Workplaces list are setting an example that the whole country can learn from. " What's next? An ongoing commitment to being one of the best places to work. When we attract and retain the best people, we're all the more confident in the value we deliver to our partners and clients. --- ### Your Guide to Ecommerce Email Workflow Automation > Email workflows are triggered by customer behavior and can run without your constant supervision. Because let’s be honest, you already have enough to do. - Published: 2019-05-10 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/ecommerce-email-automation-guide/ - Categories: eCommerce Whether you choose to setup email workflows in a marketing automation platform like HubSpot, an email marketing platform like MailChimp, or right from an e-commerce site like Shopify, here are the emails you should be sending. If you sell a product or service online, email marketing is as critical to your business today as it ever was. Email is still the preferred method of communication for most consumers. Not Facebook, not chatbots, not carrier pigeons. Which is great news for you and your business, because effective e-commerce email marketing can and should rely on marketing automation workflows. Email workflows are triggered by customer behavior and can run without your constant supervision. Because let's be honest, you already have enough to do. Whether you choose to setup email workflows in a marketing automation platform like HubSpot, an email marketing platform like MailChimp, or right from an e-commerce site like Shopify, here are the emails you should be sending. Shopping Cart Email Workflows Let's start with the basics. Every e-commerce business needs a shopping cart workflow. The exact series of emails will depend on your business, but at the very least you should thank customers, set their expectations, and give them a chance to share feedback. Thank you email They may be the two most powerful words in any language, and if you're not saying them to every customer, at every transaction, you're missing out. Thank you emails have great response rates. People open them because they want that confirmation. A well-crafted thank-you email should contain a minimum of the following: Validate the customer's decision to make a purchase. Set expectations for what happens next. Welcome them into your brand's tribe. Don't stop there. Since you're almost guaranteed a good open rate, thank you emails are a great place to start building a relationship through value. Share your best content, invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, or give them an incentive to share their purchase with their social network. Delivery notification email It only takes a heartbeat for the excitement of a new purchase to morph into anxiety over delivery. When will the amazing new thing I ordered arrive? Ease your customers' minds my setting up a delivery schedule workflow that lets them know when the item ships and the estimated delivery date. Back up that promise by sending an additional email after the delivery date confirming that the item was received. If you run e-commerce for your service-based business, you can still send delivery emails. For example, if Fitness Fiona offers in-home personal training sessions through her website, a great "delivery schedule" email for her customers might include an "Add to Calendar" function. This workflow would also include a reminder follow-up a few days before the session, with easy options to contact Fiona should they need to reschedule. Review or service email Even though data shows that reviews are incredibly important to consumers when making a decision, many don't leave a review even when their experience was pleasant. So, how do you get more reviews? You ask for them! According to a study from BrightLocal, 71 percent of consumers will leave a review if asked. Review emails need to feel personal and should focus on how their reviews help future customers find the product they're currently enjoying. Here's an idea: What if you didn't ask for a review? What if instead, you first asked for actual feedback for you and your team? Feedback email Send this email from a leadership email address. Imagine if the CEO or VP of Sales from a company you'd just done business with personally wrote you and asked for feedback? Email marketing platforms make that possible, without those busy folks having to actually lift a finger. Make it clear in the email what you are asking for and why. How does your team use feedback? Then, make it easy for customers to share their thoughts. Give them an easy "Reply To" email address or a text box form. In addition, let them pick a star or number rating in the email. If you drive them to a form page, give them the rating system there. Why ask for a rating if it's not on Google? Here's where email marketing automation gets really smart. Positive reviews — 4 or better — can trigger a secondary email that thanks the user for their praise and then asks them to share their experience. Feedback... --- ### Use Smart(er) Content to Nurture More Leads Into Customers > Did you know that you can use smart content to nurture potential leads by showing that you understand where they're at and how they relate to you? - Published: 2019-04-25 - Modified: 2019-10-31 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/smart-content-personalization-ideas/ - Categories: Digital Marketing People like a little romance when they're being marketed to. Or better yet, they don't want to feel like they're being marketed to at all. Smart personalization transforms marketing from shouting "I'm really great!" to positioning yourself as a helper who understands your customer's problems. People like a little romance when they're being marketed to. Or better yet, they don't want to feel like they're being marketed to at all. Smart personalization transforms marketing from shouting "I'm really great! " to positioning yourself as a helper who understands your customer's problems. Strategic personalization can increase the efficacy of your marketing dramatically. But it's more than putting someone's first name in an email. Good personalization takes into account behavior, interests, and lifecycle stage. That can be pretty daunting, especially if you have high lead volume. Fortunately, marketing automation and smart content make that pretty simple once you strategize exactly how you want to connect with potential customers. Use smart content to nurture potential leads by showing that you understand where they're at and how they relate to you. What is personalization? On a basic level, personalization is the use of data to customize a viewer’s experience to best accommodate their needs. This information is typically collected through form submissions or from the information in your database (CRM). Some examples of general contact information are name, industry, phone number, address, website URL, company and email address. You might not wow someone by demonstrating that you have this information, but it can still be used to your advantage — such as requiring fewer fields next time they fill out a form on your website. Where things really get interesting is when you can personalize in subtle, helpful ways. We recommend using marketing automation software like HubSpot, so that once a contact enters your database, you’ll be able to gather information like this: What emails they are opening What pages they are visiting (on your site) What links they are clicking What social platforms are they viewing or following What content are they engaging with (viewing or downloading) When are they engaging (time) Then, personalization can look like sending an email at the right time, providing more content around a topic they've demonstrated interest in, or following up with a sales call after they've engaged with several emails. Using personalization tokens for smart content Personalization with smart content can be used in a host of different settings within the buyer's journey, but it should only be used if it adds value to a viewers overall experience. It’s important to avoid over personalizing content, as it can come off as creepy. Hi {{first name}}, I noticed you were on my website at {{time}}. You're obviously interested, so let's chat tomorrow! The best personalization feels authentic, not invasive. Keep in mind these three ideas when using personalization in your content: Authoritativeness: know that what you are personalizing is accurate. Relevance: know that it’s going to add value to the viewer's experience. Timeliness: know that the timing is aligned with the relevance of the content. Adding personalization to email is a great way to nurture potential leads by providing relevant content based on behavioral patterns. These behavioral patterns include: Are they clicking on links in the email? If yes, what links are they clicking on? Do they find the information relevant? (clicking through to a landing page and filling out a form or downloading an eBook) There's nothing wrong with the basics. You can start by simply using a contact’s name in an email subject line, which can help increase open rates. Then, get down to business. Personalize the body of the email by providing relevant content, such as links to blogs/articles to help increase response rate and build a stronger connection. Hi {{first name}}, Thanks for purchasing {{product}}! We thought you would enjoy this article on 7 different ways you didn’t know you could use {{products}}. When creating personalization tokens always remember to set a null (or default value) in case the contact data is not applicable. Make sure the default value is in context with the content provided. For example, if a university is sending emails to prospective students, a good default value for {{name}} would be "Future student. " Another example is for a custom {{coupon code}}, "Trouble seeing the code? Contact us to get it. " Nurture leads with smart content triggered by behavior To illustrate how you can next smart content to the next level, let's introduce... --- ### Big Sea Wins Marketer of the Year in Both Content & Digital Marketing > Big Sea was recognized for oustanding marketing in the AMA Tampa Bay Marketer of the Year Awards with wins in Digital Marketing and Content Marketing. - Published: 2019-04-02 - Modified: 2020-01-30 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-wins-marketer-of-the-year-in-content-marketing-and-digital-marketing/ - Categories: News & Culture At the fourth annual Marketer of the Year Awards Ceremony at The University of Tampa, Tampa Bay’s American Marketing Association (AMA) awarded Big Sea with Marketer of the Year award for the categories of Content Marketing and Digital Marketing. At the fourth annual Marketer of the Year Awards Ceremony at The University of Tampa, Tampa Bay’s American Marketing Association (AMA) awarded Big Sea with Marketer of the Year award for the categories of Content Marketing and Digital Marketing. Yeah, we were Christina-Aguilera-GIF excited. Marketer of the Year (MOY) is a results-based marketing competition that evaluates nominees in the categories of objectives, strategy, tactics, and results. The entries are judged by other AMA chapter officers (this year, by the Birmingham chapter). The competition was fierce, including entries from most of the top area agencies and organizations. And the nominees are ... Big Sea is divided into two cross-functional teams: The Sea Dragons and The Manateam. We were thrilled to learn that entries from both teams were represented among the finalists. The Sea Dragons brought two finalists to the ceremony: GoZone Wi-Fi in B2B Marketing and Florida Physical Medicine in Content Marketing. Not to be outdone, Manateam brought two finalists to the Marketer of the Year awards: North Beach Windsurfing and Pin Chasers, both in the category of Digital Marketing. Marketer of the Year in Content Marketing Big Sea's work on Florida Physical Medicine beat out other category finalists, BioDerm, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Sports Facilities Management. The winning Content Marketing campaign focused on patient education and combined content, SEO, and lead generation. We created a downloadable print-out with quick next-steps to keep in the glove box in the event of a collision. Pillar pages — comprehensive guides with links to read more on specific content topics — increased search engine ranking and were listed in Google's "People Also Ask" module. Our social media campaigns focused on safe driving tips, communicating the practice's commitment to making Tampa Bay's roads safer for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Our content marketing campaign resulted in a 121% increase in leads and a 152% increase in top 10 keywords for the multi-location orthopedic practice, Florida Physical Medicine. Marketer of the Year in Digital Marketing BioDerm, The Doer Co. , Monin, PODS, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were also finalists in the category of Digital Marketing. Big Sea's Manateam picked up the win for their work with Pin Chasers. Pin Chasers has been serving families bowling, food, and fun in the Tampa Bay area for 60 years. Big Sea has been working with the family-owned bowling centers for 10 years. Our award-winning strategy focused on a total site redesign and paid media optimization. Using data like heat-mapping and event tracking analytics, we completely overhauled Pin Chasers' website to make it easier than ever for bowlers to learn about events, reserve a lane, or schedule a party or event. We rebuilt ad campaigns and delivered programmatically, including ads triggered by the weather near their locations (rainy day bowling fun, anyone? ). Campaigns around late-night bowling, daily specials, and kids' birthday parties introduced more regional guests to Pin Chasers. Our digital marketing efforts resulted in average weekly lead volume increasing from 36 leads to 508 leads. Paid search drove an 858% increase in bowling lane reservations and a 245% increase in party bookings. Pin Chasers saw their busiest December in 60 years. Award-Winning Marketing Strategies We are honored to have been recognized among some of the top marketing minds in Tampa Bay. Marketing can only be successful when it makes our clients’ customers the hero. This year, we showed Tampa Bay's drivers how to get their lives back on track after a car accident. We showed parents how to throw a memorable birthday party and introduced a new generation to a fun, affordable way to spend time with friends. We're proud of that. If you’d like to work with an award-winning marketing team, we’d love to chat. Reach out. --- ### Why We Don’t Buy Links (and Neither Should You) > Building good backlinks takes time and effort. Here are 7 reasons why buying backlinks is a risky and reckless digital marketing tactic. - Published: 2019-02-26 - Modified: 2021-04-05 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/why-we-dont-buy-links-and-neither-should-you/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Building good backlinks takes time and effort. They're about building relationships — whether you're emailing a site administrator, applying to write a guest post, pitching to a publication, or doing things so remarkable people can't help but share them. Good backlinks take time. Building good backlinks takes time and effort. They're about building relationships — whether you're emailing a site administrator, applying to write a guest post, pitching to a publication, or doing things so remarkable people can't help but share them. Good backlinks take time. For some marketers, the white-hat link building process takes too long. Impatient marketers want links right now. Naturally, they look for shortcuts by buying links from a link seller. Oftentimes, link vendors share great stories about how their links will skyrocket your business to success, and how a flood of traffic and authority will flow to your site after buying links from them. Unfortunately, what gets delivered is lackluster at best, and damaging to your business at worst. Here are 7 reasons why buying backlinks is a risky and reckless digital marketing tactic. 1. Buying backlinks is against the rules Google is very clear when it comes to paid links — don’t buy them. It is a violation of the Google Quality Guidelines. Google lists several link schemes that may have harmful SEO results: “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links, or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link. ” If you are looking to gain traffic from Google’s search engine, it’s best to play by the rules. Google has several ways to detect unnatural links and link patterns, and if you are caught, you could be penalized, demoted, or delisted from the index. Just ask Genius, JCPenney, or OverStock. In summary, remember this: Google doesn’t play around when it comes to link schemes. 2. Purchased links don't have quantifiable monetary value What is the value of a link on a popular site? What about on a site no one visits except bots? What if the metrics are the same, should they be valued equally? How much would you pay? $10? $50? $100? The average cost from a link seller is much more than that. Ahrefs found the average cost of a paid link to be $361. 44, a very specific amount for something which doesn’t have an easily quantifiable value. 3. There’s no guarantee backlinks will work Having a link on a DA80 site is no guarantee your site will jump in rank, or that there will be an increase in traffic. There's often no money-back guarantee if someone places your link on a site with great metrics but little human traffic. In fact, there’s little you can do if they choose to put your link on a penalized site. 4. Few humans will actually see it Many times, links that are purchased are added to sites with little to know meaningful traffic. Sometimes it’s a private blog network or PBN, a network of interlinked blogs all owned by the same person, and made to look like they aren’t affiliated. Ask yourself this: If these sites have great stats, but no one visits the pages, or reads the content, who really is learning about your site? Sounds similar to the old adage: If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does anyone care? When you buy links, you risk your existence on a search engine. 5. Paid links can directly harm your site More often than not, paid links will harm your site. They're not good backlinks. Whether through spammy link text (like "top lawyer attorney best legal") or a placement on a penalized site, or whether you received an unnatural link penalty due to 40 links popping up from a sketchy domain at once, paid links can leave your site worse off than before. When you buy links, you risk your existence on a search engine. 6. It’s not a solid long-term strategy Are you going to buy expensive links every month, forever? Usually, a marketing strategy has several spearheads that help to open up a market. The plans can be measured, lead costs can be calculated, and decisions can be made. If "keep buying links" is your only strategy, it will inevitably lead to a penalty. It’s just a matter of time. Read more:... --- ### Brand Voice Matters. Do You Know Who You Are? > Personality is crucial. It’s how we judge pets and people. Your business also has a personality in the form of its brand voice. Do you know what it is? - Published: 2019-01-09 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/building-a-brand-voice/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO Personality is everything. It's how we judge dogs, cats, houses, and people. It's also how we evaluate brands, consciously and subconsciously. Consumers develop an affinity for brands through the way a brand makes them feel. That's why it's so important to understand how you want to make people feel. And why it's even more important to establish a connection through the voice that makes you who you are. Personality is everything. It’s how we judge the world around us — from cats and dogs to houses and people. It’s also how we consciously and subconsciously evaluate the brands we engage with every day. While most people think of branding as the basic aesthetics designed by an organization—packaging, visuals, etc. —looks aren’t quite everything here. As the adage goes, people remember how you make them feel, and when it comes to your brand, finding and flexing your unique voice is the key to memorability and connection. Consumers actually develop an affinity for brands through the way a brand makes them feel. That’s why it’s so important to understand how you want to make people feel. And why it’s even more important to establish a connection through the voice that makes you who you are. What is a brand voice? Brand voice is the distinct personality that a company or organization adopts across all of its communications platforms. Not one platform is the same, but brands must adapt their voice and personality to connect with users across web, social and more. But how do you find your brand’s voice? Like anything meaningful, this can be a challenging task. 5 ways to find your brand’s voice Identifying who you are is sometimes as simple as identifying who you are not. At Big Sea, we conduct a Wayfinding Workshop to facilitate the discovery of a brand voice. It involves exercises, research, and introspection most business leaders don’t make time to engage in. It’s like a spa day for a brand, except with candy and without hot stone massage. We often look at both angles to hone a voice that feels as comfortable as a favorite tee shirt, and as authentic as a phone call with an old friend. That voice doesn’t have to be casual. But it has to be real. 1. Keep your audience in mind Rather than try to create a blanket voice and speak to everyone at once, build fleshed-out personas based on real-life case studies and pain points. That way, you won’t end up with a voice that’s condescending, off-putting, or simply out of touch with your customers’ needs. If your brand is for everyone—think tissues, for example—be sure to avoid alienating or talking down to users who commonly interact with your brand (Spoiler alert — that audience is everyone with a runny nose. ) Most recently, Kleenex rebranded from “man-size” tissue messaging for all the right reasons. Understanding and empathizing with your audience helps you develop a voice that resonates with people whether you’re hoping to comfort them, make them laugh, or promote FOMO. Wendy’s is an excellent example of a brand that’s pivoted and evolved with their audience. Their whimsical, snarky Twitter voice is the great example of social media presence done right, and an even better example of leveraging brand voice while keeping an audience in mind. While this approach may not work for every brand, including your own, knowing how your audience thinks and interacts with content is the first step of testing the waters of a brand voice. No one will get a sense of who you are or what you're trying to say if your brand comes across as having an identity crisis every few weeks 2. Characterize other brand voices If you’re not sure who you are or who you want to be, try on a few different “outfits. ” Pick brands that stand out for different reasons and explore their web, editorial, and social messaging. How would you describe each voice, and how can your brand benefit from a similar (or different) approach? Not every brand can pull off the wild irreverence of Goodr, but they’re an excellent example of identifying a voice and sticking to it from the names of sunglasses to the “disclaimer” in the footer of their website. Let’s call them funny, but not goofy. Outdoor Voices speaks confidently and pointedly. Their core values and mission coalesce in the simple statement, “We believe in going out and doing things. ” There’s very little marketing speak here, and it establishes the confidence necessary to sell $80 yoga pants. Confident, but not boastful. Burberry, on the other hand, doesn’t... --- ### How to Grow Your Business With Better Local Listings > How can business owners improve their appearance in local search? Learn more about local search and how to improve your local listings. - Published: 2018-12-14 - Modified: 2021-11-10 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/improve-your-local-listings/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Every day, thousands of people search for product and service providers in their area. Whether you're a sushi restaurant, a dentist, or a plumber, being found when people are searching is crucial for generating new business in the 21st century. So here's the question: How can business owners improve their appearance in local search? In this guide, we will help explain the ins and outs of the local search world, how to improve your local listings, how to generate reviews, and how to handle bad ones. Every day, thousands of people search for products and service providers in their area. Whether you're a sushi restaurant, a dentist, or a plumber, being found when people are searching is crucial for generating new business in the 21st century. So here's the question: How can business owners improve their appearance in local search? In this guide, we will help explain the ins and outs of the local search world, how to improve your local listings, how to generate reviews, and how to handle bad ones. What exactly is a local listing? A local listing is a page or section on a directory that displays pertinent information about a business to searchers. Typically, these listings contain names, addresses, phone numbers (often called NAP data), as well as descriptions of a business, pictures, and reviews from customers. Oftentimes, search engines will pull data from local listings and make it available directly in search. For example, when searching for a good place to find ice cream in St Petersburg, I might pull out my mobile phone, and do a search for something like "ice cream near me", (known as an explicit query). The search engine will take several pieces of information—such as the device I’m searching on, my location, and time of day (known as an implicit query)—into consideration before it gives me a result that looks like this: There’s a lot of information about local listings we can unpack from this image, but these are most crucial: 1. The first key piece of information is the stars under each listing, which refer to ratings given to the location from previous customers. Clearly, a search engine doesn’t want to serve up bad suggestions to users, so it found the ice cream shops with the highest reviews from other users and prioritized them. 2. The distance from the user is important. Since the search engine realized I’m on my mobile phone, and I'm trying to make a decision right now, it only displayed ice cream places close by, not highly rated places that are three hours away Proximity and quality are the most critical elements of your local listing. For local listings, these two elements of proximity and quality are the most critical. You can't move your business closer to people, but you can encourage customers to leave reviews in order to improve appearance in a local search. Why are local listings important? Local listings help potential customers learn more about your business, understand what you have to offer, and help them make a decision as to who to purchase goods and services from. Most local directories include sections for you to add a menu of services or products, images from inside and outside your business, description fields, hours of operation, website info, and much more. The more information you can provide in your listing, the more clarity you will give to searchers, and the better the visibility will be for your business. Make sure your information is accurate and consistent on each directory, as this will help the search engine gain trust in the data provided. Setting up local listings is just one important part of growing your business. What businesses benefit most from local listings? All businesses have a lot to gain from building local listings, in terms of making important data easily accessible to customers, but the ones that benefit the most are businesses that service customers at their location (like a jewelry store or restaurant) or those that service customers within a radius (like a plumber or repairman). How do I build local listings? There are several ways and places to build local listings, but we’re going to focus on the 3 most important sources: Google My Business, Bing Places, LocalWorks and 3rd Party Aggregators. Google My Business is the direct way to add your business for visibility in Google. Straightforward and easy to set up, Google My Business pushes your NAP data directly into Google Search, Google Maps, and other Google Products & partner products (like Waze) for discovery. You will need to verify the business’ information before it goes live, by answering a phone call, or receiving a postcard in the mail. Much like GoogleMyBusiness, Bing Places... --- ### Developing a Brand Narrative > Journey inside the Big Sea Wayfinding Workshop to see how we created an internal guide for brand consistency and direction in 5 steps. - Published: 2018-11-30 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/case-study-brand-narrative/ - Categories: Case Studies - Tags: strategic approach Centricity needed to align its vision, develop persona-specific messaging, and create an internal guide for brand consistency and direction. Our solution? A Big Sea Wayfinding Workshop and Brand Storycrafting session. When Bankers Warranty Group developed a new brand in the service contract and warranty space, they knew they had to stand out and disrupt an old school industry. The leadership team at Centricity understood the value of solidifying not only the look and feel of a brand but a brand’s voice and point of view. Centricity needed to align its vision, develop persona-specific messaging, and create an internal guide for brand consistency and direction. Our solution? A Big Sea Wayfinding Workshop and Brand Storycrafting session. Having worked closely with Centricity’s internal marketing team on the first iteration of their website, we were familiar with the company and its great people. They were familiar with our strategic approach. A foundation of trust opened the door to honest, candid conversations — our favorite building block to a successful engagement. How to Develop a Brand Narrative in 5 Steps Step 1. Meet the stakeholders After sending our Deep Dive survey to the leadership team and an additional data-driven survey to a larger group of Centricity team members, we spent a half day conducting stakeholder interviews. Five unique conversations revealed insights into the brand we would put into sharp focus. A few things rose to the surface right away: These people are magnetic, friendly, and genuine. They care deeply about their teams and the services they provide to their clients — and even more importantly, to their clients’ customers. There’s nothing like walking away from a day of interviews feeling like you could spend another week listening to what those smart, friendly people have to say. We knew brand materials and direction would have to capture that level of passion and engagement at every touchpoint. Step 2. Review the data In order to develop a brand’s core messaging and voice, we have to set our own feelings aside. Sure, we were drawn to the Centricity team and what they had to say, but we also gathered data by reaching out to a wider pool. Employees were reasonably confident in their ability to communicate Centricity’s mission. On a scale of 1 to 10, how confidently can you communicate Centricity’s mission: But this was a bit of a trick question. While Centricity had a solid mission statement, it was in need of refinement to reflect an evolving, growing brand. The wider group showed us that our initial impressions of the brand via the stakeholders were on point, and that Centricity was already doing a good job aligning its people to what were clearly two core values. What makes Centricity better than its competitors? We opened the floor for stakeholders and the larger pool of employees to share adjectives that represented Centricity. The resulting word cloud showed some overlap on a few adjectives but also gave us insight into the need for a cohesive message and alignment around what Centricity wanted to convey and how they wanted to be perceived. Layering the word cloud next to the six individual elevator pitches we were given by the leadership team and stakeholders gave us further clarity into the recurring theme of valuing customer relationships and innovating in a stagnant industry. Step 3. Workshop it Armed with our research and a full agenda of exercises and activities, we arrived at the Centricity headquarters bright and early. Our Wayfinding Workshops are collaborative, creative engagements that rely on the shared perspectives and energy of everyone around the table. Centricity brought seven members of its leadership and marketing teams. We brought our CMO, Content Director, Account Manager, Marketing Strategist, and Lead Designer. We also brought Post-it notes, sharpies, and a lot of candy. For the first half of the day, we followed our Wayfinding Workshop process and identified Centricity’s buyer personas and their pain points. Customer pain points provide a solid foundation for content marketing. Even before you’ve identified long tail keywords you want to rank for, you can begin developing content strategies around the problems that trigger customers to start looking for a solution. For each persona we’d identified and fleshed out, the Centricity team shared pain points on Post-it notes and, together, we grouped them into common themes. Digging into personas, their pain points, and how Centricity offers solutions to those... --- ### What Mario Kart Taught Us About Digital Marketing > Some of the best digital marketing lessons come from unexpected sources. Here's what we learned about marketing from playing Mario Kart. - Published: 2018-10-31 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/what-mario-kart-taught-us-about-digital-marketing/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Our annual group costume was born from a mutual love of Mario Kart, the game that's been evolving since 1992. With over 100 million copies sold, Mario Kart is beloved around the world — even by people who now get destroyed by their own children at it. Our annual group costume was born from a mutual love of Mario Kart, the game that's been evolving since 1992. With over 100 million copies sold, Mario Kart is beloved around the world — even by people who now get destroyed by their own children at it. Some of the best digital marketing lessons come from unexpected sources. Whether you love Mario Kart or not, you can't deny that it's served as a teaching tool over the years. There was more to soak in than simply learning not to throw your controller at your brother's head when he beat you on Rainbow Road. Push the start button. Here are the lessons we've learned! Get familiar with the map Ever tried to play a new version of Mario Kart with people who already know their way around? It's the worst. You'll be in last place while everyone else is taking shortcuts and soaring over obstacles. There's nothing as frustrating as feeling your way around, slamming into palm trees, and eventually getting lapped by the person in first place. Digital marketing needs a roadmap. You don't have to do exactly what everyone else is doing, but you need to know your way around. You need to have an understanding of the challenges you might face, and the shortcuts that can work to your advantage — like a landing page with a killer conversion rate that you can drive more traffic to with a targeted display ad campaign. Understand your arsenal A bunch of cool items get you nowhere if you don't know when to use them. Even that Lightning Bolt needs to be dropped with strategy, so that you're prepared to destroy all of your shrunken rivals and rocket to the front of the pack. There are no magical advantages in digital marketing. Every marketer has access to the same tools. Blogging, SEO, lead generation tactics, email automation, paid search and social... These are the items you race with. If you don't know how and when to use them, you'll waste your shot. Develop a strong understanding of your "secret weapons" so you can deploy them at the right time, to the right people, for the right reasons. After all, there's nothing as satisfying as nailing the racer in first place with a red shell. Watch out for pitfalls It's easy to get overconfident in Mario Kart. But when you move too quickly or you're not sure where you're going, you'll find yourself hurtling over a cliff and respawning in last place. It really sucks watching everyone else zip by while you're waiting for your chance to restart. Overconfidence can shut digital marketers down. Common marketing pitfalls include leveraging black hat SEO tactics (guaranteed to land you in last place), paying attention to the wrong metrics (no, your Facebook likes aren't important), and marketing to anyone and everyone without researching and segmenting your audiences (that's just annoying). Like the banana in the road just waiting for you to spin out, these pitfalls can slow your progress. Tell a good story In the grand scheme of games, Mario Kart isn't exactly bursting with a compelling narrative. But fans have their favorite characters and most of the time a solid understanding of those characters' strengths and weaknesses. In a big group, people will always fight over playing as their favs. What does that teach us about marketing? 11 Reasons Your Email Marketing Sucks — and 41 Ways to Fix It >> Story and visuals matter. Consumers want to connect with more than a value proposition. They want to see themselves in the narrative that surrounds your brand. They want to know how your offering makes them a hero. They connect to personality and emotions. So know who you are before you try to sell who you are. Looking for creative solutions to your marketing challenges? Say hi. We're always happy to schedule a rousing round of Mario Kart at the end of a meeting. But we can't promise not to drop a Lightning Bolt on the last lap. hbspt. cta. load(386058, 'f23148ea-768e-4c2f-801f-1828694de088', {}); --- ### 5 Lessons Learned From One Unforgettable Client Engagement > Five valuable collaboration and project management lessons we learned when we partnered with Heart of Agile to design their new site. - Published: 2018-10-30 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/5-lessons-learned-from-one-unforgettable-client-engagement/ - Categories: Case Studies - Tags: best practices, Big Sea projects, Design, goal-oriented design, lessons learned Dr. Alistair Cockburn is one of the original thought leaders and authors of the Agile Manifesto. He travels the world consulting and speaking on the Agile methodology and has developed a community alongside his partners, Soledad Pinter and Djordje Babic, called the Heart of Agile, which centers around the four actions: Collaborate, Deliver, Reflect, and Improve. Alistair turned to Big Sea when he learned that we are an Agile agency, probably knowing he could "guerrilla consult" his way into a successful project. It's been an amazing journey. We've uncovered a lot of gems along the way — about how we approach work, collaboration, feedback, delivery, pretty much everything — we’ve outlined five of the shiniest. The Heart of Agile partners believe that Agile can work regardless of industry. We believe that regardless of your industry there is something of value to be found in our experience. Shiny Gem #1: Come with a beginner’s mind When Heart of Agile came to us, we believed the intent was to give the design and the UX of the existing site a facelift, develop more structure around the resources, and pay more attention to conferences and events. Alistair gave us specific instruction to pull the website up together and as a group document our initial reactions. Dutifully we gathered ... and our collective feedback cup runneth over. Upon first glance, we had some very fundamental questions about the site. What am I supposed to do on this homepage? What is the point of the site? What’s the story? What are your services? Who is Dr. Alistair Cockburn and what does he have to do with the site? Alistair’s style is not business as usual. Our typical Discovery meeting has an agenda and specific exercises, but for this engagement, we pushed agendas to the side and came with truly open minds. Our cross-functional team sat with Alistair and held an open-ended Discovery Discussion. We bounced around from site features to the audience these tools would serve, and back again. One of my personal favorite quotes from Alistair during the discovery meeting was: “Everything about this website is a mistake. ” While comedic, this sentiment illustrates just how large and amorphous this project really was. Coming to the relationship with open minds allowed us to come to a consensus with our new client on what was really needed to deliver a new Heart of Agile experience. Shiny Gem #2: Make tasks tangible Everyone on a project, clients and agency collaborators alike, needs to agree on what is needed in order to realistically track toward a deadline. This is not a groundbreaking statement, but how to align everyone is less obvious. Alistair shared a technique with us that does just that. We wrote down all of the individual tasks associated with our website features on notecards, as well as time estimates for the tasks. We spread them out on the conference table, paying attention to when one task was dependent on another. We also marked off sections of the table for our sprints (which are weekly for our agency), and a delineation for the initial launch. Taking what is usually a digital Trello card and physically moving it in relation to other notecards and sprint lines WITH the client was revolutionary. Laying out everything in front of us allowed us to see and agree on what was realistic for the timeline, and which features were truly needed for the initial launch. We sat back, a little stunned by the results. Entire sections that were previous “must haves” were now marked by order of importance in a post-launch schedule. It felt like our lives just got a little easier, and our project had a greater chance of success. Shiny Gem #3: You ain't gonna need it YANGNI, or “You Ain’t Gonna Need It” is a principle of Extreme Programming that is not only fun to say (yag-nee), but can also save immeasurable amounts of time. We quickly learned that in order to keep our project on track and on budget, it was crucial to hold each possible solution up to the scrutiny of its true usefulness. Early on in the project, we estimated 13 hours to develop a... --- ### Need More Online Reviews for Your Healthcare Practice? Start Here > Get better quality online reviews for your healthcare practice by following these steps to make it easier for patients to rate their experience with you. - Published: 2018-10-23 - Modified: 2024-01-03 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/healthcare-practice-online-reviews/ - Categories: Health & Wellness A recent survey found that 72 percent of patients use online reviews and ratings as their first step in choosing medical care, so a solid digital presence is imperative. But how do you get started, especially if you’re a small practice without much IT experience? Follow these tips and best practices for improving your web presence (in a good way.) Long gone are the days of patients choosing a healthcare provider by skimming through a list offered by their insurance company. As plan networks grow and patients get smarter, they may start there — but they make their final decision based on what they find through online reviews. A recent survey found that 72 percent of patients use online reviews and ratings as their first step in choosing medical care, so a solid digital presence is imperative. But how do you get started, especially if you’re a small practice without much IT experience? Follow these tips and best practices for improving your web presence (in a good way. ) Update your healthcare directory listings today Comb through online directories and make sure your information is up to date. Include physician-finder sites, like Healthgrades, Vitals, WebMD Physician Finder, ZocDoc, as well as local directories like Yelp and Google. While you’re searching, take a look at what people are already saying about your practice, and take it to heart— even if it’s inaccurate. Especially online — for better or worse — perception is reality. Check out our tips for combating negative online reviews here. Make sure your website reflects your quality of care If you haven't already, create a killer website and social media pages. Just like your office is designed to make patients feel comfortable, your site should inspire that same level of comfort and trust. It should look upscale and professional, outline your background and training, detail your specialties, and offer patient benefits such as a payment portal, online appointment scheduling, secure communication, and content relevant to your patient's most pressing questions. While online directories and online reviews are important, your own site helps you cut through the clutter and position your practice as authoritative and best in class. In the social media sphere, be sure to create profiles on LinkedIn and Doximity, along with the obvious Facebook page that you update regularly with content your patients care about — not a bunch of self-promotional updates. Get your staff in the ratings-and-reviews mindset Let your entire staff know that you’re working diligently to increase your presence online and gather more reviews, and remind them often. You can be the greatest surgeon in the area with the best-looking office, but if your front desk staff is rude to a customer or your wait times are increasingly long, the web will know about it. Customers are two to three times more likely to complain about a negative experience than rave about a great one. Start asking your patients for online reviews It doesn’t have to be a blatant or pushy "please leave us a 5-star review," but there are numerous subtle ways to motivate them. Include your website and a request for a review on your appointment cards. Embed a one-click star rating function in email communication. There's nothing rude or pushy about conversationally reminding your patients that their reviews help other people like them find the right healthcare provider. As long as you don't pressure or offer an inappropriate incentive, you're not overstepping. Distribute your good reviews Once reviews start coming in, promote them across your various properties, from printing them out and putting them up on your waiting room walls to posting reviews on your Facebook page with a designed template. It's an easy way to generate additional content that helps potential patients make a decision on whether or not your practice is the right fit. People respond to social proof, even when it comes to seeing reviews and wanting to play along. You'll find that some of your patients will enjoy the opportunity to have their kind words featured. Reviews are just one element of the full digital marketing strategy needed to boost your practice's revenue and bring in more new patients. Want to establish smart goals and a roadmap to get you there? Let’s talk. --- ### How to Tell if You Need a Website Redesign (or Not) > If your website has been sporting the same design for several years, it may be time for a change. Let's see if your business needs a website redesign. - Published: 2018-09-27 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/how-to-tell-if-you-need-a-website-redesign-or-not/ - Categories: Web Design A website has a lot in common with a brick and mortar location. It takes careful planning to design and build one, and its purpose is to entice customers to enter, browse, and eventually convert. And just like your IRL store, sometimes things get a little dusty or outdated. Web development experts recommend a website redesign every two to three years, but some sites may need to refresh more or less often. So how do you know if it's time for a website redesign? A website has a lot in common with a brick and mortar location. It takes careful planning to design and build one, and its purpose is to entice customers to enter, browse, and eventually convert. And just like your IRL store, sometimes things get a little dusty or outdated. Web development experts recommend a website redesign every two to three years, but some sites may need to refresh more or less often. So how do you know if it's time for a website redesign? To answer that, let's first look at some bad reasons to dive headlong into a website redesign. You want shiny new features. There was a time when everyone wanted sliders. They were the hot new thing. Look at all the content I can get above the fold now! One little problem: data shows that people don't engage with sliders — with as few as 1% of visitors clicking on even a single slide. Then it was parallax scrolling. Look at how animated our site is now! Except, people now are starting to get tired of scrolling endlessly through a homepage. The bottom line is website styles go through phases, but you can't (and shouldn't) redesign your site every time a new trend drops. Stick with that works for your audience, and change what doesn't. Don't guess. Run user tests with your current audience through software like HotJar and a fresh set of users with UsabilityHub. Pay attention to whether or not your audience engages with your navigation elements (and of course, whether or not they're clicking on your sliders. ) Your site isn't converting. If the only metric you're tracking on your site is conversions — specifically sales or new business contacts — then you may be tempted to redesign if the site isn't pulling in big numbers. But depending on your industry, and your specific customer's buying behavior, your site may not be where you get sales-related conversions. High-price industries and B2B companies may have a longer lead journey, and many customers still choose to pull the trigger on a sale with a good old-fashioned phone call. That doesn't mean your site isn't working. In fact, it may be doing exactly what it was designed to do. Which is a good segue into the indicators that will tell you whether or not you do need a website redesign. Before you commit to a redesign, it's a good idea to identify what the site isn't doing that you wish it did, how a site redesign will fix it, and what your intended goals for the redesign will be. If that sounds like a lot, don't worry. A good agency will help you through that in the Discovery phase of the engagement. And here are the good reasons to consider a website redesign. Your site isn't converting. Confusing, right? This one depends on how you define conversions. Conversion doesn't have to mean a sale; if your end goal is for users to register for a webinar, sign a petition, or simply click a button, then a conversion is when they do that. Figure out which conversions matter in your customer's buying journey. Is your demo the thing that always hooks them? Then make sure the conversion rate on Schedule a Demo is high. Need a helpful benchmark? Every industry is different, and every site within an industry is different, but if your site is converting at less than 2%, consider that below average and start digging into what's not working. People are getting lost. Labyrinths are cool (especially ones with David Bowie at their center), but nobody wants their users getting lost in a tangle of clicks, tabs and new pages. How can you tell if your site is really an impenetrable maze? Start with the user testing software and dig even deeper with the Behavior Flow in Google Analytics. How many times does a user start a journey, then bounce back to the homepage? Is every click a "happy click" — a click that moves them through the funnel with useful content and features — or are people clicking around aimlessly and never getting where you want them to go? Your website embarrasses you. If you... --- ### 7 Reasons Not to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency > Before you make a significant investment, take a moment to read these reasons why you should not hire a digital marketing agency. - Published: 2018-08-14 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/reasons-not-to-hire-a-digital-marketing-agency/ - Categories: Digital Marketing Hiring a digital marketing agency isn't for everyone. Working with an agency is a relationship, and just like when it comes to romance, it isn't always the right time to get serious. If you're considering turning to experts to take on (or take over) your digital marketing needs, mull over these potential red flags within your organization. An agency will evaluate you on these same criteria. Identify ways that you need to grow before you're ready to partner with a full team. Hiring a digital marketing agency isn't for everyone. Working with an agency is a relationship, and just like when it comes to romance, it isn't always the right time to get serious. If you're considering turning to experts to take on (or take over) your digital marketing needs, mull over these potential red flags within your organization. An agency will evaluate you on these same criteria. Identify ways that you need to grow before you're ready to partner with a full team. You haven't updated your website in years. A great deal of digital marketing involves getting people to your website. If your website is dated, full of errors, not optimized for mobile, or unclear, you run the risk of immediately alienating the traffic you worked so hard to get. Organizations that don't commit to a strong digital presence typically aren't a good fit for a digital marketing agency. Want to overcome that? Hire a digital marketing agency to overhaul your website and then drive traffic to it. When your website redesign team has marketing in mind from the start, you'll end up with a more powerful site that generates leads and expresses compelling, coherent key messaging. hbspt. cta. load(386058, 'f23148ea-768e-4c2f-801f-1828694de088', {}); Your people don't get marketing. At Big Sea, we're happy to educate our clients and their teams. But if too much time has to be spent justifying marketing, it starts to eat into the time that's better spent... marketing. Trust is a huge part of any successful relationship. We consistently see better results and a stronger partnership when our clients — and their teams — trust our digital marketing team. Still determined? Get buy-in from your leadership and stakeholders before you engage with a marketing agency. They don't have to be experts, but they should understand why you're prioritizing digital marketing and inbound philosophies. You don't have time to pay attention. Inbound marketing requires a genuine investment of time and energy. You have to care about your business, and above all, you have to care about your customers. A digital marketing agency taking an inbound approach will require your enthusiasm and expertise, especially at the beginning of the project. You have to be ready to dig into deep conversations, research, and explore insights into your customers and their needs. If you want to hire someone and never talk to them again until the results are in, a digital agency probably isn't the right fit. There's really no way around this one. During the discovery process, be honest about how involved (or not involved) you want to be and see where the conversation takes you. You want order takers. Digital marketing agencies typically don't consist of tacticians who respond to marching orders. If you have strong ideas about what your digital marketing strategy should look like, you might be a better fit for an in-house team or freelancers who execute tactics under your leadership. At Big Sea, we take a strong consultative approach, not only designing strategies but helping our clients determine their business goals from the very start. If your heart is set on hiring an agency, commit to flexibility. Be honest from the beginning of your engagement that you want to contribute ideas, but open yourself to the idea of being told no. In many cases, a digital marketing team will be happy to implement and test your ideas. You don't want to create content. Content has become a weird, watered-down word, but it remains the core of successful digital marketing. People like to find cool, helpful stuff online. If you create cool, helpful stuff, they'll come to you. Pretty simple in theory — but more difficult in execution. The very best digital marketing agency in the world can't create content for you without at least a little bit of collaboration. Go into a relationship with an agency with an open mind about you and your colleagues being interviewed, answering surveys, and even writing basic content outlines. You're the experts in what you do. Help your agency drag all that great knowledge out of your brains. To get past this hiccup, rethink what creating content means to you. You don't have to be a confident writer to... --- ### The Foundations of a Successful Web Design Project > We've been involved in many web design projects, and no matter the size or scope, we always have a few elements that are common across every project. - Published: 2018-08-07 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/planning-and-scheming-how-we-start-a-web-design-project/ - Categories: Web Design - Tags: best practice, building a website, goal-oriented design, web design projects, website planning Every successful website begins with projecting planning. Regardless of the size of the project, outcomes depend heavily on planning and communication at the earliest stages. From a kickoff meeting to wireframes, these are the key elements of a smooth website design project. Whether you're redesigning 800 pages or 8, every successful website redesign project begins with goal-oriented project planning. How well your site performs and whether it meets the needs of your customers and clients depend heavily on how we establish the goals of the project at the earliest stages. From a kickoff meeting to wireframes, these are the key elements of a successful web design project. A strong kickoff meeting We schedule a kickoff meeting to get everyone involved in the project around the same table. Here's an example of a generic kickoff agenda. Feel free to use and edit as you need. We modify this template every project, but it's a great base. This project kickoff meeting can take place in-person or via conference call, but we prefer to get everybody into one room, ideally for an entire day. We work through your long term goals, establish ad-hoc personas, decide on what information is most important to include in the information architecture, start teasing design aesthetic, and even dive into the technical nitty-gritty. We make sure we've got everything thoroughly accounted for before we start the planning and design process. Every kickoff meeting should establish clear, SMART goals for the website as well as a strong understanding of what the site's users need to achieve. Homepage information architecture This phase varies from project to project, but I've recently adapted a simple approach that involved nothing more than a bulleted list of content we'll be including on a wireframe. With the advent of responsive design, using a bulleted list for the information architecture saves us the headache of manipulating more content than we're ready for, and gets everyone on the same page with the hierarchy of the layout. For instance, a project we're working on now includes these elements, and will be designed in an "infinite scroll" layout: Branding statement The primary emotionally communicative element of the design. It does not convey detailed information so much as give users an impression about what your company represents and help them identify with the organization. Vital to impart trust and reliability. Variable featured content Selected by site administrators, this area will include highlighted items from across the website such as events, images, etc. Site navigation This allows users to find the content they’re looking for; this will follow an anchor-text format for the infinite scroll type of layout. Services/Value Propositions Three separate sections (each with a photo gallery) that convey the breadth/depth of service capabilities in an engaging, informative way. Need to be able to add more service areas so will need this to be flexible in layout/style. About Us Team and corporate information, written to highlight the strengths of each and establish the importance of relationships and trust. Communications Feeds of recent items from sources such as the blog, Twitter, or newsletters, with links to the source articles where applicable. Lead Generation Basic inquiry form with contact information. Footer content Includes links for some site navigation, legal pages, and social networking pages, as well as location and copyright information. All this in a simple Google document, shared with the client. They make comments, ask questions, and very quickly we've all got a solid understanding of what the order of information will be on the website. The sitemap Whether we're launching with an MVP or a full site, we develop a sitemap that accounts for every single page on the site. Even for a redesign project, we take a close look at the sitemap and adjust as needed to create a more cohesive, streamlined user experience. Depending on the number of pages on a website, we may use a simple Google Drive spreadsheet or a program like Slickplan to give our client a simple visualization of the pages on the site and how they're structured within the navigation. A sitemap document helps inform the steps needed to complete content or content revisions for a web design project. Wireframes Depending on the complexity of a project, we move on to wireframes, which involve a black-and-white content-free simulation of the website layout. We generally build lo-fi wireframes - meaning they're very basic. We don't really account for true scale or hierarchy, instead referencing the elements... --- ### Big Sea Heads West! Announcing Our New Location in Colorado Springs > Big Sea has opened a second location in downtown Colorado Springs. Colorado businesses now have a new digital marketing agency to work with. - Published: 2018-07-26 - Modified: 2020-12-14 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/big-sea-heads-west-announcing-new-location-colorado-springs/ - Categories: News & Culture The new location will serve high demand for modern marketing in the fast-growing metro area. Florida-based digital marketing agency Big Sea has opened a second location in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. This location will serve new and existing marketing clients in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Denver and throughout the Western U. S. When exploring locations for expansion, Big Sea was particularly attracted to the growth potential of Colorado Springs. “While we serve clients all over the country, for some of the industries in which we specialize, proximity is important. ” says Big Sea CMO and Managing Partner, Andi Graham. “We see a huge opportunity to become a catalyst in the growth of Colorado Springs. The city reminds me of where St. Petersburg was ten years ago, just finding its way but dripping with potential. We are excited to help Springs businesses grow with the city. Specifically attractive to Big Sea was the tourism industry of Colorado Springs. Big Sea has a history of success marketing for museums and attractions, including multi-location family entertainment centers and annual festivals across the country. They also work with healthcare providers and higher education admissions marketing, among many others. “Marketing has changed and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. SEO isn’t what it used to be. Email marketing has died and been reborn. And modern websites have to be not just mobile, but accessible and fast. It’s a lot to keep up with,” says Joe Hamilton, Big Sea CEO and Managing Partner. “Our clients trust us to not just keep up with it, but stay ahead of the curve. We’re excited to bring modern marketing to the businesses and organizations of Colorado Springs and to better serve our clients near there. ” For more information about Big Sea and their new Colorado Springs location, please contact Andi Graham at 727-386-8031 or andi@bigsea. co. Big Sea is a digital marketing agency founded in 2005 in St. Petersburg, Florida. A HubSpot Gold partner with a team of 24 smart professionals, the agency provides consulting, marketing, web design and development services to clients all over the country. --- ### Crisis Management: Firefighting With the Right People > A client's website disappeared overnight. What we did next is a powerful lesson in crisis management and the importance of trusting your team. - Published: 2018-07-13 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/crisis-management-firefighting-right-people/ - Categories: Digital Marketing - Tags: Big Sea projects, lessons learned, project management, Web Design It’s the call no Account Manager wants to receive. Especially on a Monday morning. “Our website is down.” It’s the call no Account Manager wants to receive. Especially on a Monday morning. “Our website is down. ” When I get a call like this, my brain immediately goes into hyperdrive. It could be a hundred things — is it a server issue, did the database fail, is this the beginning of the zombie apocalypse? In this particular instance, it was a worst-case scenario for a digital marketing agency. The site was deleted and completely lost. All the files — blog posts, bios, images — were just ... gone. Every. Single. Page. Of our client's entire website. It doesn’t happen often (translation: practically never) but in the transfer from one agency to another, sometimes things don’t go as smoothly as we’d all like. The next question is: What do we do to fix it? How would our team come together and rescue this client while still maintaining projects and deadlines for all the other clients? Spoiler alert: We did it. How we got there was a powerful lesson in crisis management and the importance of trusting the talent and expertise of your team. Assess the situation We needed to discover what happened and then quickly figure out how to recover. Imagine a real-life fire: before you pour water on the flames it's a good idea to assess the situation. What is burning? What is nearby that could help or worsen the situation? Has everyone evacuated the area? Only when you've gotten a lay of the land can you safely extinguish the blaze. Was the site completely lost? No backups? The answer, sadly, was Yes. The site was deleted and unrecoverable. Now we knew what had happened. Before we got to the bottom of how and why we needed to solve the issue. Our client needed a site ... fast. Scrap your plans We were in the middle of redesigning a brand new website for this client. We had a beautiful homepage, sitemap, 8-week project plan with milestones, deadlines, and planned meetings with client presentations. All of that, out the window. We did not have 8 weeks, we now had 48 hours. This was a real-time litmus test of our Agile methodology. We had to respond to the change and work with/around our processes in order to do what was best for the client in this situation. And even though we weren’t able to use our previous plans, we quickly developed a new, leaner version and hit the ground running. We put up a temporary splash page with basic information so that any site visitors knew that the website was under construction and still had a way to contact them. We set up redirects for all of their previous pages so that Google didn’t think the site had disappeared. Having a new Agile plan was an important step in crisis management. It ensured that we were all working together toward the same, newly defined goals. Fight fire with teamwork We were lucky in many ways, but first and foremost, we had clients that were open and willing to work with us while we zigged, zagged, and did whatever was necessary get a site up. Our team isn’t just the people who work inside the agency, it’s also our clients. And we could not have asked for better team players in this situation. Our in-house team came together in an incredible way. We already had a homepage design ready, so our Creative Director presented to the client, received feedback, made changes, and moved the page to development in just a few short hours. Our developers went heads-down to build the homepage. Next, we used data and good ol’ fashioned common sense to prioritize which pages to restore first. We pulled everything we could find on the Wayback Machine to help us restore pages faster. Then we took it a step further and optimized all of the old content so it was up to our standards. We tested a new method of development that we’d been debating for months (should we use this, should we use something else, what is the best system... back and forth, yes or no). The time for debate was over – we had to go all-in and... --- ### Your Content Marketing Isn’t Working. Here’s Why. > Your posts are unread, your Instagram is a graveyard, and your white paper offer isn't generating leads. Here's why your content marketing isn't working. - Published: 2018-06-26 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/content-marketing-isnt-working-heres/ - Categories: Content Marketing & SEO Your blogs are unread, your Instagram is a graveyard, and your white paper offer is anything but lead generating. It's time to face it — there's a problem with your content. Maybe it isn't optimized for search, so it languishes on page 10 of Google. Or maybe you're only sharing press releases disguised as blogs. Or … maybe you're just not that good of a storyteller. No matter what the specific problem is, it all amounts to the same thing: Your content marketing sucks. Your posts are unread, your Instagram is a graveyard, and your white paper offer is anything but lead generating. It's time to face it — there's a problem with your content. Maybe it isn't optimized for search, so it languishes on page 10 of Google. Or maybe you're only sharing press releases disguised as blogs. Or ... maybe you're just not that good of a storyteller. No matter what the specific problem is, it all amounts to the same thing: Your content marketing sucks. Here are 12 of the most common problems with content, and how to fix them. #1 You don't know your audience Do you know why Stephen King is a bestseller? It isn't because he's a spectacular writer. Even he will admit he's a good writer, but he's not the greatest. So why do his books sell millions of copies? Because he delivers what his audience wants. Every time. (He's also a great storyteller, which we'll get to. ) The same is true in content marketing. You need to know who your audience is and what they expect from you. Here's how you fix that: Audience personas. Audience personas are representations of your audience based on industry research and data from your real audience. It's easier to share relevant stories with your audience when you know who they actually are and what matters to them. If you think your target audience is "moms," an audience persona might reveal your actual ideal audience is "College-educated mothers between 30-45 that work at least part-time, are active on social media, and are interested in fitness. " Not sure who your audience is? Start asking. Surveys are a great way to get to know your audience. After that, dig into the data. #2 Your content marketing is all about You You know that guy at the party that can only talk about himself? He interrupts your story just to tell his own. He's an unrepentant one-upper. He's pretty sure he's the bees knees and he wants everyone there to know it. Don't be that guy. It sounds obvious, but brands often fill their blog with articles that are thinly-veiled sales sheets touting all the benefits of their product or service. Sales content has a place — no question about it — but it's not your blog. It's probably not your social media, either. Fix it: Stop talking. Start listening. Your audience has shared interests that intersect with your brand. It's called a "content tilt," and finding yours can revolutionize the way you approach content marketing. Red Bull found that a large portion of its customers were interested in high-energy, adventurous sports and activities. It sponsors snowboarding events, an air race, and a breakdancing competition. It created Red Bull TV, a global multi-platform channel to share its content with millions of viewers thirsty for the content. Red Bull gives you wings, and its content shows you what you can do with them. Legendary brand General Electric discovered its audience was neck-deep in tech and science. GE leaned heavy into its content tilt, sponsoring fictional sci-fi podcasts that have hit #1 on iTunes. It also launched a newsletter that shares amazing stories of technology advancing medicine, agriculture, infrastructure, and more. Here's the important takeaway from GE: It doesn't write about how its technology revolutionized a particular sector or industry. Instead, it talks about what the revolution actually is. #3 You don't know your keywords I'm a craft-first, story-first marketer, but that doesn't mean I don't know the value of keywords. The internet is overflowing with content, and literally nobody is flipping through pages of Google results to find something to read or watch. You need a strong keyword game to rise above your competition and help your readers find you first. Fix it: Create a keyword bank. This one is actually pretty easy. Once you have your content tilt, you need to develop a list of related keywords with strong search volume. Here are a few quick ways to find the search terms your audience uses: Ask your readers what type of content they look for, what types of information they're searching for, what types of stories they're interested in. Pay attention to... --- ### Get Good Reviews From Your Patients (the Right Way) > Don't be tempted to do shady things to get good reviews from your patients. Stick to these above-board tactica that really work. - Published: 2018-06-21 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/get-good-reviews-patients-right-way/ - Categories: Health & Wellness People don't want to go to the doctor until they're dealing with something that refuses to be ignored. By then, they literally have a pain point — and they're already in the consideration stage. That's good news for your practice. But even when someone has a personal referral from a friend or physician, they're still going to investigate your reputation online. People don't want to go to the doctor until they're dealing with something that refuses to be ignored. By then, they literally have a pain point — and they're already in the consideration stage. That's good news for your practice. But even when someone has a personal referral from a friend or physician, they're still going to investigate your reputation online. Good reviews from your patients affect whether or not someone gives you a call. If you want to grow your practice, you need to start generating positive reviews online. Here are some of the best ways to get good reviews from your patients. Ask your patients for reviews Don’t put a patient on the spot or make them feel pressured to leave a review, but a polite request from your staff as patients leave the office goes a long way—“If you’ve had a positive experience with us, we’d love if you’d leave us a review online! ” Let patients know that their feedback helps others just like them make the right choice. Signage in your waiting room and restrooms can also prompt happy patients to leave reviews. Appointment reminder cards and receipts can also be used to ask for reviews. Always let patients know that their feedback helps others just like them make the right choice when it comes to their healthcare provider. Make it easy to leave reviews Once you’ve convinced a patient to leave a review, make sure they don’t abandon the process when it gets too complicated. Provide a review link on your website, in emails and on your social media. Your directions should be clear to someone even if they've never left a review online before. You can even leave tablets with your review site in the waiting room for anyone who’d like to leave a review while they wait for their appointment! Manage your local listings Your patients can't leave reviews if you don't have profiles set up. And they won't trust those reviews if you don't manage your profile with up to date information, credentials, hours, types of insurance taken, and more. Additionally, you should set up listings for each provider at your practice along with your overall practice listings. People want to know what it's like interacting with individual physicians as much as they want to know about the vibe of your practice and practicalities like average wait times. Sound like a lot to manage? It is. We provide this service for our healthcare marketing clients, giving doctors more time to focus on patient care. (We can help you, too. ) Do not incentivize reviews If you've ever purchased something on Amazon, you probably received a follow-up email asking you to leave a review. In many cases, those sellers offer a future discount or other incentive. Incentivizing reviews can land you in hot water. Avoid this practice, as tempting as it sounds to get good reviews from your patients by kicking them gift cards or discounts. You may find that your competitors are still doing it, or that marketers are recommending this practice, but it's always best to stay on the FTC's good side. Give patients a reason to leave a good review You can't get good reviews from your patients if you don't provide amazing patient experiences. When a patient leaves a positive review, they are essentially saying “my experience was so good, I’m taking my personal time to recommend this to everyone else. ” That’s huge. Read More: How to Respond to Negative Reviews Online >> Make sure that everyone at your practice understands that good reviews impact your business not only by convincing patients who are researching you to book an appointment, but by boosting your local search rankings and the overall reputation of your practice. How do they fit into that big picture? They need to keep in mind that every single patient might walk out the door and leave a review. Be remarkable and people will spread the word. Offer remarkably poor service and people will spread the word far and wide. That's the nature of the internet. Why take a chance by providing lackluster patient experiences? This is an exact science. It's an ongoing effort that... --- ### Plugin Update: HubSpot for Gravity Forms and GDPR > Update your HubSpot for Gravity Forms plugin for GDPR compliance. We'll walk you through how to get it set up for a better user experience. - Published: 2018-06-01 - Modified: 2018-06-01 - URL: https://bigsea.co/ideas/plugin-update-hubspot-for-gravity-forms/ - Categories: Tech & Code On May 25th, the European Union implemented the General Data Protection Regulation, better known as GDPR. As such, website owners and developers now need to ask for explicit permission from European users if it’s ok to store the information they collect, and use the user’s personal information for tracking and promotions. On May 25th, the European Union implemented the General Data Protection Regulation, better known as GDPR. As such, website owners and developers now need to ask for explicit permission from European users if it’s ok to store the information they collect, and use the user’s personal information for tracking and promotions. If you’re using our HubSpot for Gravity Forms plugin, here is a quick guide for a simple option to request permission in advance to send the user’s form submission to HubSpot. Upgrade Your HubSpot for Gravity Forms Plugin Recently, we’ve released version 4. 0 of the Hubspot for Gravity Forms plugin. We’ve introduced conditionals for the form feeds. This allows you to send the form data to HubSpot when certain conditions are met. Naturally, this tutorial won’t be of much use unless you’re using at least version 4. x. Here's how to get started: Go to Wordpress Admin Panel > Plugins, and check on your version. If it’s due for an upgrade, make sure you update and use the latest version! Add a field requesting permission to your form Go edit the form you’re going to add this conditional to, and create a field requesting consent. And heads up: You can no longer have a checkbox selected by default to sign up for a newsletter or other communications. You need explicit permission from the user. We included the following information with ours, for example: Manage your Feed Now that you’ve saved the checkbox on your form, go to Settings > HubSpot on the form, and click “Edit” on your HubSpot feed. At the bottom of the settings for the feed, you will see a new “Feed Conditional Logic” section. Just select that you want to Enable Condition, select your newly created field, and which value to watch. When you’re satisfied with your conditions, click “Update Settings” That’s it! Now, HubSpot will no longer receive the form submission from the user unless they explicitly select to allow communication! hbspt. cta. load(386058, 'cdbf6810-d6d1-42c1-921d-dbb64f08cd24', {}); A great side effect of this new Conditional Logic feature is that you can use it for any other situations, too! Send the same Gravity Forms form to different feed suggestions based on their answers, or just send one subset of submissions to HubSpot based on what their favorite beer is. Good luck, and enjoy the latest version of our plugin! --- ---