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Noisy Trumpet Celebrates National Be Heard Day

There is a reason Noisy Trumpet’s motto is “Be Heard.” We believe that every business has a unique voice with the potential to make a difference. Our mission is to provide our clients with opportunities to reach those who matter most and break through the clutter without adding to the noise. Anyone can release information out to the world, but our team takes the time to identify the right messaging and channels to make your voice truly resonate with your audience.

 

In celebration of National Be Heard Day, we are taking a look back at the work we have done for our clients such as the Devils River Conservancy, San Antonio Sports, Celebrity Fan Fest, SA YES and many more. When working with a diverse group of voices, we recognize the importance and power of owning your personal brand. From preserving wild Texas to uniting comic and film fans from across the country — we have had a blast working to ensure our clients’ brands are heard and remembered.

 

If you want to “Be Heard” and make the right kind of noise in your industry, we are here to help. Contact or stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away.

 

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Advertising Blog Public Relations

PR and SEO: Match Made in Digital Heaven

PR and SEO are the marketing power couple taking the communications world by storm. The marriage between public relations and search engine optimization has provided effective results for clients and proven that the integration of two is better than one.

 

Hand-in-Hand

Whether your goal is to increase brand awareness, raise your search rankings or simply make your message heard on a larger scale, there are many benefits to PR and SEO teaming up to work together. Here is a list of the top benefits your company will gain from utilizing PR and SEO:

 

  • Be Heard
    • When PR and SEO teams are aligned, it creates a mutually beneficial push-and-pull effect. PR pushes the message out and SEO optimizes your presence by pulling consumers in when they search keywords or phrases used by your company. In turn, each team needs the other if they want to maximize results. PR needs SEO to ensure their message is reaching the appropriate audience, and SEO needs the quality content that PR provides. Take advantage of this opportunity to allow your brand to reach new heights and deliver your message further than it has ever gone before.

 

  • Reach the Masses
    • Having a recognizable brand is becoming more and more important for landing on the search engine results page; getting featured on powerful third-party sites goes a long way to cementing you as a trusted brand.
    • If your brand name is getting mentioned in lots of different places, be that social media, news websites or elsewhere on the web, there is no doubt that Google will go a step closer to trusting you and ranking you higher.
    • How do you get people talking about you? Media outreach efforts help place your content in targeted outlets, consequently broadening your reach and awareness while increasing your content’s ranking on search engine result pages.

 

  • Build Search Engine Rankings
    • Content and Keywords
      • Search engine ranking improves when your website is filled with strong content and keywords. For example, if your website has more visual content, you will have limited keywords for Google to pull and use in your ranking. However, if you take the time to research appropriate keywords that would benefit and represent your brand category, SEO teams can collaborate with PR to write copy that includes the best words and phrases to amplify your website.
    • Link Building
      • Link building is an important SEO tactic because it is a major search engine ranking factor. PR is key in this process because the team can provide links to reputable web pages in their content. For example, when you write a press release for your client, you can add a link to their website in the copy. Then, if that press release is picked up by a news source, the client will receive inbound site traffic from the reputable news source, increasing SEO and page authority.
  • Reputation Mangement
    • Positive reviews not only help build your brand’s reputation but also your search engine rankings.

 

On Again, Off Again

This information will probably raise the question of, “Why don’t all companies merge their PR and SEO teams?” To answer simply, time and resources. In order for this partnership to work, both PR and SEO teams have to coordinate and plan together on a daily basis. This includes content planning, writing, research, information presentation and so forth. Although it will take time for this transition to fit smoothly into your daily tasks, both teams will benefit immensely from each other.  

If you are in need of PR and digital services that will help your company grow, we are here to help. Contact or stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away.

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Advertising Blog Social Media

Brand Activations: Connecting With Consumers

Two yellow and blue and pressing a button in front of black and white crowd for Brand Activation blog

As brands continue to spend top dollar on advertising, it’s crucial to be creative in your marketing and public relations strategies to stand out from the pack. Through brand activation, brands can build more awareness through novel experiences, create buzz and stimulate consumer interest that leads to sales.

What are Brand Activations?

Brand activations are a specific type of event or experience created by a company and characterized by their interactivity. They provide the opportunity for brands to directly engage consumers, face-to-face, product in hand. This method often takes many different forms:

Creating Memories that Last

Building and maintaining brand awareness is a crucial, primary goal in a marketing campaign. With brand activations, the increase in consumer touch points and engaging experience greatly improve awareness and recall. For example, in an in-store or sampling activation giving out promotional merchandise, Expandabrand noted that two-thirds of people are able to remember the brand up to a year later.

Not only do activations provide more engaging touch points with customers, but their interactive nature also makes it easier to remember your brand. Moreover, the more favorable their experience, the more likely they are to have a positive association with the brand and its products or services.

Stronger Connection with Consumers

Activations provide more opportunities for consumers to interact with your product or service which can stimulate a stronger emotional connection to the brand. This gets people talking about your brand and sharing the experience through social media, which can rack up an enormous amount of organic impressions. This growth in consumer interest can directly influence purchasing decisions in your favor.

Being face-to-face with your target consumer also gives you the opportunity to better understand them. What do they think about your product or service? Is it easy to use? Do they like the way it looks? This type of two-way communication builds a personal connection with your consumer and provides a better understanding of how your brand is meeting their needs.

When executed properly, brand activations are an incredibly useful tool to connect with consumers. But proper execution is no easy feat. Let our expertise help your brand be heard in the ever-evolving world of marketing. Contact or stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away.

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Blog

Texas Hold’em Gives Back

On January 12th, The PM Group held their annual Charity Texas Hold’em Tournament here in San Antonio. Noisy Trumpet was honored to help promote the tournament through social, digital, and PR efforts and were thrilled to see the success of the event unfold. With 242 players in attendance, the tournament raised a total of $65,000 for its beneficiaries, San Antonio Sports, SA YES, CC YES and Austin YES. These 501(c)3 organizations provide services to underserved youth, strengthening their local communities one child at a time.  

 

San Antonio Sports is a nonprofit that has been transforming the community through sport since 1984. They are responsible for bringing the NCAA Championships to San Antonio along with the Rock ’n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon. Aside from bringing thousands to the city with huge athletic events, San Antonio Sports’ mission is to provide youth sports programs to the community with programs such as i play! afterschool. This innovative afterschool sports program is designed to teach powerful life lessons such as teamwork, dedication and healthy living choices.

 

San Antonio Youth Educational Support, otherwise known as SA YES, was created in 1998 and has grown across Texas with two additional branches in Austin and Corpus Christi. SA YES, CC YES and Austin YES are dedicated to giving back to underserved students in their communities by providing school supply kits to Title 1 schools.

 

Thank you to all who participated and made the event a true success. Congratulations to all of the winners including the Grand Prize Winner who won a $10,000 entry into the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas! We are proud to be the digital and public relations agency for the four beneficiaries and look forward to future tournaments hosted by Texas Hold’em.

 

To stay in the know about future tournaments hosted by The PM Group, be sure to follow their Texas Hold’em website. The next tournament will take place this summer on May 4th!

 

To stay updated with the latest agency news and events, feel free to contact and stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away!

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Blog Social Media

What Makes a Successful Social Media Campaign

By 2021, the number of worldwide monthly social media users is expected to reach over 3 billion. There is no surprise that social media is an integral part of marketing and public relations efforts. However, social media campaigns are likely to fall flat without a well designed, cohesive plan. To ensure a healthy return on your social media efforts, follow these simple steps when developing your next campaign.

Define Goals

Like any other marketing initiative, a successful social media campaign must have clear and concise goals. Whether your goal is to build brand awareness or if it’s to drive conversions, you will need to have a different approach for each. Focusing on clear goals will give your social media campaign direction and will help avoid wasted time and money.

Insightful Research

Conduct extensive research and intently review your brand, market, competition and target audience. Find out what works well for your competition and what they may not be utilizing. Take this opportunity as a way to differentiate your brand from others.

You also need to understand who you want to target. Build a consumer profile of your target audience and what tactics work best to reach them. Understand how the dynamics of their daily lives impact their use of social media and build your plan accordingly.

A Tailored Message

Make sure to adhere to the nuances of each digital platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr) and engage with the target audience appropriately. Each of these platforms requires a different approach while maintaining consistent branding, messaging, tone and voice.  

For example, Twitter’s core principle is commentary; a place where people share their opinions about current events. This would be the perfect place to refine your brand’s personality and voice while cultivating your audience’s interest. Conversely, Instagram is visually-compelling and becoming increasingly integrated with e-commerce. Here, you want to display your product attributes and make use of the easy path to conversion.

Make it Interactive

Social media is one of the few mediums where you can directly engage with an audience. This interactive element is arguably one of its greatest strengths and needs to be leveraged well to ensure a successful campaign.

Engaging with followers through post comments helps build a stronger connection with the brand while providing you with insight into your audience and giving you a more robust profile to use moving forward.

In addition, make sure to utilize other interactive content elements such as polls, surveys, questions and other tools at your disposal to differentiate your brand across platforms. Keep in mind this should be done in a way that aligns with your target audience and your goal.

 

Sound like too much to handle on your own? That’s why we are here.

Let our social media expertise help your brand be heard in the ever-evolving world of marketing. Contact or stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away

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Blog Social Media

Campaigns That Made Noise in 2018

As companies gear up to market their brand in the new year, it is beneficial to reflect on the previous year’s most successful marketing campaigns and evaluate what can be learned from their success.

From brands such as Nike, Bud Light and Google, here are our top picks from 2018:

1. Nike’s “Dream Crazy”

Nike took the industry by storm when they released their “Dream Crazy” campaign featuring former NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who boldly stated at the end of the ad, “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if they’re crazy enough.” This emotional campaign evoked a nationwide conversation and led to a 31 percent increase in online sales for Nike, as reported by The Washington Post. This ad showed that brands are able to use their platforms to engage in important political discussions and despite backlash, it was highly successful. The “Dream Crazy” campaign undoubtedly displayed the power brands can have in politics and influencing public opinion.  

2. HBO’s “The Maze”

The Maze is an interactive game inspired by HBO’s television series Westworld. The game lets Westworld fans enter a new world of their own by talking to their Amazon Alexa device. “To find the center of the maze, [a user must] answer a series of questions across the levels: memory, improvisation, and self-interest”, as explained by Amazon. With interactive gaming on the rise, this could be a huge indicator of what’s to come in 2019.

3. Bud Light’s “Victory Fridges”

Another popular campaign with a quite different topic was Bud Light’s “Victory Fridges.” After the Cleveland Browns’ lengthy dry spell, Bud Light placed fully stocked fridges around the city that would be unlocked for fans to enjoy only after the Browns won a game. After the Browns’ victory over the New York Jets, the fridges were busted open, marking a second victory for the citizens of Cleveland. This simple yet effective idea enabled the brand to score a personal win from a football team’s victory and connect with an entire city.

4. John Lewis & Partners 2018 Christmas Ad

No stranger to top campaign lists, the John Lewis & Partners 2018 Christmas ad earned the number four spot. This strong storyline follows the career and success of world-famous singer, Elton John. John Lewis & Partners have proven year after year that the power of storytelling is what resonates with viewers and leaves a lasting impression for years to come.

5. Google Pixel 3’s “Top Shot”

A campaign that brought some comedic relief to 2018 was Google Pixel 3’s “Top Shot,” featuring a collection of moments we all know too well — the poorly timed click of a camera button. The ad showcased Google’s Pixel 3 feature that allows users to select the perfect picture out of a group of snapshots. This lighthearted ad and its positive reviews proved that laughter is the best way to connect with your audience.

 

Each of these campaigns started real conversations with the public. Whether bringing people together through laughter or engaging in important political and human rights-driven discussions, these stories proved their worth as 2018’s top campaigns.

 

If you’re looking for a year of powerful ideas to make your brand’s voice heard, we’re here to help in 2019. Happy New Year!

To keep up with what we are working on this year, be sure to follow our social channels for updates.  We are just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away!

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Advertising Blog Social Media

5 Ways to Develop a Successful Event Strategy

Recently, Noisy Trumpet experienced first-hand what it takes to execute a successful event with the launch of San Antonio’s first Celebrity Fan Fest, a two-day interactive fan festival featuring special appearances by prominent film and television celebrities. Producing any event requires a multifaceted approach beginning with basic details (venue, time, date, etc.), conceptualizing the official launch and building recognition. Here are five ways to develop a successful event strategy:

1. Have a Game Plan 

The first step is to identify your goals and needs. For inaugural events, such as Celebrity Fan Fest, increasing event awareness and ticket sales are primary goals. As mentioned in our previous blog post, brand positioning is key to any successful campaign communications strategy. Clearly positioning your brand builds an audience, enhances credibility and distinguishes your event amongst competitors.

 

 

2. Find Your Target Audience 

Research helps to identify your target audience. Attend a similar event in your area or utilize social media to find other successful functions that relate to yours. Find out what worked for them, review feedback from attendees, capitalize on what went right and how your event can offer an equal or better experience.

For example, popular Facebook group “Rate Your Comic Con” offers an open forum for attendees from all over the world to share their takeaways from conventions they’ve frequented. In the case of Celebrity Fan Fest, the platform offered insight on the latest trends and offerings similar events were exhibiting.

 

 

3.  Execution

Once you establish your event goals and target audience, review the necessary tactics to execute your plan. An effective event communications strategy includes various tactics such as press releases, media outreach, social copy and creative. Keep in mind that each announcement should be newsworthy. Will your announcement entice interest from your target audience, particularly media?

Consistency in your messaging is extremely crucial to build momentum and drive ticket sales. In addition, consider which medium your target audience most commonly uses. For instance, Noisy Trumpet took advantage of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and hyper-local podcasts to market Celebrity Fan Fest.  

If proven successful, your target audience could then become your brand advocates.

 

4. Engage 

As your event gains attention, it’s important to interact with your audience. Listen and respond to attendee feedback, especially on social platforms. Potential attendees will do their research online, reviewing content and commentary to determine whether the event is worth attending. Be cognizant of social media influence; the more you interact with your audience the better.  Answering frequently asked questions and acknowledging your audience’s opinions will demonstrate how invested you are in providing a positive customer experience.

Keep in mind that such interaction should not be limited to pre-event promotions. Communication should continue during and after the event. For example, Celebrity Fan Fest used social platforms to inform attendees of schedule changes, talent updates and thanked them for their support. This is a great way to secure their interest and attention for your next event.

 

 

 5. Day of Logistics  

After planning, promotion and outreach, the day of your event has come. Whether you’re an organizer, staff or volunteer, everyone’s role is vital to the event’s success. Familiarize yourself with the venue layout, carry copies of the event schedule and have point of contacts that can help answer any questions that may arise. This includes:

  •      Organizers
  •      Venue representatives
  •      Website administrators
  •      Social media editors
  •      Talent representatives (if spokespeople onsite)
  •      Media contacts

 

 

 

If you’re looking to host a successful event and need a creative communications strategy tailored to your target audience, contact us today. We are just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away!

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Blog Public Relations

Back to Basics: Fundamentals of Public Relations

While the PR industry has evolved during the steady rise of social and digital communication, the fundamentals of the industry must remain constant. Although agencies offer an extensive list of PR services, here are the fundamentals brands should always keep top of mind to drive successful campaigns.

Audience Identification and Relationship Building

First and foremost, brands cannot effectively communicate with their audience if they do not know to whom they are speaking. Therefore, step one is to identify the audience. Once you identify the audience, a key component of PR is building and maintaining relationships. This not only applies to existing clients, but also to media and potential customers.

Brand Positioning

Every company must uniquely position themselves so they can develop a brand image that is identified instantly. Having a clear positioning helps boost the brand image and gives potential customers an idea of what it would be like to work with the company. It’s essential to display a work style and culture so the company can stand out and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Be Heard

There is a reason the Noisy Trumpet slogan is “Be Heard”. We believe that making your voice heard is the key to any successful company. Every message a brand sends needs to leave a lasting impression on the target audience. Digital communication can only carry a message so far; brands still need word-of-mouth, earned media and public attention if they really want to make some noise and effectively break through the clutter.   

Feedback

Lastly, never underestimate the value of feedback. If someone is not satisfied with a company or brand, PR agencies are able to use that feedback to assess and plan for future changes. This process is critical for all companies because without taking the time to make changes and grow from past experiences, they will never be able to reach their maximum potential.  

If you would like to identify your brand’s target audience and “Be Heard”, contact us. We are just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away!

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Advertising Blog Web

The Time for Interactive Content

Online advertisements have been getting quite the upgrade. With new interactive content such as 3D ads, social polls and virtual reality, online users are able to engage with ads and branded content more than ever before. By engaging with your audience through these ads, you are helping to break through the noise and differentiate your brand. These forms of online advertising are promoting top of the funnel tactics that facilitate not only awareness but spark interest and consideration of the brand. Interactive experiences provide a fun way for consumers to learn more about your brand without feeling the pressure to purchase.

Here are a few examples of how you can start incorporating interactive ads into your marketing plan:  

 

3D & HTML5 Ads

With HTML5 and 3D advertising, businesses are able to create eye-catching and interactive online display ads. HTML5 coding gives marketers the ability to add movement and interaction to ads, helping combat banner blindness. The newly introduced 3D advertisements are taking interaction another step by offering a full 360 view of products. Users can now interact with products, learn its benefits and compare it to the competition all from the comfort of their own home. These new additions show a promising future for upping engagement with HTML5 ads drastically increasing click-through rates by 267% when compared to static-ads, as stated by research by Adform.

 

Polls and Surveys

When a company utilizes poll and surveys on social media, they are starting a two-way conversation with their audience. When your audience feels involved in the conversation they are able to express how they feel about the topic at hand and they are also able to see how other people following the same page think. In addition to audience engagement, polls/surveys are a fast and easy way to receive feedback for your company. While polls are common on Instagram, Facebook is working on adding this feature to their platform and are currently testing adding video polls to advertisements.

 

AR & VR

Augmented and Virtual Reality are quickly taking the marketing world by storm. With new features being worked on every day, it’s something brands need to keep on their radar. Snapchat has been in the game for some time offering different filters and lenses, and continue to maximize their share of this market. Now, Facebook AR Studio has partnered with Sketchpad to create 3D posts.

 

Social Games (Gamification)

Gamification is the process of taking a game design and placing it into non-gaming contexts such as websites or online communities. As we’ve previously discussed here, gaming is a top tool to use if you are looking to increase your consumer engagement. There are many ways you can incorporate gamification into your marketing. This can be as simple as accumulating points and competing with friends on leaderboards. Or, you can provide a stronger gamification by creating challenges and quests for online users to complete and receive exclusive rewards.

 

The digital media world is constantly growing and the future of marketing is interactive. These techniques are not only fun ways for consumers to interact with brands but it is the most promising form of gaining online traction for your business. When you are planning your next campaign, think about ways to involve your customers, start a poll, turn your logo into a fun filter, or create challenges for your customers to play and share on their social platforms.  

 

Contact or stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away

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Advertising Blog Social Media

How to Market for the Holidays

The holidays are fast approaching, which means it’s a great time to reassess your marketing strategies for the coming months. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, the earlier you get started the better (think early fall)!

 

The Reason for the Season

The holiday season is about showing others how much you care and taking the time to make the world a better place. Forbes suggests partnering with a nonprofit for holiday promotions. Teaming up with a nonprofit not only gives your company the opportunity to give back to your community but also opens up your network to new opportunities. Here at Noisy Trumpet, we have launched Robin Hood 210 just in time for the holidays! Robin Hood 210 is a digital marketplace where customers can shop for gifts whose net profits go towards a chosen nonprofit for several months. Robin Hood 210 supports charities around the Alamo City and we are thrilled to support them all.

 

Go Live!

Make sure to take advantage of Facebook Live this holiday season. This form of communication can provide a stripped back and more down to earth level of conversation. The great thing about Facebook Live is that you can get creative with how you want to utilize the feature. Whether you are live streaming a press conference, product launch or even Q&A’s with your CEO, you are letting your followers in and allowing them to see a little sneak peek of what your company looks like behind the scenes. The holidays are a great time to get to know your customers on a deeper level and Facebook Live is the perfect platform. Make it fun and use the opportunity to find out how they are celebrating the season and recommend events or products you think they’ll enjoy.  

 

Promote your Brand

The holidays are packed with product promotions but don’t forget to also take the time to promote your brand. That way, you are fresh in the consumers’ minds as they enter the new year and are looking for different things to try. You can accomplish this by providing exclusive deals to new customers or finding ways to personalize your holiday messages.

 

Make the Holidays Stress Free

Lastly, the main thing to remember during the holidays season is to make things as stress-free and easy for your customers as possible. Provide tips and additional information about your products or brand to make the consumer’s holiday shopping a little more enjoyable. Providing a stress-free experience will leave a lasting impression on your customers and sure to establish loyalty that will bring them back again and again!

Getting prepared for the holiday season can be a daunting challenge. Our duty as marketers is to provide our clients with every resource available. Let our expertise keep your business at the forefront of innovation and change. Contact or stay social with us! We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away.