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Tag Archives: marketing
FACEBOOK’S FOUR NEW ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS
Last month, Facebook announced 4 new advertising solutions launching in 2016 during the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France. The focus is on accelerating the shift to mobile advertising as the platform boasts 1.6 billion active users on Facebook and another 500 million on Instagram. The new solutions include:
- Audience Insights Application Program Interface (API)
Facebook partnered with a small group of advertisers, like Mondelez International (an American multinational confectionery, food, and beverage conglomerate based in Illinois which employs about 107,000 people around the world) and Anheuser-Busch InBev (the world’s largest brewer with 25% global market share), to develop insights from composite and unidentified demographics, psychographics, topic data and reports from Facebook IQ. The teams have been able to use these insights to create effective campaigns. The Audience Insights API will be available to partners early next year.
- Improvements to Canvas
Introduced last year, Canvas is a post-click, full-screen, immersive mobile ad experience that
loads instantaneously. It is designed to help businesses tell stories and show products on mobile devices in a beautiful way. Updates include steps to make it easier for marketers to design, create, share and gain insights, the ability to share Canvases with stakeholders to simplify the review process and it will have a new feed unit to help entice people to engage. In addition, Canvas will be available for all Pages to use in a post (even when it’s not promoted as an ad). Also, marketers will be able to access detailed metrics such as dwell time per component and clicks per component to track performance.
- Enhancements to Slideshows
Slideshow ads make it easy for businesses to create videos from photos. It gives the ability to create, edit and promote video ads in seconds and are five times lighter than the average video file, which means they’re ideal to reach people on slow connections. Audio and text overlay, an easy “video-to-slideshow” creation tool, the ability to create from a mobile device and integration with Pages Photo Library and Shutterstock image library are the latest enhancements. These tools will be available to all advertisers and can be used however you would use a video.
- Introduction of Creative Hub
People consume content on mobile in fundamentally different ways than they do on other channels. Creative Hub is an online interface, a “sandbox” where agencies can test different ad formats for online and mobile and experiment with what works best. In the past, most ad creation happens on desktop, but that is changing fast and Creative Hub’s experience is for a mobile device. The Creative Hub gives ad creators an easy way to preview their work in a dynamic mobile feed. They can also share mock-ups through a preview URL.
The Creative Hub is currently in test mode and should be available to everyone later in the year.
Facebook for small business continues to change almost daily. We’ll (try) to keep you abreast of the latest updates and opportunities as we learn them.
For more details, be sure to check out our Marketing for Small Business Classes too. We offer two curriculum, The Basics and Intermediate.
The Basics course was specifically created for business owners and staff that are branching out their marketing to include digital. The course includes four, 90-minute classes over four weeks. Classes include Blogging, Social Media, Email Marketing, Direct Mail Marketing and Organic Search Engine Optimization.
The Intermediate courses (also four, 90-minute classes over four weeks) are: HOW TO: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Constant Contact. Check out details, dates and pricing here.
Welcome Nina Cannady
Nina Cannady
Welcome Nina Cannady! Nina recently moved back to Houston after living in Anchorage, Alaska. A graduate of Benny Benson Secondary School, Nina studied accounting at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Nina has three sons, Maties (12), Jaiquin (5), and Lamont (2).
Nina handles A/R and other accounting functions as well as managing the day-to-day office happenings. Welcome to the family Nina!
RARE Pearls Scholarship Luncheon
The RARE Pearls Women of Excellence Awards recognizes the personal and professional achievements of extraordinary women in the Greater Houston area. This year, RARE Pearls honored the accomplishments and service of five women who personify excellence in their diverse roles and who are committed to helping to pave the path to success for other women and girls.
This event raises money for scholarships for participants of the RARE Pearls Program. RARE Pearls are high school girls, grades 11 and 12, who have demonstrated academic skills, leadership abilities, character, and discipline but are at-risk of not living up to their full potential due to extenuating circumstances and challenges. These racially/ethnically diverse students are more likely to not pursue higher education or to not complete college/post-secondary programs due to economic or environmental barriers. They live primarily in poverty, low-income, or otherwise financially challenged households. Many are being raised in single-parent homes or by a relative or other caregiver such as a grandparent or foster parent. Many are potential first generation college students who lack the guidance and support of college educated parents. Additionally, most have limited exposure to educational, social, and cultural experiences typically associated with “well-rounded” youth, and many come from backgrounds and educational environments that made it difficult for them to reach and fully demonstrate their academic potential. Prior to acceptance into the program, girls undergo a screening process involving a written application, interview, and interview with parent(s). This process is intended to ensure that both students and parents are prepared to honor the commitment required by the program.
Our Kathy N. Hall and Joy Zehrbach managed the marketing and Audio Visual portion of the program for a second year in a row This “Sold-Out” event was held at the Houston Junior League in April.
Winter Classes Scheduled
We are excited to announce that our ALL NEW Marketing for Small Business, Winter Seminar Series have been scheduled. We are offering two different programs:
Marketing for Small Business, The Basics
Blogging: Tuesday, February 2, 2016 11:30 – 1:00pm
Social Media: Tuesday, February 9, 2016 11:30 – 1:00pm
Email | Direct Mail: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 11:30 – 1:00pm
Search Engine Optimization: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 11:30 – 1:00pm
Marketing for Small Business, 2.0
TWITTER 2.0: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 11:30 – 1:00pm
FACEBOOK 2.0: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 11:30 -1:00pm
LinkedIN 2.0: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 11:30 – 1:00pm
Classes have a maximum of 15 students for personalized learning and maximum interaction. Cost is $30 per person, per class (with discounts for multiple class registration), and lunch is included. The series is held at our facility in the heart of the Houston Museum District.
We’ve had over 60 attendees in the past year, and classes fill quickly. Register today.
The New Elvis Stamp
Elvis Presley is heading to a post office near you in time for this year’s Elvis Week celebration in Memphis, Tennessee. The USPS announced the King of Rock and Roll will be immortalized in a stamp collection once again.
Beginning August 12, the greatest hist CD, Elvis Forever, will be available online and in some post offices along with the stamp.
The RCA/Legacy Recording… Read More
Slow Delivery in Houston Continues
The new USPS delivery standards for First Class and Standard Mail that take effect on July 1, 2015 have been published. However, we have continued to experience slow delivery both local and regional, especially with standard mail. We encourage our clients, especially those mailing to promote scheduled events, to drop your mail an extra 7 days earlier to ensure timely delivery of your marketing mail! We will continue to keep you apprised of delivery in the coming months as we prepare for the upcoming back to school and holiday seasons.
Spring Seminar Classes Rated Excellent
Our Spring Seminar Series have come to a conclusion and once again, we are (so) pleased to share results of participant surveys. 100% of our attendees submitted surveys this round, and 100% rated the overall series as EXCELLENT! Summer classes are in the planning stages now.
Thank you to our wonderful participants for making this series so popular.
BEB Takes Platinum Award
Platinum is the highest honor received within the AVA Digital Award annual competition. It recognizes outstanding achievement by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design and production of media that is part of the evolution of digital communication. Our winning entry was for the use of QR Codes in our annual company interactive calendars.
The competition this year received over 2,500 entries from across the globe. The AVA Digital Awards is sponsored and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). This international organization consists of several thousand production, marketing, advertising and free-lance professionals. We thank all of our valued clients and partners for continued opportunities to serve them!
You can see our winning entry by clicking here.
2015 Awards Season
This time of year is always hectic for us. We are involved with several industry organizations and January is the start of the awards competition season for many.
The competitions are a great way to support our local and national associations and gives us a chance to see the latest trends within the industry.
Today we submitted two pieces into the Printing Industries of the Gulf Coast (PIGC) Graphic 
Excellence Awards. One entry is a direct mail piece we created for a local nonprofit to solicit enrollment in the ACA; the other is our BEB Interactive Calendar! Winners will be announced in March, so keep your fingers crossed for us!
We’ve also entered our interactive calendar into the 2015 AVA Digital Awards for our use of QR Codes. Winners will be announced on February 2nd and you can see our online submission by clicking here.
We’re also working on our essay questions for the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Awards of Excellence competition. Entries are due by February 10th, and the entire company has submitted answers so we can submit an entry where everyone has contributed to the process!
Rounding out this year’s attempts will be the 2015 Hermes Awards and the coveted Houston AMA Crystal Awards. It’s a busy time in the Marketing Department at BEB!