Marketing is never static. Stay apprised of the latest trends from 2021!
Like many fields, marketing never stays the same for long. New trends, topics and technologies pop up all the time, and it’s important to keep your knowledge and skill up to date, especially if you need to promote your business or agency. And so, let’s look back at the past 12 months to see how marketing changed and what we can do to promote a productive and profitable 2022.
Streaming Video
Customers now expect brands to communicate with them through video. While even a few years ago video was considered a “nice to have,” it became a marketing essential in 2021. For example, did you know landing “pages with videos convert 800 percent better than pages without,”[i] or that “video marketing accounts for 69 percent of all consumer traffic.”[ii] However you look at it, video needs to be a part of your marketing toolkit going into 2022. And before you say, “I’m no videographer,” just know that it’s more than possible to shoot some wonderful, high-quality videos with your phone for a very reasonable cost.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is by no means the new kid on the block, but there is a reason why it remains standing after so many trends have come and gone. Simply put, it works! For instance, content marketing is “three times more efficient in terms of leads than outbound marketing”[iii] and “92 percent of marketers and businesses report content as a valuable business asset.” Convinced yet?
What’s nice about content marketing is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Simply refine your processes and optimize your content. Start by clearly defining your audience. Next, ensure your content is relevant. Third, get social! Figure out where your audiences are on social media and start sharing your assets.
Take care to not post too many updates that focus solely on your company. Social users will not engage with you if you act like a bullhorn or billboard. Develop helpful, educational thought leadership materials. These will help you be seen as an authority in your field and an effective resource capable of solving common problems your target audience may have.
Millennials and Gen. Z
The economic power (both individual and collective) of Millennials and Gen. Z now requires companies to sit up and pay attention to their respective buying preferences. Millennials, for instance, long ago passed the purchasing power of the Baby Boomers, and their economic influence stands at $65 billion.[iv] However, Gen. Z dwarfs them by a sizable margin, with purchasing power of around $143 billion.[v]
So, how do you reach these two pillars of the modern economy? First, prioritize building trust and integrity. Positioning your brand around attributes like honesty, fairness and goodwill is a good strategy for making inroads with these generations, as “90 percent of Millennials and Gen. Z list honest information about products as a top factor in making purchasing decisions.”[vi]
But you can’t stop there. These generations want to see and understand the people and values of the businesses they patronize. Showcasing your commitment to the environment, social justice and ethical business practices are just a few ways you can accomplish this.
Finally, meet them where they are by cultivating a strong, digital-first business attitude. As digital natives, these demographics desire to work with brands that have a smooth, digital customer experience already in place. Optimize your website if necessary and establish a strong social media presence if you haven’t already done so. Create accounts on legacy platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but don’t forget to also explore younger, more innovative sites like TikTok.
Conclusion
Part of the fun of marketing is that it never gets old. There are always new strategies to explore or novel methods to deploy. Of course, when you are responsible for running an entire agency, there is often little time to test out new tactics or ideas. But if you can adhere to some of the best practices listed above, you’ll be ahead of the curve and well-positioned to nail your marketing in the New Year.
Is it time for a business account? And what do you need to know about their terms of service?
I’m old enough to remember when social media felt simple. Back in the day, social was little more than a space to post silly photos or blog about your day. Fast forward to 2021 and social media is anything but simple. A highly developed industry worth over $60 billion,[1] social is now a fundamental aspect of the modern economy, a low-cost way for organizations to connect with followers and market their products and services.
Considering this explosive growth, perhaps you’ve wondered if you should establish a business account for your agency or if you can get by with a personal profile. Many of the largest social media platforms offer such accounts, each with its own terms of service. Here are some top considerations when thinking about establishing a business profile.
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
The good news is that for several of the biggest social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, you don’t have much of a choice when it comes to establishing a full-fledged business profile. Take Facebook, for instance. To interact within the platform as a business, you must establish a business page. Once you do, you’ll be able to access advanced analytics and run paid advertising campaigns. The same holds true for LinkedIn. To effectively promote your business, engage with customers and grow leads, you need to create a page rather than a profile.
Twitter, however, is a bit different; the process for setting up a profile works roughly the same way as an individual account. You can establish a profile for business purposes in a few easy steps.
TikTok
What about a more contemporary platform? Can these also be leveraged for social media marketing purposes? TikTok is increasingly being used by brands due to its highly engaged membership of one billion members and counting, compelling video content and sheer variety of ad types. TikTok does require you to establish a specialized profile, but it’s easy enough for any small business to implement.
Terms of Service – Some Core Takeaways
As we’ve mentioned, each one of these platforms includes their own terms of service, and nearly all of these include important things for businesses to mull over. For example, businesses that sign up for Twitter must share “personally verifiable” information, including phone contacts.”[2] Thankfully, it is possible to disable this any time through the settings page. Other terms of service are more difficult to opt out of. For example, any information tweeted by you is considered fair game for Twitter to sell to advertisers. Be sure to never tweet out sensitive information. You can delete your tweets, sure, but Twitter will always keep a record.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, numerous aspects of Facebook’s business tools policy require further reflection. The platform’s advertising policies is one such area, as numerous criteria can get your ad rejected. Whether it be a non-functional landing page or something that violates Facebook’s community standards, it’s good practice to review the site’s advertising policies before you spend time building an ad.
Another factor to be mindful of is copyright. Prior to sharing original graphics on your pages, you should understand you are essentially signing “an agreement that gives the site the right to use the work for a variety of purposes, like displaying it, adapting it, or copying it. In these cases, the license is given without payment.”[3]
TikTok has its own novel copyright issues. With music being at the core of the site’s content, you may be wondering how the content creators or the site itself are not inundated with cease-and-desist letters. Unlike many sites, TikTok “hosts a large library of royalty-free music, often from new and upcoming artists who want to gain exposure.”[4] This allows the music to be leveraged by users “in their videos without risking copyright infringement.”[5] While some users have still received takedown letters in the past, average businesses “probably won’t face legal trouble for using music that appears in the app’s music library.”[6]
The Beginning of the Journey
Moving to a business account on social media can have major benefits for your company – giving you greater understanding of your core audiences and more means for promoting your products and services. Just be sure to review each site’s terms of services for what is allowed and what is a no-go. Then you’ll be all set to leverage social media to gain greater awareness for your brand and grow your business.
This article is for informational purposes and does not contain or convey legal advice. Any opinions, or perceived opinions, are strictly those of the authors and should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Consultation with an attorney for specific advice based upon the reader’s situation is recommended.
A low-cost, easy-to-use design platform. Is it too good to be true?
Many business owners recognize the importance of having a steady stream of graphics on hand. If you are going to market your company or have an active presence on a channel like social media, you need compelling imagery to supplement your copy. The data almost unanimously backs this up, with Twitter, for instance, reporting that “tweets with photos average a 35% increase in retweets.”[i] Of course, understanding the importance of graphics naturally brings up the question of how you’re going to create them. Hiring a graphic designer can be expensive. And using Photoshop often involves a steep learning curve.
Thankfully, there are several online platforms these days that facilitate the easy creation of beautiful graphics, with one of them being Canva. Canva has a variety of pricing levels or tiers. There is a free version, as well as “pro” and “enterprise.” While each version is fairly affordable, most small agencies would likely find the free edition of Canva sufficient for their purposes, as it includes numerous templates, design types, cloud storage and more.
Given its robust functionality, on some level, Canva almost feels too good to be true – as nothing in life is truly “free.” And naturally, this may raise some understandable questions, such as whether you own the material you create on Canva and if you need to be concerned about licensing. These are questions we will address in this blog post and hopefully allay any concerns so you can start producing your graphical material.
Do You Own Your Canva Graphics?
According to Canva’s terms of use, if you upload something you’ve created independently from the site, you retain ownership and copyright. However, once you begin combining uploaded elements with pre-existing material housed within Canva’s system it becomes more complicated. In this case, you don’t own the design as much as you are permitted by Canva to use it for promotion. You don’t have to worry about someone contacting you later and asking for compensation.
What Should I Know About Canva Licenses?
So, what do we mean when we say that you have permission to use your Canva creations? Well, Canva essentially gives you a license to use all free templates or images on Canva to create different pieces of collateral that promote your business, such as flyers, banners, social media graphics and so on. The one thing you cannot do is create an image with materials owned by the platform and then directly sell that graphic. This is a violation of the site’s policies. Another prohibited action is to use templates or stock imagery as the standing logo for your business.
Canva has two other types of licenses to be aware of:
One-time use licenses: As a free Canva user, you will have access to hundreds of thousands of free stock imagery and other design elements. You can mix and match these assets to create myriad designs, and you don’t need to take any additional action to obtain permission. A large portion of the site’s content, however, is watermarked. To access and appropriately use this material, you must buy a one-time user license, which does carry some modest restrictions:
For example, you cannot use your design’s stock imagery in more than one design. (Although you can use it on more than one platform, such as on your website and social media.)
You also cannot use the stock image in designs made outside of the Canva.
Finally, there is a hard limit on the amount of time you can reproduce the image, with the ceiling currently being 2,000 times.
Canva Pro unlimited licenses: With a pro subscription, however, you are given unlimited access to the platform’s content, and you have the freedom to use Canva’s entire catalog of stock imagery and other design elements across multiple pieces of collateral. There is nothing additional to pay because the unlimited license is included as a part of your subscription.
A Viable Option?
Canva is a viable option for any organization dealing with real constraints in time or money. We live in a visually oriented society, meaning that to communicate effectively with your target audiences, you need to be able to pair your messaging with compelling photos or designs. With its relatively inexpensive price point, deep repository of images and templates, and the option to buy licenses for additional design materials, Canva can help small agencies and firms put out content that wows and potentially even converts their audiences.
This article is for informational purposes and does not contain or convey legal advice. Any opinions, or perceived opinions, are strictly those of the authors and should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Consultation with an attorney for specific advice based upon the reader’s situation is recommended.
Stay on the right side of the law while promoting your agency
Let’s face it: producing content can get tiring. Whether it be written or visual, each project requires time and talent. When you’re running a business, every moment is precious. It can be tempting to grab assets wherever you can find them.
Be careful.
While we exist in a copy-and-paste digital environment, copyright and copyright infringement have not gone away. In fact, with technologies like search robots and web-crawling spiders, it is now easier than ever to track down inappropriate uses of copyrighted material across the internet. Numerous people have received angry correspondence from giant corporations like Getty Images demanding that copyrighted material be taken down and for offenders to pay damages.
While that can sound scary, you still need to promote and market your business. Start by brushing up on some of the basics of copyright in the digital age. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be better positioned to help your business while staying on the right side of the law.
What is Copyright Anyway?
Copyright protects creators from unlicensed actors taking original works and claiming them as their own. It covers literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, architectural, and other intellectual works. Federal copyright begins as soon as a work is in “tangible form,”[i] which can include it being on “a hard drive, computer disc, film or tape.”[ii]
Copyright is also automatically applied when a work is created, and creators are not required to declare their copyright for it to be in effect. Websites are also the copyrighted property of their respective owners, including “overall design, all links, original text, graphics, audio, video and any additional original elements.”[iii]
Alternatives to Infringement
When it comes to copyright, the internet is a double-edged sword: it provides a glut of content, but creative works cannot be used without explicit permission. Providing a disclaimer like “No copyright intended” or merely giving credit to the original creator does not magically make it okay to use.
There are, however, other ways to utilize some of the excellent works that are floating around on the information superhighway. Those might look like:
Ask permission: It may seem silly or overly simple, but often the best way to leverage online creative assets for your agency is to ask the original creator. It may not work, particularly if you are using the asset for financial or business purposes, but it also might. The fact is that exposure is everything these days. By reaching out directly to an artist or writer with a compelling offer, such as guaranteeing to credit them and provide their work with a platform, you might receive permission to use their copyrighted material for your business.
Look for royalty-free work: While all creative works automatically carry copyright, there are specific materials that are designated as “royalty-free,” which makes them free for a third party to use. The trick is knowing where to look. The Associated Press, for instance, has a cache of royalty-free imagery, as does Getty Images. There are also lesser-known sources, such as Pexels.
Fair use: Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows for limited use of copyrighted material under highly specific circumstances. The use of copyrighted material is determined to be “fair use” depending on how it is interpreted through a four-point test. The four points include:
The purpose and character of the use, including whether it is for a commercial nature or nonprofit, educational purpose;
The nature of the copyrighted work;
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Public domain: Copyright infringement can, at times, feel onerous. Thankfully, copyright does not last forever. Currently, copyright lasts for the lifetime of the original author plus 70 additional years, while works made for hire enjoy copyright protection for 95 years following publication or 120 years following creation. You can find huge troves of public domain photos online, with this particular website being a great place to start.
Creative Commons: One of the last ways that you access copyrighted works is through Creative Commons, which offers a variety of public licenses for creators to share their works. All licenses issued through Creative Commons stipulate that you credit the original creator, and some prohibit using their work for financial purposes. You can learn more about the specifics of Creative Commons by viewing its website.
Work Faster and Smarter
The internet made the world’s scholarly, scientific and artistic resources available to creators across the planet. But despite this accessibility, creative work remains protected by copyright, meaning that, as an agency owner, you still need to be mindful of the assets you’re leveraging for promotional content. The good news is that there are other methods for obtaining wonderful creative materials that can enhance your marketing work. From simply asking permission to utilizing the Creative Commons, it is still possible to use the internet and its inexhaustible content to work faster and smarter for both yourself and your agency.
*This blog post is issued for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed or used as legal advice.
Many independent title professionals who run agencies are already overtaxed. From managing personnel to overseeing marketing, HR and billing, they have little time to take on new responsibilities.
Still, gaining an understanding of the basic principles of graphic design is a valuable use of any business owner’s time. In a world of unlimited content, your messaging, accompanied by vivid graphics, helps you stand out from the crowd. You can always find a talented designer, but understanding the basics and handling even small designing tasks can save you money and time.
More importantly, doing so has a net positive impact on your brand. Here are a few tips to help get you started.
Color
Color is a cornerstone of graphic design, dramatically impacting how we think and feel about a brand. Think, “Coca-Cola.” Do you immediately see red and white in its logo? Establishing a compelling color palette, and then learning to pair your colors effectively, can go a long way toward creating visual messages that are memorable, emotional and impactful.
To start building your mix of brand colors, hop online. A cursory search produces tutorials and resources. Canva, for example, has put together a terrific primer on why color matters, how different hues convey different emotions, as well as what different colors mean and how to start putting together a comprehensive palette. A number of blogs take a deep dive into the matter. This particular post is especially helpful and explanatory.
Font Family
The font family you select for your brand should be as intentional. Like color, your brand’s typeface communicates many things to your audience – although typically this works on a more subliminal level than a color palette. Think about the tone or purpose of your company’s brand when making your selection, ensuring that your font reflects that core identity.
For instance, perhaps you want to position your agency as a sleek, forward-thinking and, most of all, modern brand. You probably won’t want to pick a big cumbersome font like Impact or an antiquated text like Copperplate Gothic. Instead, you would want to consider something elegant-looking and clean, like Avenir Next LT Pro and Gill Sans Nova. Similarly, if you want to present a knowledgeable and professional image, you won’t want to use an ornate or playful font like Algerian or Modern Love. Instead, you should perhaps select Helvetica or Myriad Pro.
As with brand colors, there are innumerable online resources that can help you understand the theory behind the font family selection process. Do your reading and give careful consideration before moving forward.
Contrast
When making these decisions about your company’s colors or fonts, keep in mind the critical nature of contrast. Your color palette should include complimentary hues but also colors that draw a sharp contrast with one another, allowing for designs to be more vivid and powerful.
The same principle holds for fonts. When designs only feature a single font, a piece of collateral can quickly become stale-looking or stodgy. Incorporating a secondary font that differs wildly from your primary font can overcome this challenge, providing you with greater flexibility when laying out information.
Imagery
Images are everything when it comes to design. Without pictures, you often have little to work with so use them with gusto! Capitalize on images to break up walls of text. This tip is particularly useful for title insurance agency owners. While you may not be creating a lot of graphic design collateral on your own, you almost certainly will have a website you have to update. Data shows that pictures make web pages more inviting, less intimidating and raise the probability that visitors will take desired action.
When sourcing pictures, be sure you have the right to use the image. There are a variety of royalty-free websites you can use for graphics. Pexels ranks as one of the best. Using a picture you don’t have permission to use can subject you and your agency to financial penalties — even litigation.
Whitespace
Pictures represent an important design consideration, but ample whitespace is equally as important. Whitespace matters because every element you add to an image increases the risk that your collateral could look cluttered and disorganized. Whenever possible, aspire to keep designs clean and orderly – and whitespace can be an invaluable tool.
A New Tool in Your Toolbelt
We know title insurance professionals, particularly those who have a responsibility to an entire firm, hardly have an easy time managing everything on their plate. To learn a new skill or understand a newsubject is a tall order. But increasing your knowledge of graphic design is not just an intellectual exercise. It is a valuable endeavor that can save you real-time and money.
After you have internalized the above principles, put them into practice. Take advantage of the many online exercises, templates and frameworks, and start experimenting with some small design projects. You will be glad you did. This knowledge base can only benefit your business, ensuring that your brand stands out from the crowd and possibly even netting you new business as a result.
