How to Improve the Efficiency of Your Marketing Department

Time is a priceless commodity in marketing and utilizing new ways to be efficient within your marketing department can be a challenge. With so much data to compile and visual images to apply to different marketing campaigns, marketing directors may find that they are spending more time searching for what they need then actually creating effective marketing. To increase efficiency within your marketing department, outsourcing the organization of your visual images can free up time to spend on doing what you do best: marketing! Here are five ways that we can help improve efficiency by handling your visual images:

1.     Organization. Creating organized visual libraries is more difficult than it sounds. For large companies that have thousands of images that can be used in a variety of ways, having a way to organize these images into a cohesive system and maintain that system can take time needed to work on other projects. We can take this time consuming task off your plate and organize your images so they are easy to find and cross reference.

2.     Branding. If your company has multiple locations, keeping everyone on the same page for marketing images can be a challenging and time consuming. What we offer is a way to centralize all your visual assets under one system that all locations can utilize. This allows even smaller companies to have the same branding capabilities of large corporations, creating consistency with all their marketing.

3.     Accessibility. Digital imagery is used in almost all aspects of marketing and you and your department needs to be able to quickly access, find and use your digital images. What we give you is a digital library that is stored on our cloud service, giving you and your team access to what you need, wherever and whenever you need it.

4.     Consistency. Having one, consistent way to find your images can relieve many issues when it comes to new employees in your marketing department. Using our system makes it easy for new employees to learn where to locate images and since we catalog all new images as they are created, you will never have to wonder where your previous employee stored that image you are looking for again!

5.     Relevancy. Keeping your images up-to-date and relevant is another chore that can take time away from other projects that need your expertise. Old visual assets that no longer fit your companies image need to be removed or at minimum, archived so they are not accidentally used in current marketing. Having all imagery under one system allows you to have clean, relevant images to choose from.

By using our service, you can reduce the amount of time you spend searching and cataloging images and spend more time on other tasks that are more productive. Our job is to make your job easier by giving you easy and quick access to quality images that can help your marketing department build your brand. 

What Every Marketing Director Needs to Know About Digital Signage

The way that brick and mortar businesses reach consumers is changing, from the type of advertising that they use to bring the consumer to their shops to the way that they influence the customer's buying decisions once they are there. Printed materials, especially in signage, have been the preferred way to market for so many years that it is easy to get caught up in that rut. Digital signage is the wave of the future and has many benefits over static printed signs, including price, engagement and flexibility.

Engaging The Customer Through Digital Signage

One of the best ways to use digital signage is with a captive audience, such as in a cafe, at the checkout or even at the gas pump. This is the time to use digital signage to your advantage through engaging content. Just displaying rotating ads is not enough to keep their attention, as no one is interested in watching a 15-20 minutes worth of commercials. However, by adding tidbits of local or interesting information along with marketing messages, you can keep the customers attention and use this time to gain exposure for products and services they may be interested in. Some ideas for interesting content could include:

-      News and weather clips

-      How-to tips on business related topics

-      Local events

Digital Has A Flexibility Advantage Over Print

The problem with printed signage is that when a promotion is over, the signage is useless and must be replaced. Digital has the advantage of flexibility, with the ability to change the marketing messages in an instant. Although the content still must be changed, it can be changed faster and replaced at a moments notice. For example, if there is an ad running digitally promoting a certain item and the store runs out, the ad can be quickly pulled and replaced with other content.

Another advantage that digital signage has is the flexibility to change the message to influence buying decisions based on what the current needs are. Whether a storm is coming in and a manager wants to change the digital loop to include an ad promoting their supply of batteries or there is an over abundance of perishable items that need to be sold today, the digital signage can be changed to meet the immediate needs of both the business and the consumer.

Digital Signage Is Cost Efficient

Although the start up costs of adding digital signage may seem higher than print, in the long run it can be more affordable. The cost of continuously replacing printed signs can add up quick. In addition, many businesses sell digital advertising to other local or even national companies, helping recover the costs of the digital signage.

Too often marketing directors may overlook digital signage as an option due to the initial costs of adding it to their business. However, the long term benefits of digital can have a large positive affect on how a business communicates with their customers and can even have a cost savings over time. It is worth taking the time to consider the advantages of upgrading to digital signage for any business with a captive audience.

5 Tips for Increasing the Value of Your Visual Content

Digital images, whether still photography or video, are one of the most important marketing assets your business owns. It is the visual images on your website, in your brochures and all your marketing materials and venues that make the first connection with your target audience. Those images will either attract further interest or allow your audience to pass their attention to something new. They will also communicate subliminal messages about who you are and what type of services you provide, all within a millisecond of time. What messages are being communicating through your images? Do they say modern, efficient and friendly? Or do they say out-of-date and impersonal? Here are 5 ways to increase the value of your visual content and make it communicate your message accurately.

1. Audit your visual library. The first and biggest step in improving the value and impact of your visual images is to simple determine what you have and what you are missing. How old are your images? Are some of them no longer relevant to the services you provide? Have you remodeled portions of your facilities since your last photo shoot? Have you updated equipment, but not added documentation to your image library? Do you have your best images formatted for both internet and print collateral? Is your visual content organized in a way that images and videos are easy to find and access?
2. Update your visual content. If you are like most facilities, you do a remodel or some type of interior refurbishing every 5 to 8 years. You know that it is important to present a fresh, up-to-date image to your clients. The same is true of your visual images. They need to be updated at least as often as you update your physical facilities. Each time changes are made within your facilities a line item should be included on the project timeline for scheduling visual content creation to reflect these updates and changes.
3. Maintain consistency. When updating your visual content, consider the importance of consistency. Pairing old images with new images of a different quality is obviously not a wise choice. At the same time, using a variety of different professionals to provide your images can create a similar problem. The quality and approach will not remain consistent between providers, which will make it difficult to pair photos together. Using the same professional, one familiar with working with your type of facilities, for each location and each different type of image shoot, will assure you of maintaining quality and consistency in your visual content library.
4. Review Your Marketing Collateral. A regular review of both print and online materials for accuracy of content should take place annually. Are you using out-dated images or videos? What needs to be changed to more reflect current realities. A website that hasn't been updated to reflect current changes and staff is an immediate flag to savvy Internet browsers. It communicates a lack of attention to detail, not the message any business wants to give, but especially a business that is in the caregiving or hospitality industry.
5. Organization and Access. If you can't find it, you can't use it. More time is wasted in looking for the appropriate image than most managers realize. It all comes down to having a catalogue system for visual content that is easy for everyone to understand and navigate. When personnel from different locations all need access to the content, time can be lost waiting for images to be located and transferred from one person to another. Secure online access from all locations eliminates this problem and also provides offsite backup at the same time.

It is our experience working with multi-facility organizations in the long-term care and hospitality industries that has made us keenly aware of the issues they deal with related to maintaining a relevant and efficient visual library. At VAMS, we've put together solutions that address every one of these five issues. We will audit your existing visual content for relevancy and consistency. We can then provide updated visual content for each and every facility while maintaining consistency in quality and artistic approach. We'll make sure you have images formatted for both print and digital media and that they are catalogued accordingly. Finally, you will end up with a visual content library that is organized in an easy to understand format and accessible through our secure online management system.

Your visual content is extremely valuable. We encourage you to let us show you how we can increase the value even more.