The Power of Blogging: Elevate Your Business Through Content Marketing

Posted by Anna CoxMarch 12, 2025March 12, 2025

Businesses are always exploring effective methods to engage their target audience and promote growth. One such invaluable strategy is content marketing, or blogging. According to the Content Marketing Institute, “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Understanding Content Marketing

Content marketing involves crafting and sharing content that resonates with your audience’s interests and needs. This approach not only informs and entertains but also builds trust and fosters lasting relationships. By delivering consistent and relevant content, businesses can position themselves as industry leaders and go-to resources for their audience.

The Significance of Blogging in Content Marketing

Blogging services as a foundational element of content marketing. Here’s why it’s essential for your business:

Enhanced Brand Visibility and Awareness — Regularly publishing blog posts increases your online presence, making it easier for potential customers to find and engage with your brand. Each post acts as a new entry point, expanding your reach and introducing your business to a broader audience.
Establishing Authority and Credibility — By sharing insightful and well-researched content, you position your business as an authority in your field. This not only builds credibility but also instills confidence among your audience, making them more likely to trust your products or services.
Driving Organic Traffic — Search engines favor websites with fresh, relevant content. Blogging allows you to target specific keywords, improving your search engine rankings and driving organic traffic to your site. This increased visibility can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Engaging and Educating Your Audience — Blogs provide a platform to address your audience’s pain points, answer their questions, and offer solutions. This engagement fosters a deeper connection, encouraging readers to return and explore more of your content.
Supporting Other Marketing Efforts — Quality blog content complements other marketing strategies, such as social media marketing and email campaigns. Sharing blog posts on social platforms amplifies reach, while incorporating them into email newsletters keeps your audience informed and engaged.
Generating Leads and Conversions — Strategically crafted blog posts can guide readers through the buyer’s journey. By including compelling calls-to-action and offering valuable resources, blogs can convert readers into leads and, ultimately, loyal customers.

Partner with a Marketing Agency

Collaborating with a professional marketing agency can significantly amplify your blogging and content marketing efforts. Afflecto Media Marketing brings specialized expertise in blogging, SEO Optimization, and content strategy, ensuring your business effectively reaches and engages its target audience.

Why Choose Afflecto?

Expertise in Blogging and Content Creation — Afflecto Media Marketing excels in developing tailored content strategies that resonate with your audience. They can assist in identifying your target demographic, analyzing competitor strategies, and creating comprehensive content calendars to maintain consistency and relevance.
Advanced SEO Optimization Techniques — Understanding the intricacies of SEO is crucial for enhancing online visibility. Afflecto employs advanced SEO techniques, including keyword research, on-page optimization, and backlink strategies, to improve your website’s search engine rankings and drive organic traffic.
Comprehensive Content Marketing Services — Beyond blogging, Afflecto offers a full spectrum of content marketing services, including social media management, email marketing, and analytics. This holistic approach ensures that all aspects of your content strategy work synergistically to achieve your business goals.

Ever thought about what blogging could really do for your business? It’s so much more than just posting content. When done right, blogging helps you connect with your audience on a personal level while positioning you as someone who really knows their stuff.

The best part? Those connections translate into real business growth. By sharing helpful information that your audience actually cares about, you’re building a community of people who keep coming back—and eventually become customers.

If you’re curious about how to make blogging work for your specific situation, we’d love to chat. Afflecto Media Marketing offers free strategy sessions where we can discuss your goals. No pressure, just conversation about possibilities. Drop us a line when you’re ready. We’d love to hear from you!

How a Digital Media Plan Can Work for You

Posted by Michael RoseSeptember 12, 2022April 9, 2025

How a comprehensive digital advertising plan worked for our eyecare client.

Understanding where consumers are in their decision journey is key in knowing what marketing tactics to use. Find out how a digital media plan can work for you by reading about a recent plan we formulated for an eyecare client. This comprehensive digital advertising plan used a variety of tactics to drive brand awareness, consideration and conversion to drive new patients and revenue fo our client.

CLIENT CHALLENGE

Our eyecare client was up against a behemoth competitor. This competitor had more locations, was spending much more on advertising, and had been in the market much longer than our client.

Drive brand awareness so that our client would be in consumer’s consideration set when it was time to choose an eyecare provider. With the ultimate goal of driving new appointment leads … which would lead to new patients.

AGENCY SOLUTION

Our solution was to create a full-funnel digital strategy. This client’s budget wasn’t large enough to consistently fund broadcast media. So, we had to find a way to put their brand in front of consumers without radio or television. We chose to use YouTube and the Google Display Network.

YouTube and the Google Display Network are great for awareness as they offer an abundance of targeting features. By employing these features, we were confident the ads would reach our desired target audience. These networks also allowed us to incorporate video into the plan. Video is an important part of the plan as it can clearly communicate a story. It allows businesses to convey emotions and answer the essential ‘whys’ surrounding the marketing of products and services. Additionally, Google prioritizes YouTube video results on the search engine results page (SERP) over that of competitors like Facebook Watch.

Along with video on YouTube, we also chose to use the Google Display Network. With images and copy these ads are provide support for reinforcing the brand message, as well as driving a high frequency of ad exposure.

Once we felt that we had brand awareness covered in the plan our focus turned to consideration and conversion. Essentially, how could we get consumers to put our client in their consideration set? And then ultimately choose them to be their eyecare provider? We knew paid search advertising, also known as pay-per-click (PPC), would work well for both objectives. PPC is successful at driving consideration by serving ads to users searching relevant keyword phrases. These search phases indicate that the people searching are in-market, for eyecare (think: eyecare provider near me or where to get contact lenses). At this stage, consumers typically have not decided where to purchase the product or service. They are still researching options and recommendations they’ve received from friends.

When people search for a brand by name it indicates that the brand is in their consideration bucket. Ensuring your paid search ads show up when users search for brand specific terms puts your website link front and center. Paid search is an effective tool at converting users due to it’s ability to identify when a brand is in someone’s consideration set and serving appropriate ads. By using paid search we were able to drive people directly to the scheduling page so they could make an appointment.

We also used remarketing, also known as retargeting. For those who visited the website, but did not schedule an appointment we continued to serve them online ads. These ads communicated relevant information and a call-to-action that encouraged user to revisited the website and (hopefully) schedule an appointment. In general, retargeting ads are highly effective, as people who see retargeted ads are 70% more likely to convert. For this client, people remained in the retargeting pool for 14 days, or until they scheduled an appointment.

Since people need to see their eye doctor annually, we continued to stay in front of customers by creating entertaining and useful content. This content was used via social media and email communications. It is easy to neglect this phase, but they best way t

THE RESULTS

ABOUT OUR CLIENT

Performance Eyecare, an independently owned eye care provider serving the St. Louis Metro, Illinois Metro East, and Columbia, MO., areas with nine locations. They focus on customer service and prioritize this above all else, as shown through their unconditional guarantee. They also prioritize using the latest technology to ensure exams are painless, thorough, and precise. By using the most advanced technology they do not require eye dilation or uncomfortable air puffs.

Contact Afflecto for Paid Search Assistance

If your paid search isn’t working for you, have our team take a look. We will do a full assessment and suggest optimizations that you can take to your current agency, or have us implement. As a Google Certified Partner we have expertise in all Google Ad products and how to make them work best for our clients. Contact us today!

Making Paid Search Work for a Construction Company

Posted by Michael RoseAugust 30, 2022December 5, 2024

A construction and roofing client came to us seeking help. Read on to find out how we made paid search work for them.

This roofing and construction company had been spending money on paid search advertising for six months. During that time, they only received one lead. They wanted to know what else they could do. They were done with paid search. However, we weren’t convinced. We believe – and see it often – that when paid search marketing is done properly, it can work for nearly any business. So, we weren’t ready to cancel all paid search for them until we had done our due diligence.

Afflecto’s Approach

We proposed a full account review. This way we’d know if there were opportunities for improvement, or if paid search advertising truly would not work for them. After gaining access to their Google Ads account, our team went to work. We did a full account review. Reviewed all campaigns. keywords, account structure, ad copy, and more.

As with many accounts that aren’t performing, we found many opportunities for improvement. These optimizations ranged from reorganizing the campaign structure to implementing negative keywords. We also adjusted their targeting and added important keywords to their account.

The Results

In the first month of our management, the client received 37 leads. Of those, they had 11 appointments convert to sales for a 288% ROAS. We were also surprised that this marketing agency our client was working with did not provide a monthly report. If you are working with a digital agency and do not receive a monthly summary, start asking questions!

How Afflecto is making paid search work for a construction client.

Contact Afflecto for Paid Search Assistance

4 Reasons to Work with a Google Certified Partner

Posted by Michael RoseAugust 30, 2022April 9, 2025

As you start working through your digital advertising marketing plan there are many choices to help your business drive sales. From what digital tactics to use and what partners to employ. To help guide you through this you will want to ensure you have the right marketing partner on board, Keep reading to find out why it’s important to choose a Google Certified Partner.

What is the Google Partner badge and why does it matter?

What is the Google Partner badge and why does it matter? The Google Partner badge shows that the agency you are working with has the latest Google Ads expertise. Agencies with the badge are certified in AdWords, have demonstrated the ability to manage multiple accounts with large budgets, and are continuously meeting Google’s standards. If standards aren’t met, the badge is revoked. But most importantly, they know how to get the most out of your budget. They know what levers to pull in order to get the results you desire.

Specifically, to be a Google Partner members of our digital media team need to have at least one certification in each product area, and our campaigns must be meeting minimum spend thresholds. Additionally, our campaigns must meet certain performance thresholds, as well as a minimum optimization score. What’s all that meant? Simply put, we know how to spend your advertising dollars effectively and get results. And along the way Google makes us also take tests to prove we know what we are doing.

How do I know if an agency is Google Certified?

How do you know if your agency – or one you are considering – is Google Certified? It’s easy! They will have the Google Partner badge on their website. It’s usually in the footer of a website, or on a page that specifically talks about digital marketing. Helpful tip: be sure it’s the current badge, otherwise their certification might not be up to date.

4 Reasons to Work with a Google Certified Partner

Now you know what to look for to ensure you’re working with a qualified agency, why do you care? Here are four reasons you want to choose a Google Certified Partner when selecting who will run your digital ad campaigns:

1. You can feel confident that you’re working with an expert.

Working with a team that is Google Ads certified – like the one at Afflecto – ensures that you are working with an expert. It also guarantees you have a team in charge of your digital ad spend that is up to date on the latest Google Ads products. With this knowledge, they know how to adapt your campaign to perform better. They also know when new features are launched and how to take advantage of them. In other words, they know how to take care of your advertising investment.

2. Free Promotional Spend from Google

Only Google partners are eligible for high-value offers from Google. And not just any offer – FREE promotional spend. This means that any of our clients are eligible to receive up to $500 in Google Ads credit. We’ve seen this granted more often for our new accounts. But we have had some regular spenders that receive this as well. Want your credit? Well, these promotional offers are currently only available to Google Partners and their clients. And if you’re wondering…there’s no catch. This credit is free money. It’s not a discount coupon. It’s literally a credit so you can get started quicker and see how effective Google Ads can be for your business.

Not working with a Google badged partner? Contact us, we’d love to chat about how we can help you!

3. Access to beta features

Google partners have exclusive access to beta tools you can use in your campaigns. These beta programs are where Google is testing new products and features. Most accounts don’t have access to the new features until they are available to public…unless you work with a Google Partner. Partner with us to get jump on the competition by getting access to these beta features before the general public!

4. They get results.

Google partners consistently drive valuable results for their clients. When you pick a company from the Google Partners list, you can feel confident that you are selecting an agency that knows how to get results. How so? One of the qualification criteria is to be meeting minimum performance guidelines, and optimization scores. And Google reviews this information quarterly to ensure you are still meeting all of the performance requirements.

Partner with Afflecto, a Google Certified Partner, today

Ready to experience a great digital campaign? Contact Afflecto Media Marketing, a Google Certified Partner, today for a free discovery call.

Beginner’s Guide to Paid Search

Posted by Michael RoseAugust 23, 2022April 9, 2025

Ready to get started with paid search? Here is a quick and easy beginner’s guide to paid search. Believe it or not, paid search has been around for over 20 years now. It started out as a Yellow Page-style directory in 2000 and has evolved to be a top digital marketing tactic for most businesses. It’s rare to find a business that’s not advertising on Google. Many businesses – especially small and medium sized ones – follow the Google Ad’s quick-start setup when beginning their campaigns. It’s appealing, as it only takes about 30 minutes to setup a campaign. However, most advertisers are left to wonder why they are seeing little to no results.

Though Google makes it easy to set up marketing campaigns and start spending money, it’s not easy to make Google Ads truly successful. There are many considerations and components that go into a successful paid search campaign. We are here to share some of the most important factors to getting started. Follow our step-by-step guide to increase your chances of realizing paid search ad success.

Before starting paid search

First thing, ensure you understand what you want out of your marketing efforts and how you can provide the most seamless user experience. The best way to do this is to ask yourself these questions:

Determine your marketing objectives before starting a paid search campaign. — OBJECTIVES

Know where you want to drive traffic from your paid search ads. — DRIVING TRAFFIC

Be sure to measure success so you know if your paid search efforts are working. — MEASURING SUCCESS

Determine your budget to help shape your keyword list. — BUDGET

What are your marketing objectives for your search campaign? Before building and launching a search campaign, be clear on why you are advertising. Are you trying to build awareness, generate leads or drive sales? Keyword targeting will look different for each of these and bid strategies certainly will differ.
Where are you driving traffic? Does your landing page contain relevant content that gives the user what they were searching for? Is there a clear call-to-action (CTA) that aligns with your marketing objectives and goals?
How are you measuring success/goals? Make sure Google Analytics and conversion tracking are implemented to effectively measure KPIs. And determine what KPIs are most important to you. Once you know this, setup goals to track results with Google Analytics.
What’s your budget? Keywords can get expensive depending on the demand (search volume) and how many other advertisers are targeting a particular keyword. It’s important to know your budget range. Having a budget in mind will ensure your keyword list is refined enough to be competitive with bids and maintain a healthy impression share for valuable keywords.

Setting up your Google search advertising

Step One: Keyword Research and Creating Keyword Lists

Always perform keyword research to align targeting with your objectives. This will also help you gain an understanding of how certain keywords will perform and what they will cost. There are many tools to help you formulate a successful keyword list.

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool for keyword ideas and performance forecasts. From your original list of words, this planner will help you identify additional search terms relevant to your ppc campaign.
Google Search Bar is also free and can be very effective as seeing what common search queries auto-populate when you start to search a base keyword.
SEMRush is a paid tool that is used to gather more robust paid search, SEO and competitive data. If you are going to be spending a significant amount of money it’s worth investing in this tool, or one like it.

Step Two: Creating Ad Groups

Once your keyword list is developed, organize keywords into tightly themed categories (ad groups). Ad groups are used to align keywords with specific ad copy and landing pages. Ensure your ad copy and landing pages are hyper-relevant to the keywords on your list. You want your landing page content to align with what the user is searching, specifically, the keywords they are using. To improve your relevancy and quality score be sure to use those keywords in your ad copy as well. Speaking of that…

Step Three: Ad Copy

After organizing your ad groups, write engaging ad copy that addresses (and includes) your specific keywords. Be sure to include important value propositions, promotions and/or any other information that will help you stand out from the competition. Also include a strong CTA. This will ensure the user knows what action to take once they click your ad. Don’t forget to leverage ad extensions to make the most of your ads and include more information about your business. Ad extensions also allow your ads to take up even more real estate on the search engine results page (SERP). This will push others down on the page and help improve your relative click-thru-rate (CTR).

Step Four: Determine campaign break-outs

Campaigns are usually separated by product or service categories. Ad campaigns also may have different budget allocations. Bid strategy is another key factor in determining campaign breakouts. For example, your campaign objective may be awareness. In this case, you’ll want to bid based on target impression share. Another campaign may have a lead generation objective. For this campaign goal you will want to bid based on maximizing conversion bid strategy or target cost-per-acquisition (CPA). You may also choose to separate campaigns based on location. This allows budget to be allocated by location/store. Bottom line? Choosing the correct campaign type is very important for success. Be sure to weigh all approaches to campaign structure and determine what will be the best in helping you achieve your objectives.

Step Five: Bid strategies

Bid strategy is a huge component of any paid search campaign. There are several automated smart bid strategies you can use.. These are often recommended by Google and are an easy way to achieve your campaign objectives. This is a good place to start. You may also choose to do manual bidding. This option gives you more control. Which is should you choose? That depends. The automated, as we mentioned, is a great place to begin. But as your campaign matures you will likely want to test different approaches to see what affects results. This is where ppc advertising can get complicated. That is why it’s so important to have a clear objective going into your planning and execution process. This will help you ensure your campaign structure and bid strategy are working together to achieve your goals most effectively.

Step Six: Monitoring your quality score

As your campaigns start to run, be sure to pay attention to Quality Score. Quality Score is a 1-10 rating that Google gives each keyword based on how well your ad quality compares to other advertisers. A higher quality score means that your ad and landing page are more relevant and useful to someone searching for your keyword when compared to other advertisers. The higher the score the better. The quality score has an enormous influence over the cost and effectiveness of your paid search campaigns. Just as your credit score can affect whether or not you qualify for a loan and how high your interest rate is, Google quality score affects how your PPC ads perform and how much you pay for each click.

Landing page relevancy and experience is a very important factor in quality score. In most cases, if your quality score is low for a keyword then you will also see low conversion rates. This is a useful indicator that you need to work on conversion rate optimizations (CRO). To improve your quality score:

Provide more relevant content to answer questions associated with your keyword.
Update your conversion action experience. Make the path to conversion as simple as possible.

When to expect results

The good news is that search marketing works. And it is one of the strongest tools in your online advertising toolbelt. However, your search campaign will not likely be successful (at least not what you deem successful) right away. It can take up to a month – sometimes three – to start seeing the impact of your Google Adwords efforts. New campaigns typically take three months to ramp up. And up to 12 months to consistently perform at peak levels. Why you ask? Because it takes time for Google to collect enough data to leverage machine learning and effectively reach the optimal audience. Additionally, having a full year of data allows Google (and you) to really understand seasonal trends and behaviors.

We hope this beginner’s guide to paid search provides you with a greater understanding of what goes into a paid search strategy and running successful campaigns. There are many nuances to Google ads campaigns. It takes a lot of TLC to run a successful campaign. That’s why we are here to help. Our team of digital media experts can help you put a plan together to achieve your business goals, recommend budgets, build the foundation for your campaigns and provide ongoing management and optimization, so you can focus on running your business. Schedule a free consultation with our digital media team to learn more about partnering with us.

4 Tips for Cultivating Social Media Followers

Posted by Michael RoseJuly 11, 2022April 9, 2025

Learn how to keep your followers engaged and how to make the workload manageable.

Growing a social media following in a crowded digital landscape takes a tailored social media strategy coupled with industry insights and technical know-how. But it can all seem so overwhelming! The best way to start is to focus on one thing at a time. Today, we are talking about ‘4 Ways to Cultivate Social Media Followers.’

Keep reading to learn how to keep your followers engaged and how to make the workload manageable. It’s not about doing ALL THE THINGS. It’s truly about finding what is right for you and your brand. Read on…

1. PLAN AHEAD

The best way to a successful social media content strategy is to plan ahead. Don’t do things on a whim. The first step is to create a social media content calendar. Having this tool will ensure you don’t miss key dates. You can create your calendar in Google Sheets to keep it really simple. Or, you can use a specific social media management tool. Choose from a free tool like HootSuite, or you can choose a paid version like Monday or Sendible that our team prefers.

The good news is that most paid tools offer a free trial period. So, try a few different ones and find out what works best for you. Whatever tool you use, plan ahead for content that helps support your business goals.

2. BE CONSISTENT

There’s something to knowing what to expect. And the same goes for your social media followers. They’ve come to know and love your brand so your social media accounts should be representative of your brand. When someone visits your social media channels they should see the brand they are familiar with. And for new and potential customers, it’s good to show them what your brand is all about.

How can you be consistent with you social media presence? From the creative to the post copy there are many ways to let your brand shine. One of the easiest ways is to use the same colors and embellishments on your social media posts. If you need help creating those check out our Creative Elements Package. It is a unique offering by Afflecto where we give you all the tools to create beautiful social media posts that are consistent with your brand identity. Many small businesses have benefitted from using this package. It’s an easy way to create good social media content.

Additionally, ensure you find your unique voice and that it comes through in how your posts are written. Create a brand persona and define how that person would talk and what words they’d us. Then use that to guide your post writing.

The different content types you share can also create consistency. Users find the most value in educational content and entertaining content, but you also have to determine what is right for your brand. As an example, if you are an orthodontic office, you probably want to share content about the benefits of seeing an orthodontist at an early age (educational) and funny memes about visiting the orthodontist (entertaining). But you will also need to share some get-to-know you content about the people in your office. That way followers can see their favorite hygienist, or the staff that will be treating them. While this isn’t educational or funny, it humanizes the brand by showing some personal aspects of the office.

3. KNOW TRENDS

Be aware of social media trends, but only participate when they make sense for your brand. You don’t need to jump on the bandwagon for every trend. Be mindful of how participating in trends can work within your overall social media strategy.

One “trend” that will always work is user-generated content (UGC). If your fans and followers are sharing content about your brand, it’s always a good idea to use it! First, ask their permission. And once it is granted, share this UGC with your other fans. This authentic content resonates well with nearly all social media users. And potential customers will see it as an endorsement of your brand.

4. CHOOSE QUALITY

If you have a lot on your plate and can’t manage posting to social everyday, then do what you can. Your reach and engagement will increase as you post more, but you also want to share high-quality content. If that means sharing one post per week, than make it amazing!

Also, don’t feel like you have to be present on every social media channel. Choosing the right social networks for your brand is a great way to limit the workload, but still reach your target audience. If your audience is older, you might just need to focus on Facebook and Instagram. If your target is much younger, then you’ll want to consider focusing your efforts on TikTok. If you’re B2B, then LinkedIn is your platform. Just remember, don’t just post. Be intentional.

EASY TO USE INFOGRAPIC

Here is an infographic that captures all of this information in an easy to use way. Print it off and keep it by your desk as a reminder of the 4 tips to cultivating social media followers.

Contact Afflecto for Social Media Assistance

We can help drive engagement, awareness and conversions. But first, we’ll talk about your goals. Then, we can do as much, or as little as you’d like. Our team can create a Creative Elements Package that will give you all the tools you need to create beautiful social content. Or, we can handle all of your social media management from social media strategy to content creation and community management. Now is the right time to get your social media channels in order. Contact us to learn more about the social media options we offer.

The Power of a Logo

Posted by Michael RoseApril 28, 2022April 9, 2025

The power of a logo is huge. However, logos are often an under-appreciated opportunity for a company to communicate with potential clients, symbolize your business values, and build a connection with everyone who sees it. Think about how much time you spent perfecting your product (or service). Then think about how much time you put into perfecting your business name. We recommending spending an equal amount of time creating the perfect logo design.

Can’t do it yourself? No worries. There are many options! From professional logo designers to finding a freelance designer, there is a simple way for you to get some logo design options. But before you start, check out this article to learn about the power of a logo. Get tips on how you can get a great logo and maximize the value of your unique logo.

Your Brand Logo Creates a First Impression

There is a lot that has to happen before you win a new client, or make a sale. A person often spends time researching solutions to their problem, checking out who can provide the service they need, and/or seeking recommendations from family and friends. They may do in depth research about you and your competitors. All of this before they have even reach out to anyone on your team.

Your logo must create a lasting impression and be a strong representation of your brand. This will help your business stand out from the competition. Since most potential customers will see your website, social media accounts, or signs before they even encounter someone who works for your company. Even small businesses need to consider creating their own custom logo to create a strong brand image. Before you have a chance to explain your services or talk about your amazing customer support team, potential customers will already have preconceived notions. Why is that? Because they’ve already seen your logo out in the wild. They’ve judged your company based on your company name, font style selection, and use of colors. Gasp! They’ve made a snap judgement…let’s hope it’s a good one!

Investing in a quality logo will enhance one’s first impression of your brand. It will set the tone for the values you hold near and dear, display a level of professionalism and expertise, and it should be unique to your company.

Quick Check: Think about the adjectives you would use to describe your business. You might use words like ‘friendly’ or ‘trustworthy or ‘high-tech’. Now take a look at your logo – would the same adjectives to describe it? Your logo should speak to your target audience and give them a feel for your brand identity. If your logo is sending the wrong first impression, it might be time for refresh.

Your Logo Goes On Everything

One common misconception we hear is “I don’t want to pay a lot for a logo because I won’t do much with it.” *GASP* Think about all of the places a business puts their logo – business cards, proposals, marketing materials, t-shirts, buildings, websites, and so, so much more! It is often the first impression someone has of your brand. When you think about the thousands of times people will see it, suddenly you realize just how important a memorable logo is!

Quick Check: Walk yourself through your customer’s journey. What do they see from your business first? How many times will they see marketing materials from your business during their decision making process? What are some of the other ways they might interact with your business? After you’ve made your list, double check that every single piece has your logo on it! Do you have a logo that you’d rather not wear on a t-shirt? Or maybe you cringe every time you look at marketing materials because you don’t like your logo? It might be time for a new logo.

Your Logo Grows With Your Business

Over the years, things about your business will change and evolve. When they do, it’s ok for your logo to change too! While the best logos are designed to stand the test of time, sometimes simple updates like switching a font or softening a color selection can make them feel fresh and more relevant.

Quick Check: Think about your business when it first launched. What was important to you then? At that time, did your logo capture the spirit of your company? Now reflect on your business today. Have your values, niche, or priorities changed at all? If they have, does your current logo reflect those changes? If your logo feels like a blast from the past, it is definitely time for something new!

What to expect when you design a logo

Example of a Brand Board that Afflecto includes with all new logo deliveries

No matter who you work with to create your logo there a few items you need to be sure are included in your final logo delivery. Confirm upfront that at minimum you will receive the following:

Ensure all versions you receive of your logo are high resolution, including vector files, .png and jpeg files. This will ensure you have versions of your logo that are on transparent background and solid white background.
Full color logo – with and without your tagline
Black and white versions of your logo – with and without your tagline
A favicon to be used online
Information about the color palette used that outlines the brand colors with names, RGB and HEX numbers

Need a Partner for a Modern Logo?

We love helping brands explore the role of a logo and creating logo ideas that represent what your brand stands for. Our team of professional designers have years of experience working with businesses to understand their goals and then crafting a visual representation of those goals.

Not sure you should pay an agency or freelancer to develop your company logo design? You might be considering a free online logo generator or a logo design app. While a online logo maker might be appealing due to their low to zero cost, we strongly caution against using them. These tools often replicate logos for different companies, do not create original designs, and are not in tune with your business. You will likely not get the best option for your company. The old adage “you get what you pay for” truly applies here. But that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank for logo creation.

Take the first step and schedule a consultation with our team of creative experts. We’ll chat with you for free and see if working together is the right fit.

Afflecto Earns Platinum and Gold in Creative Excellence

Posted by Michael RoseApril 18, 2022December 5, 2024

We are excited to announce that Afflecto has earned platinum and gold in Creative Excellence from the 2022 Hermes Creative Awards. This is the second consecutive year our creative work has been recognized by this competition.

“As we always say, the real award is a happy client,” said Amy Rose, Vice President of Afflecto Media Marketing. “However, recognition like this validates that our team’s hard work and our agency’s investment in creative growth is truly moving the needle in the right direction.”

Platinum Creative Excellence Award

Afflecto received honors in two different categories. Platinum honors were given for the category of ‘Overall Company Branding Design’ for client Restorative Pain Management. Restorative Pain Management is pain management clinic that focuses on neck and back pain.

They came to Afflecto seeking an entire branding overhaul. “When I moved my practice location, I knew it was time to get our branding updated,” said Dr. Gregory Stynowick, MD. “Afflecto was able to create modern branding for my practice that wasn’t cliché. They exceeded my expectations!”

Afflecto work earns platinum honors for Restorative Pain Management clinic branding

Gold Creative Excellence Award

The Performance Eyecare print marketing was awarded the Gold distinction. Performance Eyecare is the largest, independently owned eyecare provider in the St. Louis region. They have nine locations on both sides of the river, including Columbia, MO.

“Afflecto has added personality and dimension to our branding,” said Dr. Dirk Massie, Owner of Performance Eyecare. “We couldn’t be happier with our partnership.”

Afflecto earns gold creative excellence honors for Performance Eyecare work

Afflecto’s Past Honors

The Hermes Awards recognized Afflecto last year as well. The work honored in 2021 was for client Clear Blue Smiles. Afflecto earned platinum and gold awards for branding and logo design. The committee also awarded Afflecto an honorable mention for their 2020 client holiday card.

About Afflecto Media Marketing

Afflecto Media Marketing is a full-service marketing agency based in St. Louis, MO., serving clients nationwide. Our team focuses on driving sales and brand value through expertise in digital media, broadcast media, website design and development, creative and branding, and social media.

“We believe in building strong partnerships with our clients. One of our fundamental beliefs is that good work happens when you work with people you like. This goes for our internal team and our client partnerships,” said Rose. “That’s why we don’t require long-term client contracts. The relationship continues as long as it is working for both sides. And I believe that’s why our client retention rate has stayed above 92% for over ten years.”

About the Hermes Creative Awards

The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals. The awards recognize creative excellence in the areas of concept, writing, and design for both traditional and emerging media. This year the competition received over 6,500 entries from the United States, Canada, and dozens of other countries. Receiving a Platinum or Gold distinction is an incredible honor.

Hermes Creative Awards are one of the oldest and largest creative competitions in the world. Winners range in size from individuals to media conglomerates, as well as some of the biggest names in Fortune 500 companies. The international awards program is administered by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals. Judges are industry professionals looking for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

Afflecto Earns Honors in the 2022 MUSE Creative Awards

Posted by Michael RoseMarch 11, 2022December 5, 2024

We are excited to announce that Afflecto Media Marketing earned gold honors in the 2022 MUSE Creative Awards. Afflecto received gold for an Integrated Marketing campaign created for client Performance Eyecare. Anjelica Aquilino, Creative Specialist for Afflecto, was the lead designer on the project.

About the Muse Creative Awards

The International Awards Associate (IAA) hosts the MUSE Awards. The IAA aims to promote excellence in various creative and design industries by providing professionals a platform to compete against their peers. This year they received over 6,000 entries worldwide. The MUSE Creative Awards is a leading awards program created to honor creative and design professionals for their excellence.

“We are excited to receive this recognition from the IAA,” said Amy Rose, Vice President, Afflecto. “This recognition – and the desire to continually put out good work – motivates us to push ourselves every day.”

Afflecto’s Winning Work

Along with the gold honors, Afflecto also received two silver awards. One in the ‘Advertising’ category and the other in the ‘Branding’ category. Want to see the winning entries? Keep reading…

**GOLD AWARD – Integrated Marketing**
**Client: Performance Eyecare**
*With opening of new offices the client knew it was time for a brand update. The result was a dynamic campaign that was unlike any of their competitors.*

**SILVER AWARD – Branding**
**Client: Restorative Pain Management**
*The branding work for this client extended from assisting in renaming his practice and developing a tagline; to creating a robust brand package.*

**SILVER AWARD – Advertising**
**Client: Performance Eyecare**
With a new, bilingual doctor on the team, Performance Eyecare, was eager to tell the Bosnian community where they could go for their eyecare needs. Afflecto created both English and bilingual creative to use in the communication plan.

4 Ways Video Marketing Can Improve Your Business

Posted by Michael RoseFebruary 25, 2022April 9, 2025

Video content marketing has been around for decades, and yet, it has only been a few years since businesses started embracing it in everyday life. With the effectiveness, affordability, and engagement of video content all skyrocketing, now is the time to incorporate it into your marketing strategy! It is one of the most powerful tools you can add to your small business marketing toolkit.

We’ve identified the 4 ways video marketing can improve your business. Read on to find out how your marketing strategy can utilize video to drive sales, increase awareness, and get new customers:

1. Organic Social Video Content

If you’re one of the 50 million people who visit TikTok every day, you know all about this use case already – video content is entertaining! It’s a great way to connect with people in a very friendly and natural-feeling way. It’s also the best method for your business to get in on the latest trends, infuse some personality into your brand, and just have fun!

When people watch a video that features a member of your team, a user of your product, or a raving fan of your business, it makes them feel almost as if they received a recommendation from a trusted friend. Shaking up your social feed with quality video content will add a serious boost to your credibility. It will also increase people’s perception of your brand – all without spending a dime on ads.

2. Eye-Catching Video Ads

Ok, so maybe you do want to spend a couple dimes on ads. Video can help you here too! Using video in your marketing campaign is often more engaging – and appealing – to your target audience. Instead of using static images, consider using videos as an effective way to get across your message. There are a couple key ways video ads outperform their non-video competition:

Video is more engaging, and it’s more likely to encourage people to view or click your ads (as much as a 2x increase, according to a Paid Ads Specialist at SeoPlus+!)
You can fit more information in a video format, giving people a better understanding of your product & brand than they’d get from a still image
Increase ad conversion rates.

As with any marketing initiative, a combo is usually best and you need to test, test, test for best results. But if your ad game has plateaued, video content could be just the thing to spice your content up. If you’re spending money on advertising you want to ensure that you get better results. Marketing videos are the way to do this.

3. Video SEO with YouTube

It seems like SEO changes by the minute, but one thing has remained true for many years – good video can help your rankings. YouTube is a great place to get started. YouTube is actually the second largest search engine out there with 122 million daily users, and over a billion hours of video content consumed every single day according to Omnicore. Loading all of your brand videos onto YouTube is an excellent way to improve your SEO and reach potential buyers.

You can start with videos that have a high production value. High-quality video is usually produced by a marketing agency. Afflecto offers this service to current and potential customers. Unfortunately, a small business owner may not be able to afford a marketing agency. If that’s you, you can still create successful video content. Use your mobile phone and online editing software. In recent years consumers have become accustomed to seeing video production with a range of production values. So the good news is that anyone can make video. Either way, just dive in and get started!

Types of Videos to Create

Stumped as to what types of videos to create? Here are some ideas to get you started:

Use customer testimonials to create videos that function as online customer reviews.
Create tutorial videos by giving your audience tips on how to solve a common problem.
Brand video is a great way to tell your customers about your company.
Product videos are a good idea for highlighting what products you sell and calling out specific features.

Once you’ve done the work, be sure to share it. Upload your video work to your YouTube channel and also share it on your social media pages.

The best part about YouTube SEO campaigns is that a lot of businesses aren’t doing it! While you may find it hard to compete in the super-saturated blog space, there is still plenty of opportunity to utilize a strong YouTube campaign to improve your overall impression share. Remember to add relevant keywords, a good video title, all the proper tags and descriptions, and you’ll be well on your way to tapping into the YouTube market.

PRO TIP: YouTube Snippets

Featured ‘snippets’ are pieces of content Google has selected to answer a certain query. They’re highly coveted spaces that land above search results and usually generate a ton of traffic for their website. YouTube content is now eligible to be chosen for a snippet, so go create those FAQ videos!

4. Team Time-Savers

Are there certain things your team finds themselves explaining again and again? Let a video do the talking for you! By recording those recurring conversations and sharing with potential (or current) clients you’ll quickly discover hours (even DAYS) of time savings. Here are a couple pieces of content that could be good candidates for video responses:

A product demo to show the intricacies of how something works.
An onboarding video to get people acquainted with your business.
A ‘how-to’ video if your clients need to do some set-up or troubleshooting on their own.
A sizzle reel/promotional video if your sales team could benefit from a visual aid.

Video FAQs can easily be emailed or texted to clients, added to your web pages, or uploaded to YouTube for the public. This will make information easily accessible to the right people – a huge benefit to you and the people you do business with.

Not Sure Where To Start with Video?

The benefits of video marketing are abundant. They can make a complex subject easy to understand, increase the performance of your digital marketing efforts, and increase engagement with your brand. If you don’t want to go it alone, we’re here to help!

Afflecto has experience in planning video strategy, scripting, and shooting video content for businesses of all sizes. Afflecto helps our clients create high-quality videos they can add to their social platforms, website, YouTube channels, and just about anywhere else. Schedule a free chat with us today to learn more about this powerful tool. We look forward to helping your business grow with video marketing efforts!