Tag: digital strategy

Thinking Like a ‘Zee

Posted on by Dave Burns

One thriving niche of See.Spark.Go’s service offerings is our work in franchise marketing. Partnering with Fortune 500 clients is often accompanied by the excitement of nationwide reach and the welcome challenge of keeping up with the best of the best in multiple industries. So what exactly goes into franchise marketing?

In order to speak to an audience who’s interested in expanding their portfolio to include franchise ownership, you must think like a franchisee.

They’ve got options.

Around 10% of U.S. businesses are franchises.* So it’s safe to assume your audience is already considering other options. That means they need to know a brand’s unique selling point. The sooner that differentiation can be highlighted, the sooner a brand sets itself apart from the sizable pack of competition.

It’s a long game.

Franchise owners are about to make a substantial investment of their money and time. They can’t be expected to make a six-figure investment right after learning about it. Our content team nurtures franchise prospects through social media, digital and email campaigns to establish trust, credibility and consistency. However a potential ‘zee does their research, they’ll find valuable content to help them fall in love with our clients’ brands.

Capital is a must.

Every ideal franchisee has one thing in common: they have cash to make a splash. This isn’t your coupon-clipping demographic. Franchising is a high-investment table. We focus our messaging on aspects like ROI, industry growth and how well each business sustains external challenges, like a recession. At the end of the day, potential franchisees seek confidence in the benefits and profitability of their investment. 

So how do we find and attract zees?

More like, “What tools are we NOT using to find and attract them?” Our franchise marketing efforts run the gamut form press releases and print ads, to social media, email, trade shows, digital ads and text messages. The SSG digital team uses a well-crafted cocktail of digital ad types that start with the highest-impression, low-conversion ads, funneling down to highly-targeted, high-conversion ads that truly drive lead conversions. With all of our service areas combined, SSG drives franchise prospects into the funnel and converts them into proud franchise owners.

And that’s how we take leads from A to ‘zee.

*U.S. Census Bureau

Case Study: WORLD Watch

Posted on by Natalie Chapo

Overview 

WORLD Watch is a current events program produced by Christian journalists that keeps teens up to date on what’s happening in the world through highly engaging and biblically sound 10-minute videos. The subscription-based program helps young people understand today’s news through headlines, news briefs, and feature stories, and develops a child’s critical thinking skills and discernment. WORLD Watch provides parents and teachers a safe, reliable video alternative and a positive way for their teens to spend screen time.

Strategy 

See.Spark.Go manages WORLD Watch’s organic social media and paid digital advertising to bring awareness to this new program that launched in August 2020. Through influencer outreach, strategic digital goals, and consistent community engagement on WORLD Watch social channels, our team has elevated their brand awareness.

Results 

Since hiring See.Spark.Go in 2020, WORLD Watch’s online presence has continued to expand and grow year after year leading to 14.6 M impressions and 7,000 new WORLD Watch subscribers with a $30 advertising cost per new subscriber in 2021.

Testimonial

“SSG team members are highly skilled, personable, and passionate about what they do. Thanks to them, we can move forward with confidence because we have the support and expertise that we need.” 

– Claire Hopple, WORLD Content Strategist. 

Case Study: It’s a 10 Haircare $10K Giveaway

Posted on by Callie Young

Overview 

It’s a 10 Haircare is a female-owned professional haircare line offering exceptional multipurpose products. It began with a single product, Miracle Leave-In, which quickly rose to fame through pro hairstylists who shared the cult-favorite product with their clients. Today, its products are sold globally in more than 25,000 professional independent salons and 15,000 professional salon chains like Ulta and Regis.

National Love Your Hair Day Sweepstakes Campaign 

It’s a 10 Haircare approached See.Spark.Go to help plan and execute an exciting 10-day sweepstakes to celebrate its national holiday, National Love Your Hair Day. The sweepstakes was held on It’s a 10 Haircare’s social media channels, with 10 random winners selected to win $10,000 each at the campaign close. 

The primary goals for the campaign were lead generation — opting into the email list — and Instagram follower growth. In order to achieve these goals, we asked that each entrant 1) follow @itsa10haircare on Instagram and 2) fill out the entry form to share their email address. For additional entries, entrants could share the in-feed giveaway post to their Instagram Story once per day, which extended our organic reach on the initial giveaway post and drummed up more excitement throughout the giveaway period. 

To increase entries, we executed two paid campaigns with the objectives of 1) engagement and 2) lead generation, which concluded with an average cost per lead of $2.95 for their primary goal of new email subscribers. We also worked with It’s a 10 Haircare’s press team to amplify influencer content sharing about the giveaway.

At campaign close, we had generated the following results in a 10-day period: 

  • 1.6 million+ impressions garnered
  • 378,046 engagements generated
  • 12,919 net Instagram followers gained
  • 19,496 emails captured

It Takes Two to Tango

Posted on by Jennifer Mbala-Nkanga

Working with an agency can be daunting, challenging and regrettable or it can be capacity-creating, inspiring and dare we say it? FUN! Every potential partner, current client or former relationship at See.Spark.Go has heard us say two words: Relationship and Results. 

This mantra has made its way from proposals and vision statements to annual reviews and client-health checks. We have found that the most successful agency-client relationships we have boil down to our relationships with the people we work with and the results we deliver. If we don’t have results, we all know the partnership will never last — no matter how much we enjoy working with one another — but equally important, if we don’t have a relationship, our performance becomes transactional and will never survive a mistake, budget constraint or change in the tides of leadership, trends or teams. 

Here’s how we can both succeed:

How to get the most out of your agency

  • Be responsive
  • Show gratitude
  • Get excited when it’s right, tell us when it’s wrong
  • Give us margin to be creative and produce great work
  • Trust us

How to best serve as an agency partner

  • Communicate – often and customized
  • Be the expert you were hired to be
  • Strive for continuous improvement and innovation!
  • Know the goal and the challenges/obstacles
  • Survey the market landscape and know where your client best fits 

What have we missed? Are there intangibles you have seen that make your agency/client relationships succeed? We’d love to learn from you!

Let Your Brand Lead Your Business

Posted on by SSG Team

The COVID-19 world is bananas. There, I said it. 

Whether these strange times end up lasting a season or become our long-term norm, businesses that adapt effectively and efficiently to the new digital landscape have the best chance for sustained success and longevity. If you’re slow to adjust, you risk becoming irrelevant and may have a hard time catching up altogether. No matter your product or service, there are a few key things to remember in order to stay relevant and viable.

Position yourself as the answer
Business and individuals alike are looking for solutions to everyday problems, new and old. If you are a business, you likely exist because you answer a specific need. Now ask yourself: is your solution still relevant and is the problem still a problem? Re-evaluate your offerings, and get creative about what you call them. Rename them based on what your customers are looking for right now. There is new vocabulary popping up everyday related to Coronavirus and its effects. Additionally, expand your solutions. Launch that new offering you have been wondering about. Review your team’s talents and strengths to see if there are any unique services you can add to your catalog. People are asking questions, and you need to continue to be the answer.

Meet people where they are
Even as restrictions lift in some parts of the country, many people aren’t out and about right now. That means they aren’t seeing your billboards, or even hearing word-of-mouth referrals as much as they were 10 weeks ago. The vast majority of folks are spending more time online, more time streaming entertainment and more time with their families. That’s where you should be, too. Spend time on message boards, join social media conversations, serve ads on streaming services, reach out to your personal network. Get creative and meet your potential customers where they—just don’t forget to strike the right tone.

Stay ahead of trends (and start them if you can)
The digital world has always changed at a rapid pace. Not only keeping up with trends, but staying ahead of them will position you as the expert and ensure you are always doing the best work and providing the best results for your company and your customers. The ultimate goal here is to start a trend. Try something you’ve never seen before. Use your diverse knowledge to merge your expertise with something creative to make something new. See what others are doing and take it to a never-before-seen level. Have some fun and set a standard.

Commit to quality and consistency
At the end of the day, people are looking for quality and consistency. Know who you are, stay true to yourself and your mission and do everything with that in mind. If you make sure to do things consistently with the highest quality, you will create value for someone, somewhere. This will always be the case—now, and on the other side of this pandemic.

Ready to take control of your marketing strategy?

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