Mazal tov to me; I’m officially a Jewish influencer! I just connected with a Fiver freelance who promised to get me 100,000 Instagram followers in ten days. That makes me a Jewish influencer, right? Not so fast.
It’s 2015. And that means it’s time to re-evaluate your Jewish marketing & communications plan. Your focused on ensuring your business or non-profit is at the forefront of people’s minds in print, digital & social media channels. So here’s 7 Jewish marketing & communication trends relevant to the Jewish community you should be aware for 2015.
With printing costs at all-time lows & growing populations within Orthodox Jewish communities, niche newspapers and penny savers keep popping up in Five Towns, Bergen County, Queens and Brooklyn. Hyperlocal email lists focused on communities and regions, such as JewishBergen.com and Teaneck Blast are adding a hyperlocal digital & social media option for advertisers as well. The end result is low cost, targeted advertising options (the trade-off is that these media options have questionable circulation & readership numbers). When creating a marketing campaign, enlist the help of expert media buyers who understand the nuances of each media option & is able to determine what will work for you and what is a drag on your budget.
All you need to start a business these days is a business card, mobile device, social media page & a handshake. We’ve always known that the Jewish market was full of entrepreneurial souls but these days, with iPhones & Android devices becoming the office of choice, Jewish entrepreneurs can launch a business in days instead of months. Apps can replace office services, such as faxing, office reception & scanning, and can also conduct business, including mobile banking & credit card processing.
Jewish startups will rely on image & visibility to sell, which increases their need for marketing, PR & branding. A co-op marketing strategy with an established complementary business – such as a startup interior designer teaming with a real estate management company – is a smart option for 2014. It mimics the trend of digital companies teaming up with brick & mortar stores to gain offline customers.
We’ve all seen articles on BuzzFeed such as “10 Reasons to Celebrate Denver’s Playoff Berth” and “9 Ways to Protect Yourself In The Event Of An Alien Invasion” that may sound ridiculous. In reality, content marketing– or branded content – is highly contagious, easily going viral on social media. The goal is to create content that is not only useful but interesting; similar to a business blog but without the formalities. For established businesses & non-profits, content marketing can help make your brand more approachable to the 18-32 year old demographic. Here’s how we used Content Marketing in our favor.
When creating content for the Jewish market, you’ll need to take their location, language, habits, denomination & standards before creating the content otherwise your content will be lost in translation. Relevant content marketing is a delicate balance between what you want to say and what customers want to read.
You used to have to pitch an article to the press in order to get it published. In these recessionary times, though, all you need to do is be an advertiser. Similar to the trend of content marketing, advertorial options & blurbs have become part of an advertising media buy – with a paid ad, newspapers & websites will throw in a free mention in their briefs or an article in their paper.
Reputable newspapers & websites will limit these articles to certain sections or online only while other media outlets will publish material all the time. The advantage isn’t just getting free content; it’s about creating content that is worth reading. Jewish media buyers know which publications will provide free content but connect with content creators (see below) that will make your content compelling & optimized for SEO purposes.
With sales edging higher & e-commerce websites creating more demand, Israeli companies and startups are starting to look towards the American market in more ways than just print advertising. Israel-based companies have started to sponsor events & create “satellite” offices in the U.S. as a way to attract the Jewish customer more often than just Passover or Sukkot vacation. Google Voice and Skype allows Israel entrepreneurs to create video & chat meetings with American customers, selling items from jewelry to travel services to real estate all online. As a result, more Israel companies will be looking to target Americans through more than just media buys in print. They’ll be looking for events, branding & direct sales.
Just like cops moonlight as security guards, writers are using their talents for marketing purposes. As the newspaper industry staggers in the digital age, seasoned writers & editors are using their talents in the copywriting & content marketing arena. Blogs, content marketing, advertising & press releases are all areas where an experienced writer comes in handy. Jewish writers in particular have a loyal established following that can come in handy when targeting the Jewish market through content.
The days of merely posting up a Facebook & Twitter page are over. At the same time, joining every single social media service in existence is a huge timesink & dilutes your core network. What worked for the nascent social media audience in 2006 won’t work for a 2014 audience (Facebook turns 10 years old this year, did you know that?). Mobile devices allow customers to get content quickly and on time. News breaks in minutes and goes viral in seconds. Push notifications provide app alerts, breaking news and social media messages. Focusing social media efforts on the strongest media for your business is the key to a successful social media strategy. Posting consistent and timely messages, video’s and content on your best networks is smarter than having one or two pieces of content on every social network.
However, employees sitting on Vine, Pinterest or GoFundMe all day long could make for highly distracted workers that are out of touch with the end goal, which is sales & marketing. In a 2012 Intuit survey, one third of business owners said they want to spend less time on social media though they know it’s valuable. The 2013 solution has been outsourcing social media; specifically, companies are outsourcing social media design, content creation and analytics. From a cost-benefit analysis, outsourcing quality social media control is a better method than hiring full-time employees or college kids.
Redesigning your website, brochures & advertising to suit the needs of digital customers that browse with tablets, mobile devices & iOS 7 is the first step towards a successful 2014 marketing campaign. Responsive web design with swipe navigation or one-page navigation has become the best way to reach customers on iPhone’s and iPad’s. Creating interactive brochures and business “storybooks” that resemble a magazine is a hot feature on Flipboard. Focusing on pictures & video for your marketing is more important than a PowerPoint.
Overall, it’s important to ensure your brand’s image & logo looks as relevant for 2014 as it did in 2005. Creating a badge, Favicon and Icon for your company is an important branding technique for being seen in browser windows & in social media; a badge is just as important as a logo! Designing social media components that are consistent with your advertising, brochures & website are often overlooked areas of design. With social media threatening to replace traditional websites, remaking your look for the digital age should be on your marketing budget for 2015. (Learn about a brand makeover…)
