By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager and Social Media Manager In 2016, 40% of marketers reported social media has become more challenging — with changes in search algorithms, emerging trends, and a decline in organic traffic. Organic traffic has especially become difficult for marketers. A Facebook page with over a million likes averages a 2.27% engagement…
Read moreClassic Creative: Cherokee Nation
By Jeff Goss, President and Creative Director The Treaty of New Echota was signed December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political group, The Treaty Party, headed by Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and nephews Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie. The…
Read moreCraft Beer Tourism & Culture
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manger and Digital Director Let’s talk about beer! And no, I’m not referring to the run-of-the-mill lagers that many macrobreweries pass off as “beer” (let alone drinkable). I’m referring to the world of craft beer; the wonderful world of strange ingredients, amusing label designs, and punny names. While beer tourism has…
Read moreCultural Travel By Pixel
Week of March 13, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Snapchat is Gaining Popularity Among Adults. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/adored-teens-snapchat-popular-parents/308110/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1488910927&utm_visit=1984901" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google Improves its Location Tracking and Geo-Targeting Abilities. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/googles-location-tracking-better-now-ever-208347" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7]…
Read moreWhat Is A Website Audit, and Why Do I Need One?
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager [caption id="attachment_9093" align="aligncenter" width="630"] The Historic Biltmore Village Website, developed and designed by The Goss Agency[/caption] The internet is a busy place. To say that it’s a “saturated marketplace” is a bit of an understatement. As of September 2014, the internet clocked in at 1 billion websites (website here refers…
Read more4 Tips to Consider When Implementing an Influencer Marketing Campaign for your Destination
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers say they trust earned media — or recommendations from individuals (friends, family, acquaintances, etc.) — over all other forms of advertising. Adweek also reports findings from a survey asking marketers their thoughts on influencer marketing. Based on that survey, 94% of those who have…
Read moreCultural Look at Cabell County, West Virginia
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator & Social Media Manager Last month, a few members of the team journeyed to Huntington, West Virginia, to take a look at several of the cultural assets Huntington and Cabell County have to offer. The trip was a great reminder to the team about why the agency does what it…
Read moreCultural Travel By Pixel
Week of February 13, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Competitors Leave Twitter in the Dust [button text="See Full Article" link="https://www.statista.com/chart/5358/twitters-user-growth-in-perspective/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Opens Itself to Ad Measurement Audit, Giving Brands More Control Over Video Ad Buys [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-opens-measurement-audit-gives-brands-control-video-ad-buys-206387" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline"…
Read moreThe Do’s and Don’ts of Destination Branding in 2017
By Chloe Ayres, Senior Graphic Designer Your brand conveys your destination’s personality. Just as our personality is a mixture of inherent traits and characteristics that develop over time, your brand is a mix of existing factors and developed characteristics. Branding is how you shape and communicate the personality of your destination to your customers. While…
Read moreCultural Creative – “Unto These Hills”
By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director The original script of the outdoor drama Unto These Hills was written by Kermit Hunter, a University of North Carolina professor, in 1950. The play told the story of the Cherokee people, who can be traced back to the Paleolithic period, have lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina…
Read moreThe Need to Focus Advertising Dollars in Mobile and Social is Paramount as the New Year Rolls In
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator The ever-changing digital world has brought much upheaval to the e-commerce landscape for the last several decades — and this new year is no different. But while change is inevitable in the ecommerce industry, it’s also growing at a great speed, with experts predicting that worldwide sales will surpass $2…
Read moreCultural Creative: The Islands of Palau
By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Palau, settled 3,000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines, was discovered by Europeans in the 16th century and made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1574. Sold to Imperial Germany in 1899, Palau was conquered by Japan during World War I and was made part of the U.S.…
Read moreRetailers testing Google Maps mobile Promoted Places ads include MAC Cosmetics, Starbucks, Walgreens
The promoted pins in Google Maps are being tested on Android devices. Ginny Marvin on December 15, 2016 at 3:00 pm Google is continuing to test its new promoted pin ads — now formally dubbed Promoted Places — in Google Maps with a small group of retailers. The pilot is running in the Google Maps…
Read moreFacebook’s latest measurement error undercounted Instant Articles traffic
For those keeping count, this is the fourth time Facebook has disclosed measurement errors in as many months. Tim Peterson on December 16, 2016 at 11:00 am It’s happened again. For the fourth time since September and the second time this month, Facebook has disclosed a measurement error. Facebook had been undercounting iPhone traffic for…
Read moreSalesforce moves beyond first-party data with Krux integration
The CRM/marketing giant unveils several new features for its Marketing Cloud that incorporate its recently purchased data management platform. Barry Levine on December 16, 2016 at 10:46 am In October, Salesforce announced it was buying data management platform (DMP) Krux. This week, the CRM/marketing giant unveiled the addition of three new features to its Marketing…
Read moreReserve with Google: Deeper booking integration through search and Maps
Online booking is becoming mainstream, with the principal points of entry being Google, Facebook and Yelp. Greg Sterling on December 15, 2016 at 11:32 am Local search is becoming much more transactional. Google previously worked with a range of third-party providers to bring online reservations to the Knowledge Graph. Now the company has gone much…
Read moreCultural Travel by Pixel
Week of December 19, 2016
Read more5 Marketing Predictions for 2017
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator Ready or not, 2017 will be here before we know it! Here is a compiled list of predicted trends that will help you adjust, prep and optimize your advertising and marketing plan for the new year: [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] An increased focus on analytics — including the use of…
Read moreCultural Creative – Cherokee “Oops” TV Spot
By Jeff Goss, President/CEO [row] [span8] [/span8] [/row] Well, there’s selling baskets in the gift shops, and then there is telling the story of a basket and having people buy it. We chose the latter as we focused on the lifestyle of the Cherokee civilization to build the brand by increasing interest and intrigue —…
Read moreMarketing a Small Town
Maximizing Budgets and Promoting Inherent Resources By Chloe Ayres, Senior Graphic Designer One of the principles of successful marketing (especially when marketing a destination) is to capitalize on honesty. Small towns and/or smaller destinations often imitate larger destinations in order to attract visitors, but that completely misses the point. Visitors go to smaller destinations for…
Read moreThe 10 Branding Principles We Live By
[embed]https://www.flickr.com/photos/129767087@N03/16703717985[/embed] By Bob Davies, Brad Strategist 1. A Brand is a creative expression of a value proposition. We start with the fundamentals. A value proposition is the foundation for the Brand. It is the key to business or organizational viability. We create value propositions by generating a large number of possibilities and then evaluating them…
Read moreCultural Creative: Disney’s Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island
By Jeff Goss, President [row] [span4][/span4] [span4][/span4] [/row] Vero Beach was chosen due to the stretch of available land on the Southeast coast and its proximity to The Magic Kingdom. With a construction trailer and grading still taking place on the property, we began the marketing for the first Disney Resorts outside of the Walt…
Read moreWhat Destinations Should Know About Local SEO
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Coordinator Of course destinations want to draw visitors from across the state, country, and even the other side of the world. But what about the local visitor? Destinations should optimize their local search ranking and provide content to encourage leisure and travel within their local geographic region as well.…
Read moreCultural Tourism: A Huge Opportunity and A Growing Trend
Cultural tourism. It sounds like a niche. In reality it is something different. Cultural tourism is a huge opportunity and a growing trend. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, roughly eighty percent of the 150,000,000+ adults who travel more than fifty miles from their homes can be considered “cultural tourists.” Thirty percent of…
Read moreThe Goss Agency Presents On Digital Marketing At AB Tech
Ryan Laffler and Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Digital Director and Social Media Manager respectively, at The Goss Agency presented at AB Tech’s Hospitality Marketing Class early this month. Ryan and Gabrielle discussed digital marketing strategy and channel structure/opportunity. Ryan began with a roundup of weekly digital news. The Goss Agency reviews and profiles digital media by channel…
Read moreHow The Cultural Traveler Uses Social Media
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager The internet has given a wealth of information to today’s consumer. And people do take the time to research. They want to make the best decision with the time and money they have. Cultural travelers are no exception. Cultural travelers are looking for destinations that will provide them…
Read moreCultural Creative: The Island of St. Lucia
By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Travel and tourism work is fascinating for the same reasons that one visits a destination personally or with family. Only we get to share our emotional experience to other potential visitors to get them to follow our example. What a fulfilling responsibility! After seeing the waterfall that changes color with…
Read moreCultural Creative: Festival of Native Peoples
By Jeff Goss, President The Apache, the Bad River Chippewa, the Sioux, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the Creek, the Crow, the Cherokee, the Ottawa, Hopi, Miccosukee, Pawnee, Seneca, the Osage, Tulalip, Samish, Squaxin, the Zuni, Totonac, Git Hoan, Hälau Palaihiwa O Kaipuwai. We know name-dropping is in bad form, but we had to share a…
Read moreBranding Process Kicks Off For Elizabeth City, NC
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Two weeks ago, The Goss Agency had the pleasure of visiting one of its clients, Elizabeth City, to present the results from our branding process. Located on the Pasquotank River in Eastern North Carolina, Elizabeth City truly is a gem of Southern charm and culture. The branding process uncovered Elizabeth…
Read more5 SEO Mistakes You’re Making
In the early days of SEO, the mindset for most specialists was, "How do we trick Google into giving us better search results?" Well, if Google has ever been accused of something, it wasn't stupidity, which is why they've since begun penalizing SEO specialists who try to game the system. Nowadays, good SEO isn't achieved…
Read moreClassic Creative – Haywood County
Haywood County, after our branding workshop filtering and prioritizing all the features and visitor experiences, determined that the authentic Appalachian culture and clean natural environment were the assets that rose to the top. Thus, “Haywood County, Authentic Appalachian, pure and simple” was born. A new logo was created by illustrating the landscape in a turn-of-the-century…
Read more4 Reasons Why Your Destination Should Use Instagram Stories
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager Was Instagram being a copycat of Snapchat when it rolled out its new feature, Instagram Stories? Of course. Should brands still use and be aware of this new feature? Most definitely. Just like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories are available to be seen by all followers of a user…
Read moreARE YOU FOR REAL?
By Rachel Hornay, Copywriter Intern Technology is always developing but the recent craze of virtual reality invites brands to explore a whole new platform. Virtual reality (VR) is defined as a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real way by a person using special electronic…
Read more4 Ways To Attract Millennials To Your Destination
By: Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Millennials are armed to be the driving force behind the travel industry. They use travel to go on adventures, learn other languages and study. Why are they so eager to travel? This generation was jaded by the recession and now places less importance on saving for retirement and instead values…
Read moreQ+A: How Do I Optimize Pinterest For My Destination?
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator and Social Media Manager 1. Why is Pinterest important for travel destinations? You may ask: Isn’t Pinterest just a website where stay-at-home moms find cool recipes and quirky DIY crafts? While there may be some truth in that, there is so much more to Pinterest that your destination can benefit…
Read moreCultural Creative – Natchez, Mississippi
By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Renowned as the rowdiest landing on the Mississippi in the 1800s, it truly is fascinating to visit Under The Hill in Natchez, MS. Built from 1730-1734, Under The Hill consists of about 20 buildings on the river’s edge below the bluff where the French built Fort Rosalie to…
Read moreWhy You Need to be Focusing on Native Advertising
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager & Digital Director Display ads, the advertisements that you see on the top and sidebars of almost every webpage nowadays, are in decline. One part of the problem is that they are rarely relevant to the user. While this has changed somewhat with Google Adsense’s targeting algorithm, it started to…
Read morePin It! – The 3 Most Important Tips to Optimize Your Pinterest
By Travis LeJune, Account Intern Do you have a Pinterest yet? If you are a shopper, you should definitely get one. If you are a seller, you MUST have one! Sure, it is still a fairly young social media platform, but it has been churning up some extremely surprising statistics we think you should know…
Read moreADmirable: Chipotle’s New Campaign
Fast food giant Chipotle recently came out with an animated short about two kids who grow up locked in competition with each other. The heartwarming video works because it captures Chipotle’s brand distinction in an entertaining way that resonates with others. Memorable brands don’t just offer great products or services, they connect with their audience…
Read moreTop 5 Mobile Advertising Trends in 2016
By Ryan Laffler, Digital Director, and Rachel Hornay, Art Direction/Copywriting Intern 1. FORGET YOUR WALLET Mobile wallets have become the new way to pay. Once companies proved that mobile wallet transactions were properly encrypted and secure, mobile wallets began to take off. Many top brands such as Apple, MasterCard and Android now offer mobile payment.…
Read moreQ&A – What is the core of Award Winning Creative?
By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Q: What is the core of Award Winning Creative? A: Award, which award? Many awards are meaningless because the standards are so low (everybody gets a trophy). Others are an ego-stroking fest among “creative elites” congratulating one another for work they created more for themselves than the client and client’s…
Read moreDigital Advertising Statistics You Need to Know (Infographic)
Ever since the turn of the century, Digital Advertising has been changing the ways brands communicate with their audience. The number of tools and techniques that have surfaced over this time can be a little overwhelming, but with the right strategy and agency behind you, digital advertising can produce tremendous returns for you and your…
Read moreYOUR EMOJI SAYS IT ALL
By Rachel Hornay, Art/Copy Intern They say that a picture is worth a thousands words, especially with today’s language evolving with the usage of emoji characters. Emojis are intended to illustrate, or in some cases replace altogether, the words we send each other digitally, whether in a text message, email, or tweet. Instagram calls emoji…
Read moreCultural Creative – Haywood County, NC
Haywood County, after our branding workshop filtering and prioritizing all the features and visitor experiences, determined that the authentic Appalachian culture and clean natural environment were the assets that rose to the top. Thus, “Haywood County, Authentic Appalachian, pure and simple” was born. A new logo was created by illustrating the landscape in a turn-of-the-century…
Read moreSustain Your Brand using Instagram and Food
By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Brands are constantly looking for ways to engage with consumers on social media. However, one challenge is noticing the trends occurring on various platforms and capitalizing on them successfully before the competition. One such trend that is growing in popularity centers around food. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t…
Read moreCultural Creative: Historic Biltmore Village
By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Not many people know Historic Biltmore Village was originally known as a little town in Western North Carolina called “Best.” Best was acquired by George Vanderbilt to create a community with homes, shops, a school, and even its own church for the 1,100-plus craftspeople and their families who were hired…
Read more7 Digital Marketing Takeaways from the Digital Summit 2016
By: Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Earlier this month, I was privileged to represent The Goss Agency while attending The 2016 Digital Summit Conference in Charlotte. I was able to gain knowledge from industry leaders during those two days. I almost felt a tad nostalgic of college lectures as I quickly scribbled down note after…
Read moreCreative History: Qualla Arts Basket Ad
[mp_row] [mp_span col="12"] Here is how we, “Turn Facts Into Visitation” in an actual campaign. In researching the history of the Cherokee and their culture in preparation of an ad campaign to be designed to transcend all media, we came across a simple fact that might be overlooked by many. After all, the fact was…
Read moreYouTube Introduces a New Ad Package
By Brady Rothschild, Intern YouTube is introducing a new ad package for companies looking to advertise through them. Last Tuesday (on April, 26, 2016) they announced the start of bumper ads. Bumper ads are 6-second ads that you can’t skip, rather than the traditional 30-second YouTube ad that you can skip after five…
Read moreHow Facebook’s Big Conference will Impact Businesses
By Brady Rothschild, Account Support The Facebook Development Conference (F8) took place in California this week. Facebook laid out their strategy for the next ten years and many of the announcements will make a direct impact on businesses. This shows how they are going to keep people as well as businesses connected in every possible…
Read moreHow Instagram’s New Algorithm Affects Your Business
by Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Algorithms are everywhere. On your smartphone, at the ATM machine, while waiting at a stoplight, I literally mean everywhere. And that’s a good thing! At their core, an algorithm is a formula or a set of processes to solve a problem. They’re especially useful when dealing with enormous amounts of…
Read moreWhy It’s Important to Build a Brand Consumers Can Relate To
By Brady Rothschild, Account Support I recently read an article in HuffPost Business called “The Future is in the Hands of Brands”about building a brand customers can relate to. In this article, they spoke about how certain Youtube channels are viewed millions of times, even though the content of these channels is not exactly great.…
Read more5 Takeaways from Social Media is a Behavioral Shift
Today on Social Media Today, Andrew Hutchinson discussed how we have to stop talking about the individual social platforms so much and start talking about what audience trends the usage of these social networks reveals about these audiences. Here are 5 key takeaways from his analysis.
Read moreConclusions about Cultural Tourism by World Tourism Organization
Excerpt from our Cultural Tourism whitepaper. If you're interested in receiving this white paper, sign up for our newsletter from our homepage or our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thegossagency/app/100265896690345/. A set of conclusions has been offered by the World Tourism Organization with respect to planning for cultural tourism. DEFINE TOURISM PRODUCTS The process above is one way to take the sometimes historic,…
Read moreHow to Leverage Hashtags for Business on Different Social Media Platforms
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock Hashtags have become a common way for millennials and individuals to express themselves on social media and reach out to the world around them. They can join in on conversations revolving around a certain topic and spurt their opinions to everyone interested in that topic. But while hashtags are popular for individuals,…
Read moreThe Six Components of Mobile SEO in 2016
By: Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Most businesses understand the importance of SEO, but what about mobile SEO? How is it different? How is the landscape changing moving forward? We tracked down six fundamental components to a successful mobile SEO strategy in 2016. Bryson Meunier, the SEO Director at Vivid Seats, broke down the components in…
Read moreAnchor: The Next Big Social Media Platform?
By Brady Rothschild, Account Services What is Anchor? Anchor is an app that allows one to create content in real time and share it with one’s friends, followers and others who are just browsing the Internet. It works very similarly to Twitter, or Instagram, but instead of text or pictures, talk is used to engage with other…
Read more4 Ways to Use Facebook Advertising
Social advertising is here to stay, and you can take advantage of these low-cost, low barriers to entry social ads on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Linkedin. Here are 4 easy ways to dip your toes into Facebook advertising for your business page. Boost Your Posts This is one of the easiest ways to advertise on…
Read moreThe Cultural Tourism Discovery Process
Excerpt from our Cultural Tourism Whitepaper, available via newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/bM3KBX Our Cultural Tourism Discover Process is called Culture Context™ and it depends on a thorough understanding of the local culture and the context in which a particular destination competes. That context is defined by three domains: 1) the place 2) the people 3) the peer group. We sometimes…
Read moreWorld Trade Organization’s 6 Categories of Cultural Tourism
The most comprehensive view of cultural tourism comes from the World Trade Organization. Based on 2012 global survey, they identified six cultural heritage categories: Handicrafts and visual arts
Gastronomy and culinary
Social practices, rituals, and festive events
Music and performing arts
Oral traditions and expressions
Knowledge and practices concerning nature
Read moreNew Cultural Tourism Division
Driving travel and tourism success is getting increasingly hard as more destination marketers search for ways to increase awareness and differentiate their offerings. At the same time, more travelers, from boomers to millennials are searching for new adventures, forgoing the traditional list of destinations to find unique, authentic, and culturally enriching experiences. I know you have many challenges that keep you…
Read moreUnderstanding Content Marketing for 2016
2015 marked some big developments in content marketing. Periscope launched in March 2015. Other livestreaming apps Meerkat and Blab also joined the fray. Snapchat became more mainstream, hitting over 100 million active users.
Read moreSeeking Opportunities for Brand Connections
When everyone on your team is tuned into the mission, goals, and differentiators that help define your brand, opportunities will continuously arise to make brand connections and highlight your brand identity. For example, we live by the following philosophy: "Although the stripes on the zebra are unique, when the zebras are grouped together it's difficult…
Read more5 Emerging Trends in Online Marketing You Need to Know
As 2015 comes to a close, it's time to look ahead and brush up on the emerging trends that will affect your online marketing. Mobile Will Trounce Desktop It was only a matter of time: in 2015, mobile traffic on Google finally surpassed desktop traffic. In response, Google released an algorithm designed to crush a…
Read moreNew Website Sneak Peek
By now, you probably realize how important it is to refresh (or completely overhaul) your website so that it incorporates all the current features users expect as well as compiling with SEO, mobile, and other trends. As we shared in a previous blog post, "Iterative Website Design," your website is a living representation of your…
Read more2016 Marketing and Advertising Trends Roundup
2016 is right around the corner, so we’ve rounded up 10 pieces of the top advice about marketing and advertising trends to help your business reach new heights next year. Share this with everyone you work with, then schedule a brainstorming session so January 1, 2016 can’t sneak up on you. Forbes “Video ads will start…
Read moreSnapchat Explores Audience-Targeted Advertising
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Four years ago, Snapchat burst onto the social media scene with a novel idea: an app that lets users share photos and videos that are only viewable for a limited amount of time (as of today, the range is from 1 to 10 seconds). The idea started out as a…
Read moreA New Year Is on Its Way, Along with Some New SEO Guidelines
Search engines - whether it be Google, Yahoo, or even Bing (yes, some people do use Bing) - are getting smarter. And companies need to update their SEO guidelines in order to keep up...
Read moreBest Email Marketing Results Yet
As an agency, we win when our clients win. We get just as much or more of a thrill when our efforts on behalf of our clients net great results, like with this best ever email marketing campaign sent last week. As Entrepreneur recently shared: The average person gets 121 [emails] a day. The human race…
Read moreNew Account Manager
Being a Native to Asheville makes me an anomaly in most circles. I was born and raised in South Asheville when US- 25 was a two lane road and it only took 10 minutes to make it into downtown Asheville...
Read moreBest Travel Brands on Social Media
Travel brands showcase the power of pictures, real-time content, and useful information on social media, and these are lessons that all businesses can learn from and incorporate into your social media efforts. We take a look at posts from 5 travel brands and show how they ‘get’ social media. We utilize the recent eValue Analytics…
Read moreIdeation Workshop Brainstorms Brand
Big thanks to the Natchez Democrat for their latest story about our recent ideation workshop for the city of Natchez. Full story below and on their website at http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2015/10/16/ideation-workshop-brainstorms-brand/. Before the branding comes the brainstorming. That's the mindset The Goss Agency--an Asheville, NC based cultural tourism branding firm--is taking in its quest to identify a…
Read more4 Examples of Interactive Ads
Advertising has changed rapidly thanks to the onslaught of the digital age. So, companies that do invest in traditional advertising methods such as print and billboards are pushed to think of a way to create interactive ads, getting more bang for their buck by bringing their offline advertising efforts online, too. How? By getting viewers to…
Read moreWhy Twitter Still Matters
Some businesses have ignored being consistent on Twitter because they don't understand it or think there is no way to stand out with millions of tweets streaming every hour...
Read moreMarketing to Millennials from a Millennial
The Millennial generation is coming into the workforce now, in a world with a tough economy. The Millennials are used to having things their way, and we can get very upset when life does not go as planned.
Read moreMore Awesome Email Marketing Results
The old saying, "Success breeds success" is certainly true when it comes to email marketing. For our client Blossman Gas, we capitalized on the success of last week's E-Direct Ad and tweaked the targeting to get even more people to open and click through the content. The result? The open rate increase 3% from…
Read moreCreative Discipline
By CEO and Creative Director Jeff Goss The Goss Agency focuses on the idea first, then design. We arrive at creative ideas that communicate the brand experience in a manner that touches emotions, making one laugh, think, feel. This level of communications over time results in a brand and brand loyalists.
Read moreEmail Blast Nets Big Jump in Website Traffic
We sent this Direct Email out for Blossman Gas: And generated this excellent website traffic for our client: The graph above shows how one direct email campaign with a 2% clickthrough and 11% open rate to over 430,00 targeted single family homes spiked website traffic from 1500 views per day to 4500 per day within 24…
Read morePinterest Tips for Business Success
Pinterest recently hit a huge milestone--100 million users! This news means even more when put into the context of predictions that it would only reach 47 million users by 2015, and 59 million users by 2019...
Read moreAsheville Marketing Firm brings National/International Tourism Destination home to Asheville
We're proud to represent Asheville on a global stage for our new destination client, Natchez, Mississippi! Read the full press release below and read this piece by Natchez Democrat about the news: Asheville Marketing Firm brings National/International Tourism Destination home to Asheville NATCHEZ, MS, September 17, 2015 – The Natchez Convention & Visitors Bureau has contracted The…
Read morePinterest Promoted Pins
For our client, Brandzaffair, we decided to experiment with the new Pinterest promoted pins opportunity. Before we share our results, we thought we’d round up a few expert opinions and information about the advertising tool. According to Quick Marketing, “These advertising options give businesses the opportunity to pay and feature selected [Pinterest promoted] Pins…
Read moreFacebook Overtakes Google as Top Website Traffic Driver to News Sites: What It Means For Your Business
Google has long been the king of driving traffic to websites. For years, businesses have worked to make Google happy by being conscientious of certain key website factors: search engine optimization, keywords, meta-tagging, including images, posting new content frequently...the list goes on. Yet, Parse.ly has revealed that Facebook has now overtaken the web search giant…
Read more1 Message, 7 Digital Advertising and Print Advertising Uses
The idea behind this message for our client Alliance Autogas was to highlight the safety and ease of use of the Stäubli Nozzle (which is the technology that you use to fill up your tank with propane), and the result is a consistent digital advertising message optimized for 7 different uses. 1. Display Ad 2. E-Direct…
Read moreCreating a Brand Identity You Can Easily Expand
In this piece for design blog identitydesigned.com, Greg Jewett of Ho Chi Minh-based Rice Creative chronicles the process of visually branding a new business through his work for...
Read moreVisit Natchez Convention & Visitors Bureau Retains The Goss Agency for Branding Services
PRESS RELEASE Branding Agency to Work in Conjunction with New Public Relations Agency NATCHEZ, MS, September 1, 2015 – The Visit Natchez Convention & Visitor’s Bureau has contracted The Goss Agency, one of America’s leading cultural tourism branding services firms, to direct a comprehensive brand audit of the 300-year-old historic destination. The Goss Agency will work in…
Read more5 Things You’ll Learn From a Digital Audit
The rapid pace of social media means that sometimes, businesses fail to take the time to assess if what they're doing aligns with best practices and you're hitting your goals. Hopefully, you're already doing monthly reports to see growth and impressions for each of the channels you are utilizing, but this report is only showing you a piece…
Read more5 Tools to Get More Out of Instagram
Instagram can net some powerful results for businesses thanks to its quick and easy ways for your customers to engage with just a tap on the screen, and its scroll-ability keeps people glued to their feeds. An image posted to Instagram can easily gain tens or hundreds of likes or comments, whereas a Facebook or Twitter…
Read more9+ Ways to Improve Your Video Marketing
Video is fast becoming an essential part of any businesses’ marketing mix. Here are some video marketing tips for creating better content and how to get more eyeballs on the videos you create. 2 Minutes or less Data shows that “more than 80% of viewers watched one that was 30 seconds or shorter, while less…
Read moreBranding with Periscope
Social media is one of the most powerful tools a business has in its arsenal. Need to respond to hundreds of customer inquiries from multiple countries before lunchtime tomorrow? No problem...
Read moreNew Digital Marketing Statistics 2015
This article from Adweek, "7 Digital Marketing Stats That Caught Our Eye in the Last Week," rounds up some of the interesting digital marketing statistics that have come out in the past week...
Read moreLeveraging Your Distinction with Smart Branding
Did you know bulls can run faster uphill than down? I was having a conversation yesterday with a client prospect. She mentioned the need within their tourism attraction to radiate their brand and engage visitors with its message. Kudos and camel rides to her! (“Camel rides” is a good thing here - meaning exotic and adventurous…
Read morePromoting Your Social Media Channels
All too often, we see clients and potential clients fail to promote their social media presence. It’s important to use your website, newsletters, blogs, and other visible places to promote the fact your company is on social media...
Read more5 Quick Fixes for Your Facebook Page
We spend a lot of time on Facebook for clients, for our agency and for ourselves, and we see some mistakes over and over that can be quickly fixed to up your Facebook game immediately. These updates will make your brand look more professional online and could help generate new leads or new stories to be…
Read moreNew Website for Haywood County
We were tasked with creating a new website for Haywood County that highlighted specific elements of the North Carolina Smokies experience into a visually stunning, user-friendly website that shows off all the great assets the county has for both locals and visitors to enjoy during their time in Haywood County.View the Haywood County website at visitncsmokies.com.…
Read moreAsheville Wordcamp Review: A WordPress Conference
Over the weekend of July 25-26, I was fortunate enough to attend Asheville’s Wordcamp 2015. Wordcamp is a nationwide series of conferences detailing the finer points of Wordpress...
Read more10 Reasons Your Brand Should Utilize Video Marketing
In the one minute it takes you to read this text, 100 hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube. That’s 250 days of video every hour, 16.4 years of video every day, and six millennia of video every year! As the world’s largest repository of moving images, YouTube is the 3rd most visited website…
Read moreDigital Marketing Trends 2015
For August, we’re talking about digital marketing on the blog, and we’re kicking off this series with a roundup of some of the latest digital marketing trends. Here are 5 articles and their best nuggets that caught our eye recently: Digital Marketing Trends: A Mid-Year Review via Sellpoints “We’ve seen the news about Google introducing…
Read more10 Inspirational Days in France: Historical Highlights
--CEO Jeff Goss I just completed an inspirational 10 day trip to France. The experience impacted me in a couple of ways. I now have a renewed realization of how critical it is to get out of your routine and take in new life experiences. I was inspired by walking in the footsteps of…
Read moreAdvertising Paradise: St. Lucia
--Backstory behind St. Lucia creative and advertising by CEO Jeff Goss One of the most amazing, unspoiled destinations, and islands in the Atlantic, yet the branding “Simply Beautiful” with a hibiscus flower, a flower that existed on my own street in Atlanta, could be for any place, many places. After the airline lost our luggage, and…
Read moreTourism Marketing Roundup
This month, our blogs will focus on tourism marketing insights and trends. To kick things off, we've rounded up 5 tourism marketing campaigns/announcements that have caused a stir in recent months. 1. New Orleans Summer Campaign "We are showing that New Orleans can be special for families, for those who enjoy the high life, or enjoying…
Read moreNew Corporate Identity for Tribe Transportation
The Goss Agency just completed the corporate identity for Cherokee National, a new subsidiary of Tribe Transportation, headquartered in Gainesville, GA...
Read moreEvent Marketing: Festival of Native American Arts
Within the full-service marketing of Travel and Tourism The Goss Agency provides positioning, strategy promotion and PR for destination events and event marketing...
Read moreA Numbers Game: A PPC Case Study Update
By Scott Zeller, SEO & SEM Specialist, The Goss Agency Sudoku, a popular numbers game, is a logic-based puzzle that requires you plug in numbers from 1-9 in the right combination to solve it and win the game. It starts with a few numbers and a partially completed 9x9 grid, and relies on you, the…
Read moreArt in Advertising by Adweek
[caption id="attachment_3434" align="aligncenter" width="649"] Photo from Adweek featuring campaign for Aizone[/caption] One of our mottos at The Goss Agency is "It's All About the Work." So, Adweek's post from June 22 titled, "How Jessica Walsh and Gerry Graf Turn Data Into Art in Their Advertising" caught our eye, especially Graf's closing statements: "Now it's the work, because…
Read moreSocial Media Marketing Resources
To finish our social media blog series, we've rounded up a few resources we trust to give us up-to-the-minute, useful ideas for our clients and our own social media. Find which expert or website appeals to you the most, then sign up for their newsletter or follow them on Facebook to stay informed. 1. Convince and Convert At…
Read more3 Possible Agency Roles for Your Social Media: Management, Guidance, or Training
Social media changes on a monthly--sometimes daily--basis, so it’s important that you evaluate your company’s digital presence frequently as well as taking the time to keep your social media knowledge up-to-date...
Read moreSocial Media: One Is (Always) Greater Than Zero
This month, we’re talking about social media on the blog. To start, we’ll look to Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the leading experts and authors in the field whose company, VaynerMedia, just won the...
Read moreNew Branding Campaign for Asheville’s Historic Biltmore Village
The Goss Agency, in conjunction with Biltmore Property Group, recently launched a branding campaign for Historic Biltmore Village located in Asheville, North Carolina in the heart of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains...
Read moreNew Tourism Client, Mitchell County
The Goss Agency is executing a portfolio of TGA proprietary quantitative and qualitative research and branding tools to ascertain Mitchell County’s most compelling features, benefits...
Read moreWhat You Need to Know About Branding in 2015
Branding is sometimes misunderstood, which isn’t surprising considering that the word “brand” has wildly different definitions, many with negative connotations. Here are a few...
Read moreBranding Process Starts with Ideas, Not Design
We focus on the idea first, the idea that communicates your key benefit in a manner that identifies with your target emotionally. Only then do we do the design...
Read moreOur 5 Step Branding Process
To conduct the most effective messaging, we believe it is crucial to have the intelligence and consumer insights to identify with your prospect personally and understand what it is about your product or experience that hits your prospect’s “hot buttons.” We have the research, brand measurement and positioning tools to prepare exceptional creative messaging…
Read moreMarketing Insights: Two Schools of Thought
The “Two-Schools” by Bob Davies, Brand Strategist What I’m noticing is that there are two distinct “schools of thought” with respect to marketing these days. One is being advanced by the content people. It is about spontaneity, real-time marketing and responsiveness. The marketing of presence. These days we develop--no crank-out--the content and push it through…
Read moreApple Set to Shake Things Up in the Search Engine Market
David Bowie wrote those words in 1971. Almost 45 years later, this song is stuck in my head as I read that Apple may be partnering with Microsoft later this year, attempting to take on Google in the world of search engine marketing...
Read moreIterative Website Development: Build Your House on a Solid Foundation
We often get inquiries from clients about building them a new website. Many of them have websites already - websites that they hate for one reason or another. The content management system is too hard to use. The design is outdated. The site doesn't work on mobile. Regardless of the reason, the client's answer to…
Read moreSEO: A Daily Workout
Exercise. We know we need it, but it can be intimidating when deciding how, when and where to get started. Is it fun? Not at first, but over time, it can be. With the right discipline, the right program...
Read moreBe Your Competitor’s Customer
In my last blog post, I discussed being your own customer, and the eye-opening information it provides to marketing directors as they continuously evaluate their marketing efforts...
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