The Daily Carnage

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Catering Your Emails for Dark Mode Compatibility

APRIL 6, 2022

Dark mode is growing to become one of the more standard viewing modes for emails, especially on mobile. It’s a great viewing option to give your eyes a rest from contast screen time. You might even be using it right now to view The Daily Carnage.

But is your brand taking dark mode into account when designing your emails? If not, you might be surprised by the color shift your branding can take.

Here are some helpful dark mode design tricks to keep in mind when designing your email:

Stick to transparent PNG images so when your background color inverts, you won’t end up with mismatching blocks.
Add a white stroke around dark images to avoid something being black-on-black when in dark mode. Logos and icons are notorious for this.
Design as if you are in dark mode by testing your work on a black background.

When it comes to coding stuff, there are a couple ways to add dark mode styles. Here’s a helpful cheat sheet (for both non-developers and developers alike):

Dark Mode is supported in all the latest email clients and devices but each OS provides Accessibility and Display setting options a little differently.

Check out the full post by Email Uplers for specific dark mode tips!

How to Appeal to Gen Z Shoppers

APRIL 5, 2022

There’s a reason Gen Z has such a powerful hold on platforms like TikTok and shopping behaviors. It’s because they have some big spending power of up to $143 billion. So what is a brand to do?

Gen Z appreciates a lot of things from brands like transparency and mission-driven values. Here are generation trends to keep in mind when trying to appeal to Gen Z:

Gen Z is some of the most information-hungry consumers: This is where your service needs to shine for both digital and in-person experiences. They appreciate product demos and will spend more for a good experience in-store across all categories. On the other hand, though, bad experiences are hard to forgive for Gen Zers.
Product provenance is big: Make it clear why your product is priced the way it is with transparent storytelling on who made it, how it was made, and where it was made or sourced from. “Profit over provenance” is a surefire way to switch Gen Z off of your brand.
But price and functionality are still important: The appeal of your brand can not be purely based on your heritage. Fighting for lifelong brand loyalty means more than a snazzy brand front. There’s always going to be a matter of pricing to sweeten that deal.
A synchronized experience is key: Online research is now an absolute given before any purchase. Gen Z shoppers expect a well-synchronized online and offline experience for a considered purchase. This means customer journeys should think customer-first, not just about platforms, and be consistent.

There are a lot of benefits to appealing to Gen Z customers for high-standard shopping experiences overall as well as clearly understanding your own brand’s perception. Check out the full Gekko article for more Gen Z trend statistics and ways to appeal to them as a brand.

7 Steps for Boosting Social eCommerce Sales

APRIL 4, 2022

Selling on social media is great for brands that want more visibility, conversions, and sales (duh). But how can you make the most of social eCommerce? Here are 7 steps to get you in the right direction (The first three steps is every strategy’s first steps, but that’s because they’re essential):

Choose Your Platforms: Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you’ll need to tailor your social media strategy to fit the platform you’re using. Test as many as you’d like but have some goals, budgeting (for both money and time), and a strong idea of target demographics first.
Plan Your Content: Once you pick platforms, create your content. Each platform (maybe with the exception of Pinterest) favors video formats. Plan what that looks like for each platform and how your brand would approach it (live, text only, UGC, etc.).
Shake It Up: Make sure your content strategy has variety. Plan different content to promote, to educate, to inspire, or to entertain. The big mistake brands make is sticking too much promotional content.
Repost and reward UGC: User-generated content is what can make or break sales because it’s often third-party, real-user testimonials. Reward your new reviews or host a contest to gain more.
Showcase customer reviews: Once you have reviews or UGC, show it off. Social proof is an essential step to get potential customers to build trust in your business. One way is to use branded templates to share them from different sources.
Use Social Listening Tools: The internet is difficult to stay on top of. Social listening tools are a brand’s way to keep a pulse on what is being said on social media when a brand isn’t directly tagged or messaged.
Invest in Social Media Advertising: Many of these tips are great for just your organic social media strategies. But ads are gonna help you get the most trackable results with a specific reach.

The Social Shepherd gives great examples for content on any social media platform with a whole bunch of other tips to boost eCommerce like meme strategies and tools, so check out the full post!

How to Approach the 3 Google Ad Priorities of 2022

APRIL 3, 2022

Google Ads announced that it would be focusing on three priorities in 2022:

Automation
Measurement
Privacy

But what the heck does that mean for marketers? We’re going to cover these priorities in reverse order.

Let’s start with Privacy:

When it comes to privacy Google has updated their privacy playbook from the advertiser and user perspective. Google is also rolling out new solutions to privacy and measurement including:

Enhanced conversions
Consent mode
Conversion modeling
Data-driven attribution

Measurement:

We have been reporting a lot on the cookieless future and how advertisers need to adapt. For advertisers, Google is encouraging building a direct relationships with customers through capturing first-party data for more 1:1 direct communication.

Automation:

Performance Max and Discovery campaigns fall under the Automation pillar and Google is emphasizing the use of these campaign types to advertisers. Both campaign types focus on reaching users at scale from a single campaign and have benefits like:

Simple management (often fewer campaigns)
Multi-channel reach
Greater ad inventory
Incremental conversions

But Performance Max reporting is limited. While you can add multiple asset groups, you will not receive performance metrics data on the assets. Assets are ranked against others of the same type, and assigned a rating. But then marketers are still left a little fuzzy on what’s exactly working.

Discovery campaigns are great for potentially immersive visual storytelling. Users can showcase one image of their product or service, or implement an engaging carousel. However, these ads are typically geared towards goods and not services.

As always, not all of the bells and whistles Google are good for marketers, particularly if you’re strictly a service-oriented industry. Sometimes, they’re better for ads.

The SMS Marketing Need-to-Knows

MARCH 30, 2022

To text or not to text 🤳 – that is the question. And the answer is to text.

SMS (short message service) marketing, is becoming standard for reaching people with real-time updates like transactions, reminders, and updates about brands. Often it can be more personal, highly engaging, and efficient for both customers and companies.

It’s so effective, that in 2020, almost 50 million Americans opted to receive SMS marketing messages. So let’s get into the nitty gritty and good stuff about SMS.

Top SMS Practices to Keep in Mind:

Ask for permission! Let customers opt-in to receiving text messages.
Identify yourself to let customers know which brand is talking to them.
SMS should be for immediate value, not long-term campaigns.
Time your messages well and keep time zones in mind.

What to use SMS Communication For:

Transactional SMS – Account alerts, emergency alerts, logistical messages (like shipping confirmations)

Marketing SMS – Sales, promotions, recommendations, events

What to look for in an SMS Marketing tool:

Accuracy – Make sure you choose a company that can ensure good deliverability and keep your lists up to date.
Scalability – if you increase your SMS list and campaigns.
Integration – If you have a CRM you love, make sure they can share the SMS data with it.
Reputation – SMS can be flagged for spam, too. Find a company that adheres to best practices and respects your customers.
Testing – A good company will let you test out what your customers are going to be experiencing first!
Analytics and Reporting – Of course this should be a given, you need to know how it’s performing.

OneSignal is a company that handles SMS marketing so check out their full post about best practices before you launch your own SMS communications.

Your Measuring Refresher: 70+ Marketing Metrics + KPIs

MARCH 29, 2022

As advertisers expand their marketing reach to different mediums and channels are cracking down on tracking, more niche measurement solutions are needed.

But not everyone needs to be tracking the same things so we wanted to cover some of the possible metrics out there in 2022. It’s more than clicks. There’s a big long list to know, but here are the big performance areas to measure with specific metrics to check out:

Conversion Metrics: Find out what influences conversions with things like Landing Page Performance Optimization and your current Social Traffic Conversions. New leads are great, but knowing your Lead Conversion Rate Measure is better.
Engagement Metrics: If you’re emailing, quantify your Email Marketing Engagement Score Measure to gauge content with your audience. Social Interactions will remain a great thing to look at, as long as you’re taking actionable steps to maintain it as more platforms reward reciprocated engagement.
Costs Metrics: How else will you know your Return on Marketing Investment? Keep an eye on your Cost per Action (CPA) to measure the amount of money put towards driving conversions.
Customer Metrics: The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a valuable metric for understanding your brand’s influence on your customers’ lives and experiences. A great way to measure and engage with your customer base is by measuring your Net Promoter Score (NPS).

You’re gonna wanna check out the full list of Klipfolio metrics for yourself to help guide on what your brand should be measuring.

33 Free Google Marketing Tools for Marketers and Developers

MARCH 28, 2022

Even outside of the Google search engine, it’s pretty much impossible not to be using Google tools and apps. Marketers, developers, and business owners all have to be familiar with several platforms to do their jobs successfully.

But how many Google tools are there? Shane Barker put together a list of all the FREEBIES that Google has to offer. Here are some of our favorites:

General Google Tools for Everyone:

AI Tools: In this Carnage issue’s Tool section, we shared AI Experiments with Google, but Google has several established AI Tools for research, open-source dev modules, and data.
Alerts: If you haven’t set up Google Alerts before, they’re a game changer for staying in the know on topics.

Awesome Google Tools for Marketers:

Charts: Let’s get visual. Google Charts is a fast, free way to visualize data and stats that are custom and live!
Keyword Planner: Make your SEO and content research easy with Google’s Keyword Planner that can work directly with your site and bidding strategy.

Helpful Google Tools for Developers:

Test My Site: Since Google is the overlord on site ranking, you might as well use their tools to check that they align with Google’s Core Web Vitals. This tool helps identify loading time issues.
All These Dev Tools: Google loves site and app developer resources and they have a whole library of dev tools for everyone.

Check out the full list on Shane Barker’s site for some lesser known tools and details on all 33 of Google’s free tools.

Everything You Need to Know for a Successful Rebranding

MARCH 27, 2022

Rebranding helps brands stay consistent and on-brand for all your marketing efforts. But it has to be done properly as a collaborative process with some transitioning.

Before you start your rebranding process, consider these Qs first:

Do you want to make a partial or total rebrand?
Has your target audience changed?
Will a rebrand help to reach your brand’s goals?
Do you need to update your mission, values, and vision, too?

The main idea is to create a brand identity (visual and otherwise) so that customers can understand who you are. Here are some parts of a brand identity that could be rebranded:

Your Logo: It’s the thing people think of first for branding. If you are rethinking your logo, transitioning it from your old logo depends on how different you make it. Often you can do a switch across all channels. If it’s very different, you might need to launch an official announcement.
Your Company Name: Your company’s name should align with your brand’s mission, vision, and values. This is something that’s going to need a direct “here’s our new name.”

Your Brand Colors: Time for some competitor research and color psychology. Try to look at your brand with fresh eyes and consider what colors relay your messages this best.

Your Typography. Check out whether your original fonts are compatible with your brand image. Ask yourself if they’re outdated and avoid following new font trends (they might not last).
Your Slogan: Slogans should be short, sweet, and explanatory. It can be metaphorical, clever, or make a claim. When rebranding, don’t forget to consider your slogan’s alignment with your mission.
Your Guidelines: The most important thing when rebranding is to get all the right people involved. Create a clear guide on color use, logo variations, imagery, font use, brand voice, and messaging. Get the whole team on board or else you get mixed branding and misuse.

Check out the full blog post by Mention that goes through everything to consider when rebranding.

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Building an Online Portfolio

MARCH 23, 2022

When it comes to job hunting (and bragging rights), you need a professional-level portfolio to put yourself above the competition. Nowadays, most companies even ask for a portfolio link out the gate.

A good portfolio will display your skills and your personality. Just make sure that you know what to avoid before you create your own or edit your current one.

Not Having One: The online portfolio is the new resume. Mistake number 1 is thinking you shouldn’t make a portfolio and missing out on a chance to have an expanded, in-depth look at your work.
Thinking They’re for Creatives Only: Portfolios are not reserved for displaying creative work alone. Content marketing campaigns, developed apps, and data projects are also ideal. Research your industry and see what others are doing for their portfolios.
Providing No Context: As we said, portfolios are more than visual dumping grounds for creative work. Explain projects so a viewer knows the exact type of work you did.
Not Telling Your Story: Make it personal! It is, after all, your portfolio. Include some sort of background on yourself where you can.
Not Making it Mobile-Friendly: Duh, right? With any site, you want it to be responsive. If it’s a custom site that means some more leg work, but Behance and GitHub will make it easier on you.
Not Updating in Realtime: Everyone falls into this trap of only updating their resumes, LinkedIn, and portfolio when they are job hunting, not before. Update your portfolio as you complete work so the backstory and work to display are fresh!
Not Thinking Through Your IA: Your information architecture/site navigation should take some consideration. Do you group work by project? Type of Work? Or not at all? It all depends on your work.