Latest Posts

Do the Local-motion: Improve Your Local SEO to Bring in Customers

Search Engines like Google have revolutionized the way we search, buy and interact with local businesses so it’s critical you take center stage under the bright, hot spotlight. You know your customers are out there looking for you online, but can they find you?

If you own a pizza shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a hungry person searches for “best pizza in Fort Lauderdale,” you want to make sure your business ranks high in their search result to close that sale. Bring on Local SEO.

If your business has a physical location, you need a Local SEO strategy separate from your organic SEO approach. Although some elements from both overlap, Local requires a few additional steps.

First, claim your business on Google My Business using a consistent citation of NAP (name, address, phone number) across this and other directories. Consistency is key as it will help to broaden your visibility and create trust between search engines, directories and prospective shoppers.

Second, reviews are a must — lots and lots of reviews. Encourage your customers, offer rewards or just ask them to review your establishment as they check out. The organic quality and quantity of their comments has a direct impact on local search rankings and the nice feedback is good to read.

Lastly, Local SEO relies on link building. Earn links from local authority sites like community organizations, local news coverage, blog features and directories. All of these mentions are an important to improve your search position.

Local SEO is designed to help search engines and new customers find your business so make sure your business can be found!

What Is Programmatic Buying?

Programmatic buying is the automated process of purchasing and selling digital advertising inventory through real-time bidding (RTB) or direct sales. In this eTip we are going to break it down into two parts: automated process and real-time bidding. (more…)

How do we showcase chic new meeting space to meeting planners?

The Loews Miami Beach Hotel, situated in the heart of South Beach, completed a $3M+ full redesign in their meeting and event spaces, and new collateral, both print and video, was essential to communicate the new look and feel in the marketplace.

The client looked to Starmark to create a sales kit with a wow factor. The team wanted to capture and showcase the four-star diamond-luxury experience offered at the hotel and to standout against their competitive suite.

Starmark conducted several stakeholder interviews with meeting planner professionals and the sales team to fully understand what they look for when considering a meeting space and used these insights to develop the design strategy and content. Starmark then directed a photography shoot of the remodeled spaces to build a new image library to support the sales kit.

Starmark’s big idea—a modern and sleek collateral package to showcase unique messaging for specific markets all presented in a modular way for ease and flexibility for future updates. The kit included newly designed floor plans, property maps, one-page inserts and a brochure.

Having worked with Starmark on many projects, we were quite comfortable with the creative talent and team Starmark would bring to the table for this comprehensive project. From the creative, to the messaging, the photography and finally to print was a huge success. The process was seamless and fun from start to finish. The new collateral is stunning, user friendly and represents the chic new sophisticated look of the conference space. We even won an award! Working with the Starmark team has been a pleasure and we are on to our next two projects!

— Kathleen Bernesby, Director of Marketing, Lowes Miami Beach Hotel.

The Loews Miami Beach Hotel also asked Starmark to create a video designed to showcase their luxury property and prime location to the meeting planning industry. Often requested by corporate and incentive planners, the hotel did not have an existing multimedia component to support these needs. The strategy was to create an appealing meetings video that would bring the Loews Miami Beach Hotel to life in a vibrant and engaging manner.

The Starmark team concepted and shot the video from a meeting planner’s perspective. When putting together the elements of the video, the team made sure to demonstrate the hotel’s brand values: exciting, approachable and local. This video focuses on the facilities and amenities that make the hotel an ideal choice for any group event. It also conveys that part of the overall appeal is the ideal location in South Beach.

Starmark created the video with a key take-away in mind: The Loews Miami Beach Hotel is the property of choice for anyone looking to be engaged and pampered. Guests receive the highest level of service and amenities in an exciting destination with much to see and do.

Native Advertising & Content Marketing: Which Is Right for You?

Native advertising, aka advertorials, is a type of earned media. This information-based content is crafted to appear as traditional copy promoting goods or services in a way that does not disrupt the user experience. (more…)

Google’s new desktop ad layout change sparks concern

Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal

Two-thirds of the way through the first quarter of the year, with most search engine optimization and marketing (SEO/SEM) budgets set for the next 10 months anyway, Google has changed the layout for paid ads in desktop search results. (more…)

How to unite 10 Communities in the Northern Palm Beach County under one Brand – Palm Beach North

Northern Palm Beach County, a distinct 10-municipality regional corridor is located within Palm Beach County, Florida. Geographically the largest county in the state of Florida, Palm Beach includes the municipalities of Mangonia Park, Riviera Beach, Lake Park, Palm Beach Shores, North Palm Beach, Jupiter, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Tequesta, Juno Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. (more…)

Work Better and Faster with Facebook Business Manager

Whether you work in an agency or internally for a large organization you can agree managing multiple Facebook accounts can sometimes be cumbersome. Marketers are always searching for the latest and greatest tool to make their day-to-day tasks efficient. With advertisers needs in mind, Facebook unveiled a tool that would do just that. (more…)

Highlighting Catholic Health Services in a Highly Competitive Healthcare Market

Catholic Health Services (CHS) is the largest not-for-profit post-acute healthcare system in the Southeast US, providing services to over 6,500 people of all faiths. With four medical campuses in South Florida, CHS offers acute medical rehabilitation hospitals, specialty outpatient clinics, home health services, hospice care and skilled or long term care as well as assisted living. Catholic Health Services also offers the community early education and child care, low-income housing for independent seniors and two Catholic Cemeteries. (more…)

Using Social Media to Enhance Promotions

More bang for our social-media buck is what we all strive for when running promotions. But what’s the most effective means at our disposal to generate the interest and encourage participation? Are we maximizing our fullest potential?

When it comes to executing promotions of any kind with the goals of generating leads, entries and followers, there’s nothing more effective than reaching out to the fans through special invitations to participate in our contests and sweepstakes; everything from scavenger hunts and social sharing to photo contests and periscope videos — among countless others. But before you begin, you need to know how to play.

The social media landscape is constantly evolving, so you need to make sure you understand the latest dos and don’ts. For example, you can no longer use “like-gating” in your Facebook promotions but not to worry, there are other options. If Facebook is one of your planned distribution channels, why not host an “action gate” or quid pro quo — you ask followers to do “something” in exchange for a reward and as you build your qualified leads, your fans walk away enamored.

A few final tips to keep in mind. Keep the number of “required” fields to a minimum, we don’t want our fans to work too hard. Cross promote and ensure mobile compatibility! The possibilities are truly endless.

‘Science the way’ to increased sales

Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal.

In the movie “The Martian,” Matt Damon’s character, astronaut Mark Watney, is mistakenly left for dead by his fellow astronauts on Mars. When he awakens alone on the red planet, he makes a conscious decision “not to die.” Instead, he says (to himself) that, in the face of overwhelming odds, “I am going to have to science the [expletive] out of it.” (more…)

Creating the optimal website experience for all visitors

Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Sunny.org website provides visitors with a visual experience that showcases the allure of Fort Lauderdale highlighting dining, sports, nature, shopping, gaming, arts and entertainment, meeting venues and much more!

Starmark’s challenge was to create a fully-responsive website design for desktop, mobile and tablet viewing while reflecting the happy-go-lucky vibe of the destination. The new site, with its large, compelling imagery and informative content provides a more engaging experience for its visitors and partners. Users are immersed into the destination at first glance through the use of cinemagraphs and videos on the homepage and throughout the site to add subtle movement like shimmering water or breezy palms.

Get to know Greater Fort Lauderdale in a whole new way at sunny.org

Facebook’s latest algorithm: not a phase but a fact of life

If you’ve ever wondered what Facebook really does with your business page posts, you’re not alone. In the past, Facebook decided whether or not to show your content to users through its ever-changing, ever-evolving series of algorithms resulting in a News Feed that shows only content appealing to your specific interests and content with proven engagement (Likes, Clicks, Comments and Shares). (more…)