Many times we are approached to help an organization achieve their marketing goals, but to them, the challenge feels insurmountable. Strategies and tactics have gotten messy or confused for them. Inevitably the conversation starts with these types of comments:

“We’re spending $$ on PPC, but our results have bottomed out.”

“Our competitors have recently upped their game, and now we seem like a weaker competitor.”

“Our offerings have changed or improved, but we don’t know how to communicate them in a way that resonates.”

A big part of the value we bring to our partnerships is structure. We know from our years of experience what dependencies are necessary to get great work done. Showing you how we get there is very important. Leadership teams are rarely comfortable with “trust the process”. Therefore we enjoy building sophisticated roadmaps to help you understand priorities, timetables, and dependencies. This helps everyone understand when you can expect your branding and marketing to function on a much higher level.

 roadmap to shape up branding and marketing is fairly simple and straightforward. It looks like this much of the time, unless we're inheriting existing marketing programs:

➡️ Brand Strategy ➡️ Brand Identity ➡️ Content & Collateral ➡️ Website ➡️ Marketing & Agency Services

This is rarely enough information for communicating to your leadership team, so during our work together, we’ll put together more sophisticated roadmaps. Here are some examples.

Example 1: Two Year Alignment of Multiple Service Offerings

This client had finished a large strategic alignment of their various B2B service offerings, as well as adding a service line that is completely new, requiring a different strategy. This was a two-year roadmap, outlining quarterly priorities.

Example 2: Rebrand Internal and External Rollout

In this example, the client had completed a comprehensive rebrand, and needed to understand what it was going to take to communicate to their internal and external stakeholders, eventually rolling in to ongoing marketing and business development.

This nonprofit client had two very important fundraising events in the fall and winter and had just completed a new brand identity. It was critical to ensure the new identity was deployed with quality before starting an intense marketing campaign. Our audience needed to understand what they were seeing was their favorite events, just modernized.

Build it in a spreadsheet or other tool to allow for detail, but then build a simpler one for clarity and simplicity. Less is more.

Priorities and dependencies are critical to communicate.

The plan will always change. Don’t get hung up on dates or timelines that are unreasonable. Communicate in phases or time periods instead of strict dates (unless there is an event that is immobile)

Someone may not be excited about how long a particular phase might take. Don’t change the roadmap for them, especially if a date is unreasonable. Under promise and overdeliver and you will win a ton of trust.






Researching and planning is key to effective marketing strategy. We use data, insights, our gained knowledge and research born from curiosity to plan inventive, value-drive marketing plans for our clients.

Marketing Strategy

Our strategy team can provide you with an unbiased look at your brand and marketing to give you the perspective you need to make the next move the right move. We provide audits at all levels - high-level, comprehensive marketing audits down to platform-specific social media auditing to SEO audits of your websites. In addition, you receive our hard-earned insights, recommendations and a roadmap or plan to move your forward.

Auditing & Roadmapping

Strategy

Roadmapping Your Strategic Initiatives

Coronavirus/COVID-19 is currently impacting just about every aspect of daily life. There is no clear timeframe for when we can go back to normal and 

. Nonetheless, life and business will need to continue and adapt to this new normal. The hope of this article is to outline a few digital tactics that can help businesses during this period.

Is Your Website Set up for eCommerce During Coronavirus?

The most obvious shift is acceleration of an ongoing trend: more and more users will be shopping online. The number of online orders in the U.S. and Canada were 

 for the 2 weeks of March 22 through April 4. Along the same lines, U.S. online grocery sales for 

Now is a good time to ask yourself if your website and digital store are able to adapt and fulfill more orders? Is your eCommerce experience user friendly? Are you able to scale up and fulfill more orders online and deliver? Things to consider when evaluating your online store and eCommerce platform:

Is my checkout process easy and intuitive?

Am I ready to fulfill an increase in orders?

Am I using my platform to its fullest extent and is there anything that can be automated on the backend?

Does my website offer a positive shopping experience?

Growing your online sales and business is one of the most obvious ways to react to the COVID-19 pandemic. These sorts of business decisions are tricky and unique for everyone at this time. However, if you’re able to, now is the perfect time to invest in your business’s eCommerce capabilities and do your best to meet your growing online demand.

QR Codes – Offer a Contactless Transfer of Information

QR codes might seem like a blast from the past but they have a number of potential uses in a social distancing society.

, is already using QR codes to enable people to shop their store via their front windows and order products online:

QR codes can allow brick and mortar businesses to offer users the opportunity to literally window shop.

QR codes are also playing a big part of China’s efforts to re-open following their Coronavirus lockdown

. The Chinese government is using mobile apps to track citizens’ movements and health status. The mobile application produces a QR code that can be scanned to share a user’s infection status.

While China has a long history of unethical surveillance of its citizens and human rights abuses, this idea is still smart in principle. China and other nations need to ensure technology is deployed ethically to maximize their citizen’s participation. Therefore transparency and ethical use are paramount if this technique is to be deployed elsewhere.

QR codes can offer Chinese shops and businesses a method to verify a citizen’s health status without having to make physical contact. Thinking ahead, we could see similar applications used elsewhere. Citizens being able to share their health status in a contact-free way will help prevent further spread of the virus as we begin to try and “re-open” our economies.

At the very least, providing contact info via QR code instead of a traditional business card could help users around the world practice better social distancing.

Streaming Video in the Age of Coronavirus

As users have to adapt to doing more activities from their own homes, they are increasingly turning to online streaming solutions. 

in terms of publicity as the platform has become a favorite for online socializing and digital happy hours. Zoom said daily users spiked to 200 million in March, up from 10 million in December.

As schools have been shuttered during quarantine, students and teachers have had to pivot to online learning. 

With many teachers being forced to learn online teaching techniques on the fly

. One thing businesses and marketers need to be asking themselves is, “how can I pivot my business online?”

One of our partners, The Jewish Community Center of Louisville, has been working on such a pivot. With their building closed, The J Louisville has begun offering some of their key services online and have built a “

” section of their website. They are offering group fitness classes online where users can take part in classes via Facebook Live. Additionally, users can still sign up for online personal training sessions with their licensed personal trainers. In addition to fitness, The J is also offering arts & ideas, jewish life & learning, and kids virtual resources.

Finding a way to turn your in-person service or experience and translate it to streaming may be key in keeping your customers throughout quarantine. There is going to be a learning curve as you venture into this new space so don’t get down on yourself. Learn and improve as you execute and you’ll be all set.

This article outlines just three methods of how you can adapt your business during the coronavirus pandemic. There are still tons of new opportunities out there as well. So in the meantime, keep your head up and try your best. That is all anyone can ask for at this point.

Creating innovative, well-considered strategies relies upon experience and knowledge - but also the ability to research, find facts, and identify trends and opportunities. We provide this service to clients who are challenged with new platforms, new markets and new technology. Naturally curious, we like to stay up-to-date and ahead of the curve for our own knowledge, and for the benefit of our future work.

Below is a selection of journal entries for some of our most recent research subjects.

Research

If you need to sell online, we’ve got you covered. From simple selling strategies to complex subscription models, we’ve built them all. Our clients with ecommerce process tens of thousands of dollars per month through our systems. From Shopify integrations to WooCommerce workhorses to Magento installations and beyond, we’ve built and managed them all, safely and securely.

Ecommerce

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How To Adapt Your Business During the Coronavirus Pandemic

We keep an eye on a lot of trends here at VIA – but one of the most dramatic that we’ve seen in the past couple of years is the dramatic uptick in users completing ecommerce transactions on mobile. Not just shopping/reviewing/researching – but making major purchases on mobile.

Case in point is one of our favorite clients, and below is mobile vs. desktop ecommerce data. Before you read this info, here’s their situation:

with a high dollar value (usually north of $100 / transaction)

and they haven’t redesigned their ecommerce system in years

and their product offerings haven’t changed

percentage of number of transactions (not revenue) by device 

 2015: 65%, 25%, 9% 2016: 64%, 28%, 7% 2017: 58%, 35%, 7% 2018: 50%, 43%, 7% 2019: 47%, 46%, 7% (so far)

In the span of 5 years, they’ve gone from a 2-to-1 desktop-to-mobile ratio to a 1-to-1 ratio. Also note the eye-wateringly quick acceleration towards mobile 

, and 2019 isn’t even done yet! By the end of the year (and with a redesign of their ecomm system forthcoming – hint hint), mobile will be #1.

And I know what you are thinking: “But Ben, this is just one client!” – yes, it is, BUT we’ve seen it consistently and even more pronounced with clients with younger or more tech-savvy audiences. This is really happening.

So with the caveats mentioned earlier – same ecommerce flow, relatively same products, relatively same pricing, happening to multiple clients – one has to wonder just WHAT is going on? Well, I have some (educated) guesses:

The people with the money are becoming savvier and more comfortable with digital purchasing.

 The Boomers (65+) and even some of the Greatest Generation (80+) are now far more comfortable with their iPhones than they were 5 years ago.

 Part of the reason they are more comfortable is:

This might seem silly, but with phones dramatically increasing in size – I believe that it’s far easier to for consumers to do in-depth research while on their phone. Bigger displays lead to bigger photos, easier to read text and easier to navigate product information. Not to mention accessibility features like enlarged text (peek over your grandma’s shoulder next time you see her phone out …).

Generally, I believe all of this leads to consumers feeling more confident about their purchase. No more “I’ll complete the purchase when I’m at my laptop”. You’ll do it now.

3. Customer support is better because consumers spoke up

Pre- and post-purchase communication and support has gotten much better in the past few years – and much of that (I believe) is because y’all realized you could complain to Delta on Twitter! But generally, the tools that sellers have to conduct that communication (e.g. Mailchimp) have made this so much easier. Online chat, easy-to-read FAQs, post-purchase automated communication triggers, and pro-active support have all had an impact here.

And… this lead to consumers feeling far more confident.

4. Your Credit Card Got Hacked Dozens of Times and You Didn’t Go Bankrupt

Payment processing and the general feeling that someone, somewhere was going to run away with all your money (or make you spend days resolving it) was a legit fear years ago. Now, however … your credit card has AI technology and a full-time staff there just to make getting you a new card nearly painless. Now? They’ve got your back – so yeah, go ahead and order those Korean facemasks from that dodgy website.

This is the big one … in many ways, Amazon does ecommerce 

. Their user experience in some spots of their website is terrible. Ever try buying a Kindle book on an iPhone? OMG. Ever try updating your payment info? YIKES. What’s up their product pages? Why do I have to scroll two miles to the reviews??

But enough slagging Amazon for poor UX – they do get a lot right:

Amazon is quick. Everything about it is quick. The search results. Quick. The checkout process. Quick. The payment processing. Quick. The Amazon Prime shipping. SO QUICK I couldn’t even say “Quick” and it was already on my doorstep – on a Sunday! Hell, even the ability to RETURN an item is quick. They shipped you the wrong thing? KEEP IT.

All of that, I think has had two major effects:

First, that quickness and responsiveness is expected. Other retailers have followed suit.

Secondly – and most importantly – consumer’s confidence in Amazon, and ecommerce generally, has taken an axe to the irrational fears surrounding ecommerce transactions.

There’s an amazing amount of trust around Amazon 

, and Amazon is the gorilla of ecommerce.

Comfort. It’s all about comfort – if you aren’t confident, you aren’t comfortable. If you can’t get the info you need, you aren’t confident.

There have been a lot of concurrent changes in the last few years – bigger phones, better customer support, faster apps, websites and shipping – and I think all of them have come together to produce a critical mass of comfort for the consumer.

Forget Generational Stereotypes, Baby Boomers Are Just As Addicted To Smart Phones As Millennials

“On average, Baby Boomers â those born between 1946 and 1964 â are on smart phones five hours a day. That’s almost the same amount of time on a phone as millennials â those born between 1981 and 1995 â who clock in over five-and-a-half hours per day”

“millennials spend more time making old fashioned phone calls to talk to peers and family than Baby Boomers do.”

Demographic targeting: How different generations use mobile apps

“Mobile penetration is growing for this age group, with 65.6% of Baby Boomers in the U.S. owning a smartphone in 2018 and 55% of them having a tablet. They’re downloading apps that mainly help them with healthy living, travel and shopping to make life easier. In the U.S., 52% of Baby Boomers said they use retail apps to collect more information about a product or service, whereas 40% have used a retail app to buy a product or a service.”

Survey: Consumer trust may be Amazon’s true competitive advantage

“Unlike other online retailers, 67% of Amazon customers trust the company to protect their privacy and personal data.”

“In a shareholder letter (.pdf) filed with the SEC in April, Amazon said it had more than 100 million Prime subscribers globally. The NPR/Marist poll estimates that 64 percent of online shoppers now belong to Amazon Prime. The poll generated an extrapolated estimate of 75 million US Prime subscribers, with an additional 35 million who use a friend or family member’s account.”

“As with several other polls in the recent past, the NPR/Marist survey found that Amazon beats Google as the starting point for online shopping or product search.”

Thanks to Nick Wunderlin for research assistance! 

User Experience (UX) is the driving design philosophy around building web and mobile applications, putting your audience (the “User”) first. The methodology requires research, wireframing, UI design, branding, and user testing to achieve exceptional results. We have the expertise in User Experience to design any experience you require.

Auditing & Roadmapping

Roadmapping Your Strategic Initiatives

How To Adapt Your Business During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Dramatic Uptick in Shopping on Mobile is all about Comfort