2023 Wrapped: Green Apple’s Top Moments & Marketing Campaigns of the Year

As the year draws to a close, it’s natural to look back and reflect on all that’s happened. And for anyone with an Instagram account, it’s that time again when our social media feeds transform into a musical montage of friends’ top tracks and favorite artists courtesy of the Spotify Wrapped campaign. Whether you’re thrilled or slightly overwhelmed by the influx of Wrapped recaps, there’s something undeniably heartwarming about the collective effort to reminisce and rejoice in the memorable moments of the past 12 months. 

Here at Green Apple Strategy, we’ve caught the Wrapped fever and decided to create our rendition, celebrating the harmonious blend of creativity and hard work that went into our favorite marketing campaigns of the year. Just as Spotify songs transport us back to specific moments, our 2023 Wrapped is a chance for our team to relive the marketing magic generated through countless hours of brainstorming, planning, and execution. 

2023 Wrapped: Green Apple’s Top Moments & Marketing Campaigns of the Year

Without further ado, join us as we unwrap the highlights and unveil the stories behind Green Apple’s 2023 Wrapped: 

United Communications’ Project UNITE Celebration Event

Our partnership with United Communications has provided us with the privilege of supporting Project UNITE, their groundbreaking initiative to bridge the digital divide in Middle Tennessee. In January, we had the honor of organizing a newsworthy celebration event to commemorate the remarkable impact of Project UNITE.

We started 2023 off with the planning and promotion of a marquee event for our client, United Communications. United realized the size and scope of the celebration they wanted to have would require all hands on deck, so their marketing team reached out to Green Apple for support. United Communications leveraged our event planning expertise to create a celebration that would support the company’s brand promise of providing a world-class connection with a local commitment. Green Apple also played an important role in the timing of the event, coordinating efforts with government agencies to ensure Governor Bill Lee and other elected officials could attend prior to the start of Tennessee’s state legislative session.

The celebration was a huge success, generating significant interest from local TV news outlets in Nashville and Knoxville that resulted in 24 print and digital news articles. Green Apple’s PR and Content Marketing Strategist Chris Song played a vital role in this event’s success and says it’s certainly a project he won’t soon forget.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished as a team to make this event such a success for United Communications. Through a single event, we promoted our client’s close partnerships with community leaders throughout Middle Tennessee, galvanized more public support for Project UNITE, and helped shine a light on the largest broadband infrastructure investment in our state’s history.”

Survivor Fitness’ Website Launch 

We are incredibly proud of our collaboration with Survivor Fitness, an organization that empowers cancer survivors to reclaim their health and well-being through personalized training and nutritional guidance. Driven by its remarkable mission, Survivor Fitness has experienced rapid growth in recent years, extending its reach to thousands of cancer survivors across Middle Tennessee. To make an even greater impact, Survivor Fitness sought a new website to effectively convey their transformative story. Our team wholeheartedly embraced the opportunity to partner with this exceptional organization. We meticulously crafted the website’s design, content, strategy, and project management, ensuring it accurately reflected Survivor Fitness’ dedication to empowering cancer survivors on their journey to holistic wellness. 

Crain Construction’s 90th Anniversary Celebration 

Crain Construction, a Nashville-based commercial contractor, has shaped the city for 90 years. Their dedication to building strong relationships alongside their impressive portfolio of construction projects has earned them a well-deserved reputation in the industry. Earlier this year, Crain Construction marked this remarkable milestone with an unforgettable celebration at one of their signature projects, The Prancing Horse of Nashville Ferrari Dealership. The event brought together generations of company leadership and employees, clients, and industry trade partners who have been integral to Crain’s journey.

Green Apple took care of the strategy and execution behind every detail of the party, including designing and sending the invitations, scheduling a video shoot, and coordinating PR coverage. Green Apple Client Relations Specialist Lindsay Lanahan and Assistant Client Relations Specialist Allison Gordon put a lot of work into this project. They both agreed it was one of the most memorable of 2023.

“It was so fun working with the client to create a memorable night commemorating their longstanding success. Plus, having the event at a brand-new Ferrari dealership was a cool experience!” Allison said.

Lindsay agreed, saying, “We got to celebrate in person with so many of the Crain employees we’d been interacting with for so long and hadn’t gotten to meet yet. We even got to meet Mark and Michael’s parents! The video shoot we did at their office was also a great experience.” 

Volunteering Together at Thistle Farms

Thistle Farms, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting and empowering women, has been a beacon of hope and healing in Nashville for years. As an agency committed to giving back to our community, we had the privilege of volunteering with Thistle Farms several times throughout the year. These enriching experiences have allowed us to contribute to their remarkable mission while strengthening our team bonds. From assisting in candle preparation to decorating Christmas trees, each volunteer opportunity has been a testament to the power of collective action and the spirit of selflessness. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to partner with Thistle Farms and make a meaningful impact on the lives of the women they serve.  

Sip & Sample Grand Opening for The Skylight  

The Factory at Franklin, a cornerstone of Franklin’s vibrant community, has undergone a remarkable transformation this year, redefining itself as a hub of connection for the community. Following its renovations, we had the honor of conceptualizing, planning, promoting, and executing a grand opening event to unveil the reimagined space and introduce the community to The Skylight Bar. The event was a success, drawing in over 300 enthusiastic attendees and selling out within 24 hours. The carefully crafted promotion generated over 1,300 Instagram and Facebook followers for The Skylight within weeks and garnered an astonishing $400,000 in advertising equivalent value. This grand opening event is a testament to the power of creativity, coordination, and the unwavering dedication of our team.

A few members of our team worked at the launch, including Assistant Client Relations Specialist Jordan Forbes.

“It was amazing seeing the great turnout,” she said. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and it generated excitement for the new bar and all the new restaurants opening. I loved seeing the Green Apple team show up for the client and do everything we could to ensure the event was a success.” 

textLIVING’s ProTalks by Joe

textLIVING, a rapidly growing white-label software company, recently embarked on an intentional journey to support its current partners and enlighten aspiring entrepreneurs and sales professionals seeking to venture into the white-label realm. In collaboration with the textLIVING team, we proudly launched ProTalks by Joe, a captivating masterclass-style video series. The success of ProTalks by Joe is a resounding affirmation of our ability to seamlessly collaborate with The Orchard, our esteemed team of marketing specialists, to transform the creative idea into a reality.

Maxwell Roofing’s Culture Walls and Video Shoot 

With a history spanning nearly 70 years, Maxwell Roofing’s values have been a cornerstone of its success, and our team eagerly embraced the opportunity to visually encapsulate this rich heritage by working with Maxwell Roofing to create Culture Walls, large-format signage that reflects their company’s values and inspire their employees. This project was a great example of our ability to combine different marketing strategies to achieve a common goal.

In 2023, we got the green light to move forward with Maxwell Roofing’s recruitment video. In October, members of the Green Apple team spent an entire day working alongside the company’s leadership team, coaching them through their portions of the video, and conducting multiple interviews with their employees. Olivia Cooper, Client Relations Director at Green Apple Strategy, has worked with the Maxwell Roofing team for years and says this memorable project provided her with some unique insight into the company. 

“Roofing is a hard career, so hearing these employees’ stories from behind the camera on why they chose this career and why our client, Maxwell Roofing, is such a great place to work was unique for us. One of the best parts of our job is getting to tell the story for Maxwell, via video, about why they’re such a great place to work.”

Survivor Fitness’ GivingTuesday Campaign

The 2023 GivingTuesday campaign for Survivor Fitness also stands out as one of our most impactful and inspiring marketing projects of the year. The campaign’s theme, “Because of You..,” resonated deeply with donors, highlighting the transformative impact of their contributions on the lives of cancer survivors. Another noteworthy milestone has been the organization’s remarkable year-over-year impact of GivingTuesday, expanding from supporting 300 training sessions in 2019 to 530 sessions this year. The growth is a testament to the dedication of the Survivor Fitness community, board, and team. 

The Gardner School Campaign Photos

The Gardner School has been a Green Apple client for over a decade. Every spring, ahead of a new school year, we head out for a photoshoot to collect a massive amount of content to use for TGS’s annual campaign. Months of prep work go into designing the look, feel, and messaging of a new campaign, and photos play a huge role in helping us tell a story. The Green Apple team works with the client to select a photographer, organize a day-of schedule, and create a comprehensive shot list for every photo that needs to be taken on that day. Client Relations Specialist, Kayla Reyes, says the effort is well worth it.

“These campaign photos are used regularly in all that we do for TGS year after year. We use them in paid media, advertising, social media, and the website (just to name a few). I know the client loves looking at them, and so does our team, after months of planning. I just think it is a resounding success that we can curate, create, and use these beautiful photos all year, ” she said. 

Working Remotely (from around the world)  

Several years ago, Green Apple embraced a hybrid agency model. Throughout the year, we witnessed the transformative power of remote work as our team members​​ worked from new and unexpected locations while seamlessly delivering exceptional service to our clients. Whether they were enjoying pretzels in Germany or taking Zoom calls from Ghana, working remotely has fostered a sense of connection and camaraderie and enriched our lives with experiences that extend far beyond the confines of a traditional office setting. 

Growing the Green Apple Family 

This year, our Green Apple family welcomed various new members who brought joy and encouragement. We celebrated the addition of several new team members, each one bringing their unique talents and perspectives to our agency. We also welcomed the heartwarming addition of a few new babies, whose smiles and playful spirits warmed our hearts. And to top it off, we celebrated our adorable four-legged friends who added their furry presence and unconditional love to our team.

Green Apple’s Soundtrack for Success: Our Team’s Spotify Wrapped

As we reflect on 2023, we’re filled with immense gratitude for the incredible moments and marketing campaigns we experienced. This year has been a testament to the dedication and passion of our team, who have worked tirelessly to implement creative ideas and celebrate our clients’ growth. 

And, of course, as Spotify fans, we’d be remiss not to share some of our favorite songs that kept us motivated and inspired throughout the year:

  • On My Mama – Victoria Monét (Allison Gordon)
  • Karma – Taylor Swift (Allison Gordon)
  • The Story – Brandi Carlile (Christa Spencer)
  • Pennies From Heaven – Louis Prima (Christa Spencer) 
  • Chloroform – Phoenix (Lindsay Lanahan)
  • Witchoo – Durand Jones & The Indications, Aaron Frazer (Olivia Cooper)
  • Barbie World – Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice (Courtney Cochran)
  • Banks – NEEDTOBREATHE (Kayla Reyes)
  • Northern Attitude (with Hozier) – Noah Kahan (Katie Shayotovich)
  • East Side of Sorrow – Zach Bryan (Katie Shayotovich)
  • As It Was – Harry Styles (Sam Pyle)
  • I Remember Everything – Zach Bryan with Kasey Musgraves (Sam Pyle)
  • Two Step – Dave Matthews Band (Sam Pyle)
  • Maine – Noah Kahan (Eden Hutchinson)
  • Summer Rain – Zimmer90 (Eden Hutchinson)
  • Bluey Theme Song – Bluey feat. Joff Bush (Chris Song)
  • How Deep Is Your Love – PJ Morton (Chris Song)

Discover How Green Apple Can Help You Amplify Your Success In The Year Ahead

Green Apple Strategy is more than a marketing agency. We partner with businesses to help them grow. Whether you’re planning your next event or looking for ways to help your brand grow, our team is here to help. Let’s schedule a time to talk about your marketing goals for the year ahead!

Wrap It Up: The Year’s Top Marketing Trends We’re Taking into 2024

Whew! What a year it’s been for the digital landscape! Platforms changed their names, viewers were glued to restock videos, and social commerce soared. Despite ebbs and flows in online trends, the need for a solid digital presence remains the same. It’s critical to a brand’s success. 

To make planning your digital strategy a bit easier, we’ve done the heavy lifting and developed a list of the top video and social media marketing trends in 2024 that will make an impact in the new year.   

Social Media Marketing Trends in 2024

User Generated Content and Micro-influencers

Influencers with several million followers have had their day. In a surprise marketing shift, brands are turning to micro and nano-influencers, who have anywhere from 500 to 100,000+ followers. Audiences find micro and nano-influencers to be genuine and tend to relate better to their niche content. As a result, followers are more likely to purchase products or services promoted by this type of influencer. 

Brands also benefit from user-generated content that customers make about their personal experiences with a brand. Again, it’s the authenticity that leads to peer recommendations, satisfied customers, and brand-new customer acquisitions. 

Social Commerce

We’ve all made our share of purchases made through social media, and this method of shopping is expected to grow in popularity. In-app purchases and shoppable posts will make it easier for customers to buy directly from their social media feeds. Ensure a successful approach to social commerce by optimizing your social media platforms for sales, creating content that encourages purchases, and implementing a seamless buying process. 

SEO-Powered Content 

Using keywords for search engine optimization is still critical to getting your web content to display in Google’s search results. Now, it will also play an important role in social media content. As more and more users treat social media like search engines, SEO keywords will help them discover your clever content more so than hashtags. The right keywords can also contribute to the virality of posts, which will be influenced by SEO and not just hashtags. 

Social Listening 

Evaluating campaign success usually means evaluating quantitative data and analytics, but brands are also seeing the benefit of monitoring social media for qualitative customer feedback, experiences, and opinions. Responding to these comments can help build your and increase customer engagement. Social listening and garnering feedback from social media can also lead to customer-friendly improvements in support, marketing campaigns, and products.

Video Marketing Trends in 2024

Video Content and Captions

Video content will continue to flourish in 2024 because it’s a powerful way to connect with customers, share brand stories, and showcase products. Short-form video content will also remain popular, as it is easy to consume on certain social media platforms. 

As you’re creating content, be sure to add captions to all videos. More and more viewers are watching videos without sound, and adding captions makes your content more accesible. Include keywords in your social media captions to make your videos easier to find. Social media is now serving as a search engine for users, and a descriptive caption can help them find your content.

AI-Generated Content

Artificial intelligence is making waves in many industries, including marketing. AI-powered technologies can help you analyze large amounts of data effectively and efficiently. You can use it to uncover new approaches to strategy and tactics or even to automate mundane tasks, freeing up your time to tackle larger endeavors. Customers can also benefit from AI-based bots that can answer questions about a product or service and serve as a first touchpoint of a brand.

Increases in Consumer Privacy 

Consumers are concerned with privacy protection and want to know they can trust your company with their personal information. A study by PwC found that 83% want more control over their personal information. You can help your customers feel secure by being transparent in your data collection efforts, asking for their consent, and following all privacy and compliance regulations. 

Streaming and CTV

CTV, also known as connected TV or smart TV, continues to grow. Consumers will continue to use streaming platforms via CTV to watch their favorite programs, movies, and shows. Stay on top of its popularity by incorporating a marketing strategy for CTV into your plans for 2024. 

Marketing Strategy is Always On Trend

Trends come and go, but planning will continue to be the little black dress of marketing strategies in 2024. Green Apple can help you decide which marketing approaches will work best with for your B2B or B2C brand. We also collect data measure the results, optimize what’s working, and scale with you as you grow. Reach out to our team today to see how we can make today’s marketing trends work for you.

Your Comprehensive Guide to Annual Marketing Planning

Annual planning can feel like a balancing act for most small to mid-sized businesses. On one hand, small business owners and marketers recognize its necessity for long-term success and sustainable growth. On the other hand, developing an annual marketing plan can seem like an obstacle course (at best) or an exercise in futility (at worst). Can we develop an annual marketing plan that works? More than that, is it possible to enjoy the process of creating one?

After more than a decade of walking businesses through our approach to building a marketing strategy, our team has learned several valuable lessons regarding annual planning. We’ve discovered how to ensure your yearly plan is aligned with other critical areas of your business—from supporting business development efforts to coordinating with operations. We know the common pitfalls that prevent businesses from gaining traction. 

As we prepare for the new year, we wanted to offer helpful insights for annual planning and ideas for businesses requiring a more needs-based approach to marketing planning. In this article, we’re highlighting some of the principles for effective yearly marketing planning and a few essential questions that your strategy should be able to answer.

5 Principles for Effective Annual Marketing Planning

Here are a few essential principles we utilize when developing annual marketing plans: 

Embrace proactive planning.

Effective annual marketing planning requires ample time and consideration. This keeps you from feeling rushed and avoids the obstacles created by the hustle and bustle of the holidays. 

At Green Apple, we typically initiate the planning process for clients in Q4, but the ideal timing may vary depending on the client’s industry and specific needs. For some clients, an earlier start may be necessary based on the scope of planning requirements and implementation deadlines.

Align long-term vision with short-term execution.

One of the temptations of developing an annual plan is that you may come up with dozens of great ideas but need help implementing them. While it’s essential to incorporate a long-term vision, you also want to be realistic.

Balancing long-term vision with execution helps you evaluate your brand holistically and get a clear picture of where you’re headed. Then, you can break those goals down into more manageable steps. For example, your company might know where you want to be in three years. By balancing that vision with short-term execution, you can create an annual marketing strategy that fits into your overarching company goals. 

Collaborate with various departments and key stakeholders as needed. 

Effective annual marketing planning requires buy-in and participation from all relevant departments, including sales, operations, and customer service. This collaborative approach ensures that marketing efforts are aligned with the broader business strategy and contribute to achieving common goals.

For instance, at Green Apple, we want to make sure we know our clients’ sales and operational goals for the next year. With this information, we can ensure their marketing and advertising plans for the next year can help them reach those objectives. When objectives and departments are overly siloed, your marketing strategy won’t be as successful. 

Start with a comprehensive understanding of your current marketing plan. 

The foundation of effective annual marketing planning lies in a thorough assessment of current marketing efforts. This includes identifying successes, challenges, and areas for improvement.

During annual planning with our clients, we ask insightful questions that help us evaluate their marketing efforts from the previous year. This includes identifying everything the client needs to be doing. All of this information is used to help us determine what strategies are working, what can be improved, and what efforts aren’t providing sufficient ROI. 

Use data to inform your strategy.

Developing a data-driven approach to marketing is essential. Data analytics can help you identify the most effective channels and messaging for reaching your target audience. Continuously refining your understanding of that target audience is also essential for deploying effective marketing campaigns. By understanding your target audience’s demographics, preferences, and behaviors, your marketing efforts can be tailored to resonate effectively and achieve your desired outcomes.

7 Questions Every Annual Marketing Plan Should Answer

Once you’ve developed your annual marketing plan, here are seven critical questions you should be able to answer. Recognizing these before you get started can help you as you go: 

  1. What is your overall marketing budget for the year? How will you allocate your budget across different marketing channels and tactics?
  2. What are your marketing goals, and how will you track and measure your progress toward them on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis?
  3. Is every marketing tactic connected to a goal, and do you clearly understand how each strategy will help you achieve that goal?
  4. What specific tactics and content will you create for each marketing area of marketing, including email, paid advertising, social media, and PR?
  5. What new marketing initiatives do you plan to launch in the next year? How will you promote and launch each new initiative?
  6. Do you understand what’s being implemented monthly and who executes each marketing initiative?
  7. How will you adapt your marketing plan based on insights you discover through data or changing market conditions?

By answering these questions, you can develop a comprehensive marketing plan to help you achieve your marketing goals.

Let Green Apple Strategy Help You Develop Your Annual Plan

Need some help getting started on developing your annual marketing plan? 

Our team can help you build an effective strategy to help your business achieve its goals—and actually enjoy the process! Learn more about our approach or connect with our team to start a conversation.

From Reactive to Proactive: Creating Ad-Hoc Marketing Plans

There’s more than one way to bake a cake, but every great cake requires certain ingredients.

Just like there’s more than one way to bake a cake, there’s no singular approach to marketing planning. Think of it this way: every great cake requires certain ingredients. Similarly, every successful marketing campaign requires a strategic foundation. 

At Green Apple, we make sure all the key ingredients are in place through our strategic planning services. While we typically collaborate with our clients to create comprehensive annual marketing plans, we also recognize the need for short-term campaigns for specific initiatives that propel your business forward.

When To Employ Ad-Hoc Marketing 

Ad-hoc marketing planning is a more agile and adaptable approach to marketing planning that is typically used by smaller marketing teams. It involves identifying and addressing marketing needs as they arise rather than developing a comprehensive annual marketing plan in advance. This approach is often necessary for smaller businesses with limited resources or those that operate in rapidly changing markets.

Here are some instances when a responsive marketing approach is more suitable than a comprehensive annual marketing plan:

  • Launching a new product or service. When introducing a new product, service, or initiative, an ad-hoc approach allows you to focus on a targeted and short-term campaign to create buzz, generate interest, and gather initial feedback.
  • Entering a new market. When businesses enter a new market, they may not have the resources or time to develop a comprehensive annual marketing plan.
  • Facing new competitive challenges. If your business faces strong competition or emerging rivals, a responsive strategy allows you to swiftly counter competitive threats and seize opportunities as they arise.
  • Managing budget constraints. If your marketing budget is limited or uncertain, you can allocate resources more effectively by concentrating on high-impact, short-term initiatives.

In these scenarios, a responsive marketing approach provides the agility and adaptability required to navigate changing circumstances and capitalize on opportunities.

Best Practices for Ad-Hoc Marketing Planning

How can you ensure your ad-hoc planning aligns with your overall business objectives to prevent slipping into a more reactive approach to marketing? Here are a few best practices to consider:

Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture: Ensure Alignment with Your Overall Strategy

Ad-hoc marketing should align with your overarching brand narrative strategy. Before diving into the specifics of your responsive marketing plan, take a step back and clearly define how it connects with what you’re hoping to achieve overall. What specific campaign, initiative, or opportunity are you addressing? What do you hope to accomplish with this plan? 

It’s also important to note that the absence of a comprehensive annual plan should not equate to a lack of strategic direction. Even if you don’t have an overarching marketing strategy, ensuring that your marketing activities align with your overall goals is important.

Know Your North Star: Set Clear Objectives to Guide Your Efforts

It’s essential to take a similar approach to ad-hoc planning as you do to annual planning. You’ll still need to set measurable marketing goals and a timeline of when you plan to reach them. Define specific and measurable goals for each opportunity or need. Doing this will allow you to evaluate success and impact more effectively.

Prioritize Your Power Plays: Focus on Opportunities with the Highest ROI

When your budget or time is limited, you want to focus on opportunities that have the potential to make the most significant impact on your business. This could include opportunities with high ROI, a strong alignment with your target audience, or those that address critical business needs.

Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes: Understand Their Needs and Desires

Put your customers at the center of your marketing strategy and focus on meeting their needs. What are their pain points? What are their goals? What are they looking for from a business like yours? By understanding their needs, you can develop more effective marketing campaigns.

Become a Data-Driven Marketer: Leverage Insights to Optimize Your Campaigns

Refrain from relying on intuition or guesswork when developing your marketing plan. How will you track progress and measure the impact of your marketing efforts? By defining metrics upfront, you can make informed decisions and refine your plan. This will also help you to make more informed marketing decisions in the future.

Embrace the Experiment: Test, Learn, and Refine Your Approach

When implementing ad-hoc marketing plans, consider embracing the idea of the marketing sandbox. A sandbox approach means that you launch new ideas with smaller resource allocations while watching analytics carefully. This approach allows you to gather valuable data and insights without overcommitting resources. 

If initial results are promising, you can gradually allot more resources and refine your strategies based on the data from each test. This iterative approach will help you optimize your marketing efforts and maximize the impact of your ad-hoc campaigns.

Tap into External Knowledge: Collaborate with an Agency to Unlock Your Full Potential

If you find yourself stuck in a reactive approach, consider outsourcing your marketing planning or implementation to an agency. One of the most significant benefits of hiring a marketing agency is that they offer access to a broader pool of expertise, fresh perspectives, and specialized tools that may not be readily available within your organization. 

When finding the right marketing agency, you want to find a partner who can help you take a more proactive approach rather than simply offering services that meet your immediate requests. 

Empower Your Marketing with a Proactive Approach

Navigating the changing landscape of marketing requires agility and adaptability. By embracing a strategic approach to ad-hoc marketing, you can respond effectively to new opportunities and challenges while staying true to your overall business goals. 

If you’re looking for guidance and support, our team at Green Apple Strategy can help. We specialize in developing customized marketing strategies that align with your overall business plan. 

Schedule an exploratory consultation today, and let us share how we can help you achieve your marketing goals.

Sleighing Social Media: How to Keep the Spirit Alive During the Holidays 

The holiday season is a time when social media comes alive with festive cheer. Businesses are vying for attention while also trying to capture the holiday spirit. If done well, holiday marketing on social media can be some of the most valuable content you produce. 

We’re here to guide you through some simple yet highly effective ways to enhance your social media efforts during the holidays. Read on for some tips to capture the festive spirit and give your brand a competitive edge in your social media posts. 

Create a Holiday-Themed Content Calendar

Planning in advance is key to successful holiday marketing. Create a holiday-themed content calendar for the days, weeks, or months you want to focus on, and plan a number of posts to celebrate the season. Not only does a content calendar help you stay organized and consistent, but it’s particularly helpful in planning ahead during a season when many of your employees are taking time off. 

Ensure you’re utilizing the right social media marketing tools to help guide your strategy toward success. 

Drop the Hard Sell Approach

We know the holiday season is an opportunity for many businesses to boost sales, but there’s more to it than just pushing products. Take a step back to think about how you can soft-sell your product during this season. Here are a few ideas:

  • Share user-generated content 
  • Share stories about your team members or any holiday traditions at your company
  • Share customer stories, testimonials, and reviews
  • Take a conversational approach

By focusing on meaningful non-sales content, you can make an impact and build a deeper connection with your audience, giving your brand greater resonance even after the holidays.

Be Inclusive of All Holidays 

There are billions of people on social media, all with different beliefs, traditions, and customs. By showcasing your awareness of this fact, you can appeal to a much larger audience and show current and potential customers that you’re an inclusive company. Add all of the upcoming holidays to your content calendar and embrace the spirit of the season through the beauty of diversity and inclusivity!

Design Gift Guides and Highlight Gift Ideas

Instagram is a popular social media platform for holiday marketing because of its visual nature. You can enhance the visibility of your best deals, promos, and events by showcasing them in your bio links and highlighting them in shoppable posts. Create content that focuses on gift ideas or holiday shopping guides relevant to your products or services. 

Showcase a Charity or Nonprofit Organization

Share the love this holiday season and showcase a cause you and your audience care about. Shine the spotlight on the nonprofits you support by sharing photos and videos of your team volunteering and infographics about the organization’s impact. Don’t forget to tag the nonprofit on all platforms for additional organic reach! 

Engage Your Audience

Social media platforms offer a variety of engagement features you can use to help show your brand’s personality. Organize fun and engaging contests or giveaways, or schedule holiday-themed polls, questions, and quizzes on your stories to encourage user participation. Infuse a little joy, playfulness, and holiday spirit into your content, and your audience will respond positively. 

Share User Generated Content

User-generated content is a great tool to boost interaction and build an authentic connection with your audience. It also doesn’t take much legwork. Repost or retweet user-generated content that showcases your product or service being used during the holidays. If you don’t have much user-generated content to choose from, ask followers to share their holiday stories, photos, or ideas related to your product or service. This is a great way to build a library of content that you can use all year long! 

Collaborate with Influencers

Incorporating influencers in a planned holiday campaign could help you reach a wider or even untapped audience. Influencer marketing is a proven and reliable method for generating brand awareness year-round. According to a Q3 Sprout pulse survey, 89% of marketers agree influencer marketing impacts their brand awareness. The authentic content micro-influencers (influencers with 10,000–100,000 followers) are known to produce is just one benefit of working with them.  

Analyze and Adjust 

Take a step back and look at the analytics. Your data from the previous holiday season can equip you with meaningful insights that guide your future content. Understand what performed best and adjust your strategy accordingly. A thorough analysis can help you plan for seasonal content for next year and beyond. 

Let Us Help You Reach Your Goals

At Green Apple, we help our clients build effective campaigns for the holiday season and all year round. If you need some guidance and support from marketing and PR experts, we’d love to discuss your goals and figure out how we can help you reach them. Contact us anytime to start the conversation. You can also subscribe to The Core, our monthly newsletter, to get the latest marketing insights and inspiration delivered directly to your inbox. Happy holidays and happy social media marketing!

How to Set Achievable Marketing Goals

When we’re creating a marketing strategy for a new client or presenting a new approach to a client on our roster, everyone feels the excitement about launching a new initiative. Successful marketing can really move the needle on brand identity, audience reach, and total profits. Clients who are ready to invest in marketing usually know their brand, are aware of their audience, and want to take their company to the next level.

While it’s tempting to dive straight into planning, it’s wise to take a beat and set marketing goals that are clear, measurable, and realistic. With these three components in place, you can lead your team to success.

Set Realistic Marketing Goals

One of the first things we counsel our clients on is setting expectations for a marketing strategy out of the gate. Like any first expedition into a new territory, an initial marketing strategy is exploratory. It involves assessing an audience, testing out different marketing messages and platforms, and identifying the approaches that work. It can even mean figuring out which metrics to track in order to confirm that the marketing strategy is having an effect. This takes time and patience, but the results are worth the upfront effort. 

Get Clarity and Seek Precision

The good thing about setting vague goals is they are hard to measure. How does anyone prove whether a restaurant does or doesn’t sell the “Best Burger in Town?”

On the other hand, if you can’t measure goals, how do you know if your efforts are truly paying off?

Instead, set marketing goals that can be quantified and measured. Rather than improving the company website, aim to improve website traffic by 10% and conversions by 15%. With numbers added, checking your progress and determining exactly how close you are to meeting your goal becomes much easier. 

When building your marketing strategy, setting deadlines alongside your goals is key. How will you know if you are making progress without a due date? Consider the website example above, which mentions improving web traffic by 10%. As it is written, the goal could be met at any time and still be considered a success!

For true growth, indicate a timeframe. As you get closer to that date, you can check your progress and make adjustments if you aren’t gaining the traction you need in the allotted time. 

Keep Your Budget in Mind

Although it’s essential, marketing is only one part of a company’s budget. Staffing, materials, technology, and overhead are all part of the balance sheet as well. It’s critical to consider what you can achieve with the resources you have, including time, staff, and budget. While marketing goals can be ambitious, they should also be realistic. A small non-profit may be unable to afford a media placement that costs thousands of dollars of media placement. Likewise, a two-person start-up can’t undertake a massive event marketing campaign that requires available staff. Success will look different for every business, so set goals that won’t overtax your budget or your team.

Connect with Leadership

We’ve all had the experience of pitching an idea to someone who was not as enthusiastic about it as we were! Help mitigate that response by connecting with leadership before setting your marketing goals.

Because leadership is responsible for directing the organization’s mission, vision, and values, they are always looking at what should be done. Having a solid understanding of your boss’s point of view can ensure you stay on the right track when setting marketing goals. 

Green Apple: Your Partner in Goal Setting  

Goal setting is a critical step in developing any successful marketing campaign. Green Apple Strategy can help you put the right plan in motion to meet your marketing goals. Our team has experience setting strategic goals, executing tactics, measuring progress, and shifting when needed to ensure the best possible outcome.

We invite you to learn more about how our strategic solutions and services can help your business grow.

Tour The Orchard: Green Apple’s Powerhouse of Freelance Marketing Specialists

The Orchard has been a part of Green Apple Strategy from the beginning. When we started, we wanted to create a marketing agency that did things differently. We firmly believe that strategic marketing is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Each client has unique needs and goals, requiring a specialized approach. That’s where The Orchard comes into play. 

The Orchard became a way to build a team of specialists who could focus on what they do best and provide our clients with the highest level of service possible. Our Orchard is a diverse collection of talent from various areas of expertise, including graphic design, content creation, SEO and social marketing, video production, email marketing, and more. 

The Fruit: 5 Benefits The Orchard Offers Our Clients 

The Orchard has transformed our ability to work with top talent and provide clients with a team built just for them. Here’s how we do it:

We’re able to hire the best possible talent for every single project.

We’re not limited to a full-time team of creatives who may have limited experience in certain industries or lack specific skills. Instead, we can tap into a network of specialists from all over the world to find the perfect person for each job.

We can match Orchard members to our clients’ needs. 

The experience and expertise of Orchard members to our clients is crucial. This reduces the learning curve significantly and allows our team to hit the ground running. Our Orchard members take time to understand the industries they serve, providing tailored solutions and insights from day one.

Our team members take the time to know the clients they serve. 

In many marketing agencies, creative specialists are inundated with last-minute requests and projects. By dividing the workload effectively, our freelance specialists can delve into the nuances of each client’s business. This allows our content specialists to truly grasp the voice, messaging, and tone for each client and craft highly effective creative that matches brand standards. 

We’re able to work with specialists from around the country. 

As we transitioned into a hybrid model agency, The Orchard became even more valuable to our process. Having a diffuse network of specialized talent means that we can build a skilled team that will best serve each client, regardless of where they’re located.

Our Client Relations Team can focus on what they do best. 

With The Orchard handling specialized tasks, our Client Relations Team can focus on what they do best: high-level strategy and complex project management. Our Client Relations Specialists are freed up to focus on strategy without having to worry about who is going to staff certain needs. Our Assistant Client Relations specialists can focus on project management by collaborating with Orchard members who are quick to respond. And if specific needs or client load increases, additional Orchard members can be onboarded to meet that need. 

Experience a Partnership with Green Apple Strategy 

The Orchard is one of our proudest achievements as an agency. It’s something that truly sets us apart from other marketing agencies. It’s also the reason we’re able to provide our clients with such a high ROI and measurable results.

If you’re looking for a marketing agency that can help you achieve your business goals, we’d love to learn more about your unique needs. We’re confident in our team’s ability to meet your needs and help you take your business to the next level. And if you’re a freelance marketing specialist, designer, content writer, video editor, or SEO specialist, we’re always looking for good folks to join The Orchard! Sign up for our newsletter to stay in touch. 

The Do’s and Don’ts of Event Marketing: Lessons Learned from Our Experiences

There’s nothing quite like an event to boost enthusiasm and excitement around your brand. Virtual and in-person events each serve a unique purpose for connecting with your target audience. While events are effective, they can also consume a lot of staff time and financial resources. 

Effective event marketing strategies can help you get the best return on your investment. Using our experience as professional marketers and event planners, our team at Green Apple Strategy has put together a list of practical tips to ensure your next event is successful. 

The Do’s 

Do Set Goals (and a Budget!)

When it comes to strategic event planning, always begin with the end in mind. Before you set a date, reserve a venue, or book entertainment, you must determine the goal of the event. Is it to position your brand as a stakeholder in the community? Is it to tell a story about your brand? Or is it to generate leads and make sales? 

Once you set your goal, be sure to set your budget. Your event will look very different if you have a $5,000 budget versus a $50,000 one. 

Knowing the answer to these questions—and staying true to them—will guide you when making choices about venue, food, entertainment, marketing, and more. It will set you down the path of pulling off a successful, cohesive event that meets your strategic goals. 

Do Amplify Partnerships 

Most events require partnerships with third-party vendors and sponsors such as entertainment, catering, AV equipment, corporations, and more. Capitalize on these partnerships by highlighting them on social media or in a company email newsletter. Showcasing your business as a collaborative brand is great PR because it demonstrates your involvement and investment in your local community. Additionally, tagging these vendors in your social media posts can expose you to new audiences. 

Do Use Text and Email 

In today’s multi-channel, digital world, you have to meet your audience where they are. This means connecting with them on their phone and in their email inboxes through personalized, well-thought-out, and well-timed text messages and emails. Text messages are a great way to send key event information that doesn’t require a lot of copy. At the same time, an email drip campaign can spark interest and move your target audience to attend. 

The Don’ts 

Don’t Limit Your Focus to Ticket Sales  

Yes, you want to sell tickets to your event. Besides, you can’t have an event if no one comes! However, be careful not to focus your messaging only on ticket sales. Your audience needs to know where to buy tickets, but they also may be interested in what to wear, nearby hotels, or participating vendors. The purpose of all of your event-related content will be to drive ticket sales, even if some of it takes a more subtle approach. 

Don’t Set It and Forget It 

We love strategy so much that we included the word in the name of our business! But just because you have a strategy doesn’t mean you can’t be flexible if needed. When marketing your event, be sure to pay attention to all the analytics you have access to. Some numbers to look at are email open rates and click-through rates, social media impressions, and engagement levels. If you aren’t getting the desired results, adjust your approach to capture greater interest from your target audience. 

Don’t Forget to Follow Up

Congratulations! Your event is over, and your work is done! Well, almost. Post-event follow-up offers another opportunity to connect with your target audience. In fact, it’s so important that we consider it one of our best practices for event planning! After the event wraps, send out surveys to gather meaningful feedback that can be used to assess the event’s success and plan future gatherings. You can also use this time to connect with new leads and thank vendors and sponsors to further deepen your working relationships.
 

Get Started on Your Next Event 

Ninety-five percent of marketers believe that in-person events can have a positive impact on achieving their company’s goals. Green Apple Strategy understands that events can boost awareness, community connections, and revenue. But we also know they can take time, resources, and staff to pull off. 

Our team is here to help! Reach out to us today, and let’s talk about the benefits that the right special event can bring to your business.

How to Create a Marketing Moat 

In the ever-evolving world of marketing, businesses are constantly searching for ways to stand out from the competition to achieve long-term growth. Just as castles were fortified with moats to protect against attacks, today’s business owners can create their own “marketing moats” to maintain a competitive edge and better protect their market share.

Build a Strong Brand Identity

The impression that your brand makes on a customer can help you stand out from competitors. Develop a memorable brand story. Brand storytelling explains your differentiators and humanizes your brand. It helps customers understand who you are and why your business exists. Building a strong brand or achieving brand recognition can create a marketing moat that keeps customers returning because people prefer brands they recognize. 

Another impact of building a compelling brand story is creating a bond with your customers. This connection can foster trust and loyalty, which can turn into positive feedback and testimonials. You can use this feedback to promote the strong relationships you build with customers, which strengthens your marketing moat. 

Clearly Define Your Unique Value Proposition

Identify what sets your brand apart from competitors and communicate why customers should choose your products or services. Here are a few ways to identify your unique value proposition:

1. Understand your target audience. 

2. Analyze the competition and identify gaps in what they offer. Capitalize on these gaps.

3. Determine what makes your business unique and highlight those aspects.

Be sure to integrate your unique value proposition into all of your marketing and messaging consistently. Check out Green Apple’s approach to building a marketing strategy for tips to ensure your strategy is set up for success from the start. 

Invest in Consistent Content Creation

Produce relevant and engaging content that resonates with your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, curated social media content, paid media efforts, email marketing, and more. Establish credibility by positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry and offer valuable insight through white papers, webinars, online courses or trainings, and free consultations. All these resources can be promoted on social media and through email marketing. A well-executed content calendar and email marketing strategy can help you plan and organize your content so it remains relevant and consistent.

Work With Us To Build Your Marketing Moat 

At Green Apple, we help business owners execute ideas with a solid strategy behind our approach. Let us help you build a marketing moat that will lead to long-term success by establishing a presence that stands out from the competition. To learn more about our process and discuss how we can help, contact Green Apple Strategy. 

From Chaos to Clarity: How Process-driven Operations Keeps Marketing on Track

Everyone who’s worked in marketing knows what it’s like when things don’t go according to plan. It could come in the form of a last-minute request from a client or realizing you need to rush ship an important resource to an upcoming industry tradeshow. There are days — sometimes seasons — that feel like your marketing job description should include being a part-time firefighter. While you may not be able to completely prevent chaotic moments, having a process-driven approach to putting out fires and staying on track with responsibilities can ensure you (and your marketing team) can keep moving forward with clarity and confidence.  

Recognizing there will be chaotic moments and proactively developing a plan to address them is one of the most important lessons we’ve learned over the past decade at Green Apple.  

The Most Common Chaos Creators for Marketing Teams

Here are a few of the most common disruptors that marketing teams and agencies must learn how to navigate: 

1. Last-Minute Requests

Every company has sudden requests from other departments or higher-ups that require immediate attention. These can obviously disrupt planned marketing activities and require an extra measure of attention and focus. To navigate last-minute requests, it is helpful to have a system in place for prioritizing and tracking them and to be clear with stakeholders about expectations and deadlines.

2. Lack of Clear Objectives or Change in Direction

When marketing teams lack clear goals and objectives, they may struggle to prioritize tasks and may get sidetracked by less important activities. That’s why it’s essential to establish clear marketing goals that align with your overall business objectives. In some cases, new opportunities may arise or your company might change directions on a particular product or go-to-market strategy. In these cases, there may be opportunities to pivot your marketing without abandoning your entire strategy. 

3. Technology Issues

Technology difficulties can create an enormous amount of disruption in your day-to-day activities. Technical glitches or failures with marketing tools and platforms can disrupt campaigns and lead to chaos. As a hybrid marketing agency, we’ve had the opportunity to learn how to manage our workload virtually to stay connected and productive. Every person on the team knows what to do if technology issues occur and how to implement a backup plan if communication tools aren’t working. 

4. Human Error

Even the best-laid plans can go awry due to human error. It could be anything from a typo in a press release to a missed deadline. That’s why it’s important to have clear processes and procedures in place for catching and correcting errors. It is also important to create a culture of accountability and transparency, where team members feel comfortable admitting their mistakes and learning from them.

Process-Driven Best Practices to Keep Marketing on Track 

Here are some helpful best practices that a marketing agency could implement to create a process-oriented approach. Implementing some of these approaches can help keep things running smoothly.

1. Create your marketing plan with involvement from key stakeholders.

Every good marketer starts with strategy. But one of the ways to prevent many of the stressful back-and-forth or navigating changes of direction is to involve key stakeholders to shape your marketing strategy as you build it. This has become an essential part of our approach to building marketing strategies for our clients over the years.

2. Establish clear workflows for status meetings and specific deliverables.

One of the most important factors for a successful business and agency partnership is defining clear and documented workflows for different marketing activities. This includes outlining roles, responsibilities, and timelines for expected deliverables. It’s important to ensure everyone on the team understands and follows these processes.

3. Set realistic deadlines.

Saying “yes” to every request is one of the quickest ways to derail your marketing efforts. As you identify new marketing ideas and make a plan to execute them, you want to ensure that deadlines are reasonable and achievable. Managers should avoid overloading the team with too many tasks within a short time frame.

4. Implement a foolproof quality control system.

An important part of marketing project management is implementing thorough quality control processes to catch and rectify errors before campaigns or projects go live. One of the benefits of working with a marketing agency is that they often have proven quality control measures in place — primarily because of the volume of campaigns we’re running at any given time. 

5. Have a backup plan for emergencies.

There will always be situations or scenarios that are completely out of your control. It could be a major PR crisis or a single social media comment that needs to be addressed. Whatever the scenario, it’s crucial to develop clear protocols for handling last-minute crises before they occur. You should also designate a point person who is responsible for evaluating the appropriate action plan and prioritizing the next steps. 

6. Use project management tools.

Technology provides a variety of tools that enhance our communication and collaboration. At Green Apple, most of our days are spent collaborating in Google, Basecamp, and Airtable. These tools can help our team track progress, manage deadlines, and communicate with team members.

7. Maintain documentation of your processes.

Well-documented processes can help to prevent errors by ensuring that all of the necessary steps are taken. It also helps when onboarding new team members and provides a reference point for resolving issues. Based on our experience, we’ve learned that it’s essential to document your processes for areas like campaign planning, content creation, social media management, email marketing, campaign evaluation, and website management.

8. Be flexible.

While processes are essential, it’s also important to cultivate flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances or seize unexpected opportunities. Things don’t always go according to plan, so be prepared to make adjustments as needed. 

Minimize the Marketing Chaos with Green Apple Strategy

At Green Apple, we’re proud of our track record for helping clients take advantage of new opportunities while minimizing chaos and disruption to their daily operations. We have a deep understanding of the changing marketing landscape and know how to help our clients stay ahead of the curve. We also have a team of experienced and dedicated professionals who are passionate about helping our clients succeed.

If you’re ready to build momentum through an effective marketing approach, you can learn more about our process or schedule a consultation with our team.