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Apex Current Founder & CEO, Corbitt Chandler, Featured in Nashville Voyager Magazine
From Nashville Voyager’s Website:
Today we’d like to introduce you to Corbitt Chandler
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always been captivated by the power of storytelling and its ability to connect and move people. This passion led me to pursue a degree in marketing from the University of Alabama, which laid the foundation for my marketing career and led to me discovering my true passion which is the dynamic world of all things digital marketing.
After graduating, I ventured to Los Angeles, immersing myself in brand and sports marketing. I had the opportunity to partner and collaborate with renowned athletes like David Beckham, Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. While today I have a different outlook on what we marketers call “branding” I have to admit that during this time I would begin to hone my skills in creating compelling narratives that resonate with diverse audiences.
In 2015, I returned to my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, after being recruited by a national fitness franchise brand as Vice President of Marketing. Ultimately, I would have the privilege to work alongside and learn, at a granular level, from one of the best Facebook marketers in the world, who also became a pivotal mentor to me. Under his guidance, I delved deep into conversion rate optimization (CRO) and the intricacies of digital advertising, gaining invaluable insights that would shape my future endeavors.
Fueled by a desire to drive tangible results for businesses, I founded Apex Current in 2017. Starting from the humble confines of my home’s basement, the agency quickly gained traction, attracting a diverse range of clients across various industries with clients that include companies like Breakout Games, Club Pilates, Medjet, the U.S. Small Business Administration, EDPA, Iron Tribe Fitness, Rosebox NYC and Farmfolio, to name a few. Our commitment to performance-driven digital advertising has allowed us to be recognized as a Small Business of the Year Finalist, a top 10 ranking among the top digital ad agencies to drive ROI by DesignRush and me being honored as one of the Top CEOs in Birmingham at the Annual CEO Awards hosted by the BBJ.
Continue reading the story on Nashville Voyager by clicking here…
A new frontier: HOW WILL GOOGLE RESHAPE the future of digital cookies?
Navigating the New Digital Marketing Era: Beyond the Cookie's Demise
In the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, where innovation and competition drive continuous change, a significant transformation is underway. Google's strategic move to end third-party cookies on Chrome marks a pivotal shift towards a privacy-focused digital era. This change, initially affecting a modest 1% of Chrome users—or a staggering 30 million individuals—signifies a major overhaul in digital advertising strategies.
Embracing Enhanced Privacy in Digital Marketing
The decline of third-party cookies, which have been pivotal in tracking user behavior across sites for targeted digital marketing campaigns, is a response to growing privacy concerns. The move away from these invasive tracking methods on Chrome is part of a broader industry trend towards safeguarding user privacy, affecting strategies across Google Ads, Facebook advertising, and beyond.
With privacy concerns taking center stage, major browsers like Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari have already enhanced user privacy, setting the stage for Google's 2020 announcement to phase out third-party cookies on Chrome. Despite delays, this shift underscores a significant pivot in how digital marketing operates, with Chrome's 65% share of global internet traffic highlighting the immense impact of Google's privacy initiatives.
Adapting Digital Marketing Strategies for a Post-Cookie World
This seismic shift in digital marketing demands strategic adaptation. The decline of third-party cookies signals the need for new approaches that respect privacy while maintaining the efficacy of digital advertising campaigns, including Google Ads and Facebook advertising. Apex Current, led by founder & CEO Corbitt Chandler, offers innovative solutions by embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI like OpenAI / ChatGPT), leveraging first-party data, and refining targeting strategies for privacy-conscious personalized advertising.
Innovating with Apex Current in the Digital Marketing Landscape
Transitioning to a digital ecosystem without third-party cookies might seem daunting, but Apex Current, transforms it into an opportunity for digital marketing innovation. We specialize in using first-party data and smarter targeting techniques that comply with current privacy standards, ensuring your marketing efforts on platforms like Google Ads and Facebook advertising remain effective and relevant in this new era.
Elevate Your Digital Marketing Strategy with Apex Current
Are you ready to navigate the changing tides of digital marketing with Apex Current's expert guidance? CLICK HERE to schedule your Free Consultation today to learn how we can enhance your digital marketing strategies on Google Ads, Facebook advertising, and more. Availability is limited, offered on a first-come, first-served basis, so act quickly to secure your strategic advantage.
SECURE YOUR FREE CONSULTATION TODAY!
**Don’t miss out!! Free Consultations are extremely limited.**
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Apex Current Ranked Number 1 Best Advertising Agency In The State of Alabama in UpCity BEST OF 2022 Awards!
From UpCity.com - Every year, UpCity’s Best of Awards honor our B2B service providers’ tremendous work within rotating focus areas.
Winners are selected using a variety of online credibility ranking factors which remain consistent regardless of the year’s focus area.
In 2022, we celebrate the best providers at the local level for each U.S. state and Canadian province.
Apex Current is more than honored to receive this award from UpCity.com and thankful to our team and clients for making it possible!
We’d also like to congratulate all of the other advertising agencies in the state of Alabama for their hard work and dedication to their clients. You can see the rest of the Top 10 from UpCity’s list, highlighted below.
2. Uptick Marketing
3. Infomedia
4. Tommy House Studios
5. Intelus Agency
6. Zellus Marketing
7. PlayBig Desion
8. Nick the Marketer
9. Marketing on the Web
10. Purple Tie Guys
U.S. Small Business Administration SELECTS corbitt chandler as digital marketing subject matter expert for T.H.R.I.V.E. Executive Level Business Training for Entrepreneurs
Apex Current founder & SBA THRIVE Subject Matter Expert, Corbitt Chandler.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 26, 2022 — The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that Corbitt Chandler, founder and CEO of Apex Current, will serve as the Digital Marketing and Social Media Subject Matter Expert (SME) for T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined, a c-suite level training program for small business leaders.
"The T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined initiative is designed to equip up-and-coming small business leaders with tools, knowledge, and access to the brightest minds in economic development and business," stated Mark Madrid, Associate Administrator of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development. "Under the Biden-Harris Administration and Administrator Guzman's leadership, the SBA is tirelessly working to empower small business owners, to fuel their growth, and continue bolstering our nation's historic economic surge. We are energized, mobilized, and ready for action."
The program aims to cultivate strong leaders and boost the growth of high-potential small businesses throughout the United States. It provides complimentary entrepreneurship education and training to executives of qualifying high-performing small businesses. The six-month intensive executive entrepreneurship training series will encompass in-person coaching, self-paced learning, mentoring, and classroom instruction.
Participants will collaborate with a network of experienced SMEs specializing in core business topics, each tailored to meet the unique needs of small business owners. These topics span across accounting, business strategy, marketing, human resources, and, of course, digital marketing.
“It’s a privilege to be chosen as one of the program’s Subject Matter Experts,” commented Corbitt Chandler, the founder of the performance-driven digital marketing agency, Apex Current. “I've always relished the process of teaching and training small business owners how to grow their businesses using effective, strategic, paid digital advertising & social media strategies that yield tangible results. I'm eager to deliver as much value as possible to these owners and positively influence their small businesses.”
The initiative is spearheaded by the SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development, which has collaborated with Isom Global Strategies (IGS), a strategic marketing and management firm based in Washington, D.C. This fresh partnership between the SBA and IGS aims to perform a significant revamp of the program's infrastructure, virtualizing certain aspects post-pandemic.
The program's intensive curriculum includes 66 total hours of training, comprising 33 hours of in-person classroom sessions with a business coach and 33 hours of online video training modules led by SMEs. Approximately 1,000 business owners participating in this year's program will be the first to experience this new online segment.
SMEs from across the country, each an expert in their field, have been carefully selected. These SMEs, contracted by the SBA, will develop course content and record video training modules for their sections of the online course. Topics covered include effective leadership, business planning, raising capital, culture, driving sales, and digital marketing & social media strategies.
For the Digital Marketing and Social Media Strategies sections of the program, the SBA chose Chandler due to his extensive experience as a digital marketing expert and successful entrepreneur. These parts of the program will include two core sections, with Chandler leading the paid digital and social media marketing sections and fellow SME, Tani Lopez, a social media creator and entrepreneur, leading the segments related to organic social media management.
“I’m excited to collaborate with Tani, who’s extremely talented in her field, to develop these modules,” said Chandler. “Although our roles are different, they are two sides of the same coin. Our shared goal is for participants to derive the maximum value possible from our allocated time.”
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About Corbitt Chandler:
Recognized as one of Birmingham’s Top CEOs by the BBJ in 2018, Corbitt Chandler is an entrepreneur, digital marketer, consultant as well as the founder of multiple startups including, Apex Current, which has received many accolades which includes being ranked by DesignRush as one of the Top 10 ROI-Driven Digital Marketing Agencies in the U.S. in 2020. As a digital marketing innovator, Chandler has mastered a wide variety of digital ad serving platforms, adjacent technologies, backend applications and online strategies and is a highly sought after consultant by brands across the U.S. and abroad for his expertise as a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) specialist. To learn more about Corbitt Chandler click here or to learn more about his agency, Apex Current click here.
About SBA T.H.R.I.V.E.:
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined is a 6-month intensive training program that helps CEOs and Executives get unstuck and take their business to the next level. Accelerate your leadership skills, learn an MBA-level curriculum, receive tailored business coaching, and build relationships with a community of business owners, advisors, and experts. To learn more about SBA T.H.R.I.V.E. click here.
Apex current named in 2021’s top digital marketing agencies featured in yahoo!
This week our agency, Apex Current, was ranked by DesignRush, as one of 2021’s Top Digital Marketing Agencies which was featured in an article on Yahoo! Finance. We’re truly humbled and honored to be selected among such an impressive group of agencies and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the other providers who made this year’s list - our hats are off to you!
DesignRush released the quarterly list of the top digital marketing companies that help businesses better understand the market and reach target audiences using various digital marketing channels.
NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Only 61% of marketers are confident that their marketing strategy is effective in achieving its intended effect. As the number of marketing methods increases along with new ways of approaching online campaigning, businesses are in greater need than ever to use specialist marketing expertise to help them stand out in the market.
DesignRush, a B2B marketplace that connects brands with agencies, has released the third quarterly (Q3) list of the top digital marketing companies to hire. The list features experts in:
The top digital marketing experts worldwide, according to DesignRush's Q4 list, are:
Activate Health - activatehealth.com
Allinclusive - allinclusive.agency
Almond Solutions - almondsolutions.com
Anvil Media - anvilmediainc.com
Apex Current - https://www.apexcurrent.com
Appetite Creative - appetitecreative.com
AVX Digital - avxdigital.com
BCP Digital Marketing - bcpdigitalmarketing.com
Behavioral Health Network Resources - behavioralhealthnetworkresources.com
Belkins - belkins.io
Bewe Srl - bewe.it
BRAD ADVERTISING - bradadvertising.com
Brandnation - brandnation.co.uk
Brenton Way - brentonway.com
Ca Design Studio - cadesign.io
Carusele - carusele.com
Cerberus Agency - cerberus.agency
Confluencr - confluencr.com
Customer Foresight Group - customerforesight.com
DIGITAL CONCEPTS - digitalconcepts.in
Dotlogics - dotlogics.com
ElephantMark - elephantmark.com
Fablesquare - fablesquare.com
Finest Content Writing - finestcontentwriting.com
First Fig Marketing & Consulting - firstfigconsulting.com
FlexMR - flexmr.net
FRW Studios - frwstudios.com
GMG Public Relations - gmgpr.com
Gro http://www.se - gro http://www.se.com
Holt Web Design - pittsburghmarketingsolutions.com
Innovative Flare - innovativeflare.com
Intelus - intelusagency.com
Joseph Studios - josephstudios.net
Jubilant Digital Marketing - jubilantdigital.com
KitelyTech - kitelytech.com
Launch Digital - launchscotland.com
Levelon Digital - levelondigital.com
Lowcostseo - lowcostseo.co
Mabbly - mabbly.com
Matrix Bricks - matrixbricks.com
Meteor Affinity - meteoraffinity.com
Miklagard - miklagard.dk
Miller Public Relations - millerpublicrelations.com
Monarch Seo Agency - seomyagency.com
Motivate Design NYC - motivatedesign.com
1o8 - 1o8.agency
Pace Social Media - pacemediasolutions.com
Penny Marketing - apennymarketing.com
Push ROI - pushroi.com
Reputation Rhino - reputationrhino.com
ROI Swift - roiswift.com
SAMA Labs - sama-labs.com
SEO Pro Hub UK - seoprohub.co.uk
SEO XOOM - seoxoom.com
SH1FT DIGITAL - sh1ftdigital.com
Skookum Films - skookum-films.com
Sociallyin - sociallyin.com
Socialpubli - socialpubli.com
Stack Influence - stackinfluence.com
Studio Mosaic - studiomosaicapps.com
Tenderling - tenderling.com
The Analyst Agency - theanalystagency.com
The Design Agency - designagency.gr
VidOps - vidops.io
VINT Consult - vintconsult.com
Vision One - visionone.co.uk
Wirefox Design Agency - wirefox.co.uk
Zintel Public Relations - zintelpr.com
Brands can explore the top digital marketing companies by location, size, average hourly rate and portfolio on DesignRush.
About DesignRush:
DesignRush.com is a B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies through expert reviews and agency ranking lists, awards, knowledge resources and personalized agency recommendations for vetted projects.
Read the original article at this link: https://www.yahoo.com/now/designrush-reveals-best-digital-marketing-155000230.html
Apex Current Strikes Partnership with Forum Health
Apex Current, featured in Yahoo Finance as one of DesignRush’s top 10 digital marketing agencies in the U.S. to provide strong ROI, is excited to announce a client partnership with the successful Salt Lake City-based Forum Health organization and its Chicago-based Agenixs integrative health clinic, a former client partner of Apex Current. Looking to become known as the global leader in integrative medicine, Forum Health sought out Apex Current at the recommendation of Forum Health partner, Dr. Paul Savage, founder of Agenixs. Agenixs had previously worked with Apex Current in 2018 and saw great success using our automated pipeline marketing products. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to reinstate those pipelines and to continue the aggressive growth that our previous campaigns saw.
Apex Current, featured in Yahoo Finance as one of DesignRush’s top 10 digital marketing agencies in the U.S. to provide strong ROI, is excited to announce a client partnership with the successful Salt Lake City-based Forum Health organization and its Chicago-based Agenixs integrative health clinic, a former client partner of Apex Current. Looking to become known as the global leader in integrative medicine, Forum Health sought out Apex Current at the recommendation of Forum Health partner, Dr. Paul Savage, founder of Agenixs. Agenixs had previously worked with Apex Current in 2018 and saw great success using our automated pipeline marketing products. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to reinstate those pipelines and to continue the aggressive growth that our previous campaigns saw.
Dr. Paul Savage of Agenixs, Chicago
2018: The Initial Campaigns
Apex Current’s relationship with Dr. Savage first began in early 2018 as a result of a marketing campaign that we launched to generate leads for WaveFlow, a proprietary marketing pipeline product. WaveFlow is specifically designed for GAINSWave™, a non-invasive medical technology that treats erectile dysfunction.
“We found doctors that provided GAINSWave™ and targeted them with ads,” Apex Current founder Corbitt Chandler explains, “And one of the first ones that came through was Dr. Paul Savage out of Agenixs in Chicago. We had created a marketing pipeline for these doctors that was very extensive and the information they were giving us on their business and their motivation, we were able to cultivate through our copywriting. Everything was very, very detailed.”
“I was gating our pipeline so the doctors understood that we're going to choose you and select you if you're right for our product. And [Dr. Savage] is a sales and marketing guy, so he got it. We ended up signing him. And he was a great client that year, one of our biggest clients. And if you look at our cost for his application it was like $23. And he spent $200,000 with us in 2018 which is quite the ROI and proof that our pipelines work.”
It should come as no surprise that Dr. Savage understands the power of automated technology in driving measurable results. Looking for a solution for streamlining his clinical practices, Dr. Savage developed Power2Practice, an EMR (electronic medical records) system specific to the needs of integrative medical care. Currently, Power2Practice has over one million patients in its database across its one-thousand partner clinics. Given Dr. Savage’s innovative and forward-thinking mindset, the working-relationship between Agenixs and Apex Current proved to be a perfect fit.
As Chandler said, “In one of our initial conversations, Dr. Savage actually said something that I had heard a long time ago when I worked in event marketing at a professional boxing match at Madison square gardens, which is, “It's all about getting butts in the seat.” And he knew that a program like ours could bring in qualified individuals who were raising their hand for his treatment, filling out a detailed prospecting form, and finally getting a call from our team to nail down a consultation and “get a butt in a seat.” He knew he could trust our system because it was that very system that had hooked him in the first place.”
WaveFlow Product Marketing-To-Sales-Pipeline Diagram
Unique Industry Challenges
Believing in the validity of the GAINSWave™ treatment service and excited to be teamed up with Dr. Savage and his Agenixs crew, we got to work implementing WaveFlow, our All-In-One Leads to Sales Pipeline marketing product created specifically for GAINSWave™ treatment centers. WaveFlow was modeled after CoolStream, our marketing pipeline product designed for CoolSculpting treatment centers. However, unlike CoolStream, WaveFlow presented some unique marketing challenges.
An immediate obstacle in creating effective campaigns for the GAINSWave™ industry was figuring out how to adequately advertise the service while not violating any online content policies. As our experience has proven, the marketing message must be specific enough to speak directly to the heart of the target audience’s problem. But with the sensitive nature of GAINSWave™ treatments, this initially proved to be a difficult task. However, after extensive research and testing, we were able to craft messages that generated qualified leads at a high rate without issue.
“We have to pique their interest with the ad and the copy, you know, talking about performance, but not really alluding to what that performance is,” Chandler explains, “Then once they get to the landing page, that page is really dialed in on the sales side and has everything about the treatment to educate them and indoctrinate them. And then they fill out a lead form and go through the consultation request form from there.”
The Transition to Forum Health
Phil Hagarman, Forum Health Chairman and CEO
After successfully working alongside Agenixs for nearly a year, Dr. Savage contacts Chandler to inform him of upcoming changes to the company. As he explained, Dr. Savage and his Agenixs clinic were in the beginning stages of a Merger and Acquisition with the forthcoming Forum Health, of which he was to be named a partner.
Salt Lake City-based Forum Health LLC officially launched in January of 2019, citing a mission of “uniting practitioners under a precision health model that addresses root causes — not just symptoms — to help people achieve their personal wellness goals.” The group is under the leadership of entrepreneur and philanthropist, Phil Hagarman, co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of Diplomat Pharmacy. Hagarman brings extensive business and medical industry experience to Forum Health as the Chairman and CEO. Agenixs clinic in Chicago serves as the founding practice for Forum Health, with Dr. Savage being named as a Co-Chief Medical Officer. Power2Practice was also an integral part of the M&A.
The group prides themselves on “setting a new standard for healthcare” with their innovative approach that “combines the powerful principles of functional and integrative medicine with advanced medical treatments and technology, data analytics, and collaborative relationships.”
Forum Health came about as a response to the growing demand of the patients that walked through Agenixs’s doors. In his own words, Dr. Savage explains, “People are saying, ‘I want more. I want better health. I want health that’s targeted to me. I don’t just want to take care of how I feel; I want to find the root cause of why I’m feeling this way.’” Forum’s group of seasoned expert medical physicians is on a mission to change the integrative medical landscape for the better, and for good.
In light of the M&A and the coming changes to the chain of command, the client relationship between Agenixs and Apex Current would need to be reevaluated. While his Agenixs clinics saw great success using our pipelines, the strategy would need to be pitched to Forum Health’s incumbent CEO.
And so Chandler and his wife, Michelle, hopped on a flight to Chicago to meet in-person at Dr. Savage’s office. Even though Dr. Savage was enthusiastic about WaveFlow, the Deep Market strategy that’s central to the success of WaveFlow went against the big brand vision of the CEO.
As Chandler recounts, “They wanted to go with a big brand strategy. You know, if you think of Nike and Coca-Cola’s branding and PR, and he believed that they would acquire practices much faster than they ended up being able to do. My whole strategy from the start was, let's get your marketing at the grassroots level or the ground level rather dialed in. Let's implement these pipelines, whether it's GAINSWave or other treatments and go deep in the market, get your systems and processes in place from marketing and sales, and then replicate that as you go to acquire more practices.”
The Deep Market strategy is what created the effective and efficient system that Agenixs had used to close enough leads per month to maintain a consistent revenue across all clinics using our pipelines. While some long-standing companies can afford to implement a big brand approach, it just isn’t a reasonable strategy for the majority of companies out there, especially those in their formative years. And as Chandler says, “Brand is bullshit.”
At the end of the day, Forum Health’s bottom line would agree.
The Relationship is Reinstated
Fast-Forward to early 2020. It had been roughly a year since Agenixs and Apex Current parted ways when Dr. Savage reached back out to Chandler. As he explained, Hagarman had met with Dr. Savage to discuss why his Agenixs clinics had been dropping in revenue. Dr. Savage’s response? In his own words: “It’s because you got rid of my marketing guy!” In short, Hagarman was eager to discuss picking the WaveFlow system back up. The then-incumbent CEO was no longer with the company and their initial big brand strategy had proved to be somewhat fruitless.
And Chandler is also looking forward to continuing his work with Dr. Savage and the Forum Health team: “I'm glad that relationship wrapped up like it did in 2018. I kept an ongoing relationship with Dr. Savage, reaching out to him from time to time just to say “hello” and to see how he was doing. And then, you know lo and behold, 2020 rolls around. And so it's a big opportunity for us as we've currently got two GAINSWave locations and they are looking into implementing it with the other seven locations. And they want to look at marketing other treatments given this system is successful. And so it's something I'm really excited about. Especially since we have the systems and processes already in place for a lot of this.”
About Apex Current
Apex Current, ranked by DesignRush as one of 2019’s Top Advertising Agencies as well as a 2018 BBJ Small Business of the Year Honoree, is a performance-driven digital ad agency. At Apex Current, we create, implement, and optimize scalable digital advertising campaigns that drive tangible results for established companies. From online retail products to local service-based businesses, we have your every digital marketing need covered. These campaign solutions produce increased profits driving tangible results through our conversion-based digital ad expertise including; Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing & more. At Apex Current, our process involves collaborating in tandem with our clients to plan, design, develop and manage custom online campaigns that measurably impact their client's bottom line.
Apex Current is a Certified Infusionsoft Partner that includes an expert team of digital media buyers, designers, CRM specialists, and consultants who have been working in the marketing industry since 2005. Since the company’s creation, Apex Current has worked on projects in a wide variety of industries, national direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands, network marketing companies, fitness and nutrition offerings, mobile app products, medical practices, investing firms, universities, B2B industries, and more. Our clients run the gamut in product and service offerings as well as specialties, but the end goal remains the same - to drive tangible results that are crucial to their company’s revenue growth. Apex Current was founded by Corbitt Chandler in 2017 and is headquartered in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.
Did You Know?
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Facebook Shops for Retail Businesses: An Overview Guide
Following on the heels of the successful Marketplace, Facebook announced the release of Shops for retail businesses in May of this year. Unlike Marketplace that is an open community buying and selling platform, Shops caters specifically to retail businesses and allows them to create a virtual storefront on both their Facebook and Instagram pages.
Following on the heels of the successful Marketplace, Facebook announced the release of Shops for retail businesses in May of this year. Unlike Marketplace that is an open community buying and selling platform, Shops caters specifically to retail businesses and allows them to create a virtual storefront on both their Facebook and Instagram pages.
The development of Shops was driven by a vision to both recreate the buying experience for the nearly 3 billion users active on Facebook and Instagram and to open a new retail channel for e-commerce businesses. According to a representative of Facebook, “[Facebook] wants to give people a place to experience the joy of shopping versus the chore of buying. And we want to help small businesses adapt and make it easier for people to discover and shop for things they love… Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers.”
Picture via Facebook
How To Shop
Shopping your favorite retailers couldn’t be easier with Shops. Simply navigate to the brand that you want to browse and a View Shop button will be clearly displayed on their account page. Please note that brands must take the initiative to set up their Shop. So if your favorite store is missing the Shop feature on Facebook or Instagram, try sending them a DM to request that they make that feature available!
Below are some snapshots of Facebook Shops as seen on the desktop site (please note I used the New Facebook in Dark Mode as opposed to Classic Facebook).
As an example, I searched for Ink Meets Paper, a stationery store. A blue View Shop button is clearly seen directly below their cover image, on the right.
After clicking on View Shop, I was taken to the Shop home page. As you can see, the store has created different featured collections. Below those are more individual items that can be scrolled through.
When you click on a single item it brings up the product shop page. You can scroll through different images by clicking the arrows, and see all product details and customer reviews on the righthand menu. To buy the item, simply select the desired quantity and click “Checkout.”
And shopping on Instagram is a nearly identical experience. You’ll head over to the brand that you want to shop. On their profile page, you’ll see a View Shop button above their regular feed. Click that and you’ll land on their Instagram Shop! See the images below for a visual guide.
Why You Should Sell On Shops
Setting up a Shop for your business should be a no brainer! There’s no better place to sell to your customer base than your social media profile, especially if your brand tends to cater to the Millennial generation. Users are already landing on your profile to view your products. Having a seamless e-commerce channel integrated with your account removes one more barrier to the point of transaction.
Additionally, they’ve done a great job in giving the buyer Visual Merchandising flexibility. As you can see from the above photos, Shops can be organized by categories and there’s plenty of freedom to incorporate striking visuals to enhance the consumer experience. The photos below also show the product information page. There is space for an adequate description as well as the ability to include need-to-know information such as Returns and Shipping Policies.
Planned Future Enhancements
We have to hand it to Facebook; they did a great job in creating a platform that empowers business owners to seamlessly integrate their social accounts into their overall e-commerce strategy. They’re currently undergoing testing and development to roll out even more useful features, like the ability to connect an existing loyalty program to the Facebook Shop.
Picture via Facebook
As any typical consumer, I know this will be a very compelling feature for me when browsing my favorite shops. I am personally a member of multiple loyalty programs across a wide spectrum of brands and love it when my purchases bring back some kind of return.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Facebook and Instagram Shops integrate seamlessly into both the business’s commerce stack and the consumer’s user experience on social media. We honestly can’t believe it’s taken them this long to roll this feature out, given how popular social media is for the promotion of e-commerce brands. So whether you’re a business that’s looking for additional avenues to merchandise your product, or you’re a buyer who loves a convenient way to browse your favorite stores, Shops is a new feature that you should be taking advantage of!
How To Grow Your Business In 2020 Through Digital Marketing Made Simple: A Step-By-Step Guide
In this featured article, our Founder and CEO talks through the most recent tips and tricks for how grow your business through digital advertising campaigns in 2020. In this article, we make things simple with the easy-to-follow steps you need to champion your own performance-driven digital ad campaigns. We’ll breakdown the essential steps including; how to write ad copy that speaks to your ideal prospect, how to set up Social Media Marketing ads as well as Search Engine Marketing ads, how to optimize for goals like app installs, how to drive online purchases and much more!
Get ready… We’re diving into the deep end of the pool on how you can drive epic user growth for your mobile app or increase things like sales as well as leads for your business utilizing digital paid advertising. Check that… This isn’t the deep end of the pool. This will be more comparable to jumping into the middle of the Pacific Ocean… at night… from a helicopter… You’ve been warned. If you’re not a really good swimmer, I’d turn back now.
3, 2, 1…
Time to get wet!
The Mobile App Marketing Landscape
There are a number of ways to build your mobile app’s user base, but given you have an actual marketing budget none are more powerful than paid digital advertising. That’s not hyperbole, it’s concrete FACT. Projections are that advertisers of mobile apps will allot 42% of their overall marketing budget from across all available channels solely to digital ads in 2019 (Source: BusinessInsider).
There’s a reason that the global advertising spend on digital for mobile apps is expected to reach nearly $24 billion in global spend this year out of the $57 billion that will be spent on mobile apps (Source: App Annie Retrospective). That reason is simple - it works - and it grows users in a way that is trackable and scalable for your app product. I’d even suggest that out of the rest of the available marketing channels, most will shrink down to minimal and perhaps even non-existent spends over the next few years. The old way of advertising is not so slowly fading away and new media is taking over.
This transition has been happening for some time, but it seems to be moving much faster for things like mobile apps. This shift is due to lots of reasons: 1) the obvious connection between digital ad platforms and mobile apps, 2) the marketplace spends most of their free time (24/7/365) on their mobile device as well as online, but lastly 3) because digital paid advertising is algorithmic.
The algorithm’s are built into each ad serving platform whether you’re looking to any combination of Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Native Content, etc. This includes platforms like; Facebook™’s Business Manager or Google™ Ads (formerly Adwords). This component is critical to the success of digital ads as it learns and improves as key actions are taken by individuals in the marketplace (this includes the amount of actions as well as amount of time it takes for those actions to be achieved).
A simple example of this would be something like new users each downloading the same mobile app over the course of a 7-day window through a Facebook™ ad. Each platform varies in the quantity of actions that need to be completed as well as window of time these specific actions need to be taken in, but when this happens the algorithm optimizes (learns) to find new potential users for repeat goals.
Basically, this gives these ad servers the resources it needs based upon the data it’s receiving. That data is then used by the algorithm to find more prospects in the marketplace that, based upon a soup of information (demographics, buying propensities, geography, gender, etc., etc.), will most likely repeat this same action.
Now, that’s not to say that anyone can simply throw an ad up that was built using clip art, a few lines of copy and target who they believe is their ideal user and this optimization will magically happen. Unfortunately, it won’t (trust us, we wish it were that easy… sometimes).
Even for the best digital media buyers it’s a process of continual refinement to get to that sweet spot. I like to reference Dan Kennedy’s marketing triangle to explain why this isn’t possible. The Kennedy’s marketing triangle focuses on three factors including: Message, Media and Market. The Message being your ad which includes the messaging in your copy along with ad creative, Media being the marketing channel you’re using for your ad creative like Facebook, Google, Youtube, etc. and Market being your marketplace or ideal user prospect.
Dan Kennedy’s Marketing Triangle
What It Takes…
The reality is if it was easy anyone could do it and if it were that easy you’d see more of the large ad firms out in the world getting into performance-driven digital. That’s what we do at Apex Current. At our core, we focus on conversion marketing, meaning we are driving tangible results for businesses. For example: app installs for mobile app products, online product sales for direct-to-consumer companies and quality leads for service-based businesses.
That whole Kennedy triangle thing I referenced has to do with one of the most, if not the most, crucial factors when advertising you mobile app product (or anything for that matter). The message, e.g. your actual ad, must have copy as well as creative the speaks to the user base you’re attracting to download your app. The market or audience rather is the user base you’re targeting for your mobile app. It’s imperative that both message and market are congruent so that you’re speaking to the perceived need / desire of that particular audience. Lastly, media is the channel you’re leveraging to advertise your mobile app. Basically, that channel needs to be where they are spending considerable time. In the digital spaces these are ad serving platforms like Facebook™, Google™, etc.
There’s not much more to a winning formula than what the above image displays (click to enlarge).
Step 1 - Start By Defining Your Market
Who is your ideal end user? Again, it’s important to note that this part of the process is more important than anything else you’ll do. If your mobile app product is an established business and/or there are established businesses that’s a good place start. For any business or product that is already established in the marketplace, utilize the data of your current user base or buyer audience to find more like-minded buyer prospects.
One of the best opportunities out there would be utilizing Facebook™’s LTV Lookalike Audience feature. What you’ll do is go to Business Manager (which is where you buy and place paid media or ads on Facebook™ and through Facebook™’s Ad Network) and go to Audiences. While inside the Audiences tab, you’ll upload a custom audience. Custom Audiences is a feature Facebook allows businesses and brands to take advantage of where you upload either your actual lead list or buyer list to the platform to utilize for advertising. What you need is a CSV file (Excel and Google™ Sheets both allow you to export a CSV file) with your buyer information on it.
There are two different types of Lookalike audiences. There are general Lookalike audiences which are audiences that look like your buyer audience, but aren’t. Facebook uses their information like email and a phone number to reconcile that data to their personal Facebook™ account and find similar potential buyers based upon that information. You can create these audiences based upon a differential of 1 - 10% meaning a 1% Lookalike audience is 99% similar to the audience you uploaded.
The difference here is that we’re going to use an LTV Lookalike not just a general one. The additional factor needed in this scenario is the price point they purchased your product or service at. That additional data set will allow Facebook™ to find similar lookalike buyers who also have either purchased products at that price point or are able to purchase products at that price point. You’ll then run your ads to this audience you’ve created.
Pictured above is where you’ll upload your LTV Audiences. Where to find: go to Business Manager / Menu / Assets / Audiences / Create Audience / Custom Audience
What if your Mobile App or business isn’t established?
We’re okay here. While I believe LTV Audiences are pretty amazing, they’re certainly not the end all, be all. Everything you do you have to test. LTV Audiences may not work in your circumstances for any number of reasons. If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to look to other brands or businesses who either A) serve that specific audience or B) have a similar mobile app product or business model to yours. You can do this by going into the Audience Insights section while in Business Manager.
You’ll be able to look at the demographic information for specific interests that are inline with the audiences for your product or service. From there, create a list of these interest-types. You’ll use those to target individuals with your ads and see which ones perform best. Something you’ll want to do is test multiple interest types when you’re targeting. So, instead of just throwing them all together and targeting mutually, you’ll want to break them up into separate groups and test separately. Whether that’s literally one interest at a time or you group them together is up to you. Doing this will hedge your bets and give you multiple data points to look at. You’ll target your selected audiences with a small portion of your ad budget to see which ones are responding to your ad.
Facebook™’s Audience Insights
Specific Interests displayed based off the likes of a page you’re connected to.
This same methodology goes for running ads across Google™’s platforms whether it’s Search Ads, Youtube™ Ads, Display, etc. When creating your Campaign you’ll define your audience(s) and use different information which will be divided into three categories including: demographics, in-market and remarketing. Under the demographics tab you’ll dial this information in.
Pictured above is where you set up your targeting for your Google™ Ads Campaign. Search Engine Marketing through Google™ Ads is an awesome option for the majority of companies looking to target prospects searching for their product or services.
Google™ Ads also has an almost identical feature to Facebook™’s Lookalike audiences called ‘Similar Audiences.’ In this section you’ll go through the same type of process to create your similar audiences based upon your list of leads, users or buyers.
Last, but not least, if for whatever reason these aren’t options for you then do your best to define avatar(s) for who your ideal user or audience is. A great way to do this is by really defining everything about that individual. For example, ask questions like:
How old are they?
Are they predominantly male or female?
What magazines do they read?
What’s their income level?
Do they own a home or not?
Where do they work?
What kind of car do they drive?
What do they do for fun?
What blogs do they read or podcasts do they listen to?
etc…
Let’s take a break for a second. I told you when we started we were going to be in deep waters. Hopefully, you’re taking some notes. Maybe it’s a good time to go splash some water on your face and put a pin in this for a minute. Seriously, get up and stretch or something because we’ve got a significant way to go.
Step 2 - Deciding Where Your Prospect Spends Their Time?
Running paid social media advertising through Facebook™ and/or search engine marketing through Google™ Ads are both more than likely going to be viable options for you, but what if they’re not? The Media (which is the channel or digital platform you’re going connect with your audience on) is obviously very important. Your ideal user or buyer will help guide your decision-making process as to where your ads need to be.
Depending on your mobile app, product or service-type, search ads via Google™ are probably always an option as it is the number 1 search engine in the world. Does it make sense for all business models out there? Maybe not… It really will come down to your budget and where that specific platform fits in.
Facebook™, on the other hand, has something like 1/3 of the world’s population tracking as monthly users. Odds are it will be a pretty solid bet as well, but here in the U.S. it seems to skew a little bit older than social media platforms like Snapchat™. If what you’re advertising is intended for an audience 13 - 21 or so, Snapchat™ could be a good option for you. The ad buying experience is similar to that of Facebook™ except one crucial difference - Snapchat’s Geofencing is far superior in my humble opinion. You can really narrow down the specific locations you’re targeting, while on Facebook the most they allow is a 1 mile radius or zip code (without some “ninja tricks”). With Snapchat, you can target a specific venue like a building, convention center or stadium serving ads to that audience where they are, when they’re at that location.
Maybe your mobile app product is for streamlining business services, in that case, LinkedIn™ might be a great option. In the B2B space, their platform is a great option. The one thing we’ve found is that when running paid ads on the platform, the frontend costs are exceedingly high when compared to other platforms out there like the ones I’ve referenced. This means that you’ll have a low CTR (click thru rate - which is a percentage based on the amount of clicks you’re getting verses the number of impressions) and high CPC (cost per click - which refers to how much it’s costing for someone to click your ad based on your budget). With that in mind, when a prospect you’ve targeted does engage with your ad, we’ve found that buyer intent is typically high meaning they’re highly likely to take the action that you’re driving them to e.g. downloading your mobile app, buying your product or inquiring to learn more about your service.
The point is, go where your market is spending the majority of their time. Depending on your resources, maybe you’re testing multiple platforms, but the majority of what you allocate should be the one that makes the most sense for your business because that’s the one your audience is using most.
Step 3 - How To Craft Your Messaging
Your messaging should speak to your audience directly wherever and whenever possible. This is how you get their attention and you’ll typically do so on social media platforms. I heard the example once that if you walked into a crowded area and yelled, “Hey, everybody!” You’d certainly get some weird looks, but everyone would turn around looking confused and then more than likely pass you off unless there was some sort of dire situation at hand. In turn, if you walked into a room and said, “Hey, fisherman!” anyone who’s into fishing would definitely be intrigued.
The reason being is that you’re speaking directly to that specific isolated group within the masses. So, if your mobile app product is something to make a mom’s life easier, you’ll want to get their attention with something in in the first line of your copy like FOR MOM’S ONLY. Now, it’s important to note that this won’t work on all platforms or even be allowed in certain scenarios on the platforms you are able to use this tactic on. This is typically a solid route for Facebook™ ads, but it’s hit or miss on what’s allowed and what’s not.
You don’t have to be as blatantly obvious as my above example. It really depends on the market you’re targeting. The ad example shown here is a retargeting ad that we run to individuals who are looking for Mobile App Advertising services that have visited our website, but not completed our desired goal.
An example of an Apex Current FB ad for mobile app marketing services.
Standing out is a challenge these days. We are all inundated with information to the nth degree. Another little factoid that I found somewhere is that the human attention span is at like 7 seconds so time is limited. Separately, this means that we’ve surpassed the common gold fish with an attention span that’s a whole two seconds shorter.
Next up, dig into the pain a bit. My mentor always said that pain converts over pleasure and the stat is something like 80% of the time. What does your mobile app product or business solve for your prospect? What solution are you bringing to the table to enhance their everyday life? Maybe this doesn’t work in every scenario, but it works in a great deal of them. The idea here is that you’re holding their attention or keeping the conversation going as it were, to see what you have to offer. Again, the clock is ticking.
A great tactic on this point is to ask them a question. There’s a whole myriad of ways to do this, but examples of how you could start your question would be the following:
Are you tired of…
Do you want to…
Are you ready for…
Did you know that…
etc…
Speak to something that’s close to home for that individual that you’re calling out and you’ll keep their attention.
At that point, you can get into the benefits (not features) of your mobile app, product or service. Benefit-driven statements will create action over featured-based statements 9 times out of 10. This, again, has to do with the fact that you’re speaking directly to them, their needs and how you’re solving those needs. Everyone deep down wants to feel special and accepted and doing this might just make their day as well as create the action of them downloading your app or buying your product.
It’s also important to humanize your ad as well as the page it clicks to as much as possible. Depending on what your ad’s for, do your best to show imagery with people in the images and/or video. People relate to people so this will make a difference in how they engage with your ad. As part of this, you want to show people’s faces whenever you can. A person’s face conveys trust and you want your prospect to trust you enough that they take the desired action for your advertisement.
Search Engine Marketing will require a little bit of a different approach. Search ads are served to individuals who are searching for products or services that are relevant to their search (this is called search intent) and the keywords or phrases you’ve selected for your campaign. The more closely aligned your ads are to these keywords or phrases the better it will perform. In an ideal scenario, your search ads literally include whatever those may be as well as wherever that prospect lands after clicking your ad (website, sales funnel, etc.). This is called your Quality Score.
Search ads on Google™ being shown are based mainly on 4 factors including daily spend & your quality score between your ads and your keywords:
Your daily ad spend or the budget allocated to campaigns.
The expected CTR of the type of ad you’re running.
How relevant your ad is to what the audience you’re targeting is searching for.
The experience those individuals have on the page they land on after clicking your ad.
The good news is that you don’t have to have the largest budget in the world to improve your ad’s performance.
A quality score of one of Apex Current’s search ads.
If you’re targeting the same audience with the same type of offering that a competitor with deeper pockets might be, and you can beat them on the other factors mentioned, your ad will be shown before their’s is shown. We at Apex Current actually have proof of performance here running search ads through Google™ that outperform companies like; Facebook™, Inc. (yes, Facebook™ runs Search Ads), Taboola™ and the competitors that are targeting the same audience as we are targeting.
You can see a few of our ads in our ad gallery by clicking here.
Okay, you’re doing great. We’re almost finished and I’m so proud of you for making it this far. There’s one last component I’m going to discuss in this writeup that’s critical to the success of running digital paid media. After that, we’ll go dry off and get on with our lives.
Step 4 - Creating Conversion-Based Ads
The last step I’m going to discuss revolves around how to create conversion-based ads. These are ads that achieve conversion goals which can be anything from a mobile app download to the selling of a product.
In Business Manager, you’ll head to Events Manager / Custom Conversions or App Events.
The algorithm will optimize around the specific goal you set for your, ad and there are a great deal of options which vary depending on the platform you’re using. Here are a few examples; conversions or app events (no brainer), post engagements, traffic (or clicks), brand awareness, reach, etc.
Types of actions ads can be optimized for between ad types and custom conversions…
App Events: your prospect downloading or installing your mobile app product
Conversions: your prospect taking an action like initiating checkout, making a purchase, opting in to learn more, downloading your free guide, etc.
Post Engagement: Your prospects engaging with your ad by liking, commenting or sharing it.
Traffic: Your prospects traveling to your website to have a look.
Brand Awareness: Based on Ad Recall Lift which means the likelihood your prospect will remember your ad after seeing it.
Reach: Spray and pray… Basically, hits your targeted audience as quickly as possible based upon your budget and the size of the audience targeted.
Walk Ins: These are ads there are optimized for in-store walk ins.
Schedule: Optimizing for a prospect to schedule a consultation or meeting with your business.
Complete Registration: Registering for an event or conference.
Etc., etc…
We want to create ads that optimize for either app events or conversions if we’re looking to achieve tangible results like a mobile app install, selling a product, lead, etc. For this, you’ll need to make sure you have the specific tracking code for whichever platform you’re using installed where you’re sending your prospect to take action. For Facebook™ this is called a Pixel, Google™ a Conversion Ad Tracking code, LinkedIn is an Insights Tag, etc.
In Business Manager, you’ll head to Events Manager / Custom Conversions.
In Business Manager, you’ll head to Events Manager / Data Sources to set up App Events.
You’ll optimize to the conversion point (the place you want your prospect to go AFTER they make they take action - think ‘thank you page’). You can only optimize one layer down which is important. If a direct-to-consumer company is running ads to their website homepage that are optimized for purchases, they won’t work. This is because typically someone would have to find the product, add the product to their cart, initiate checkout and after the checkout page would be the thank you page for their product. So, there’s multiple layers there the prospect must travel through.
So, in that scenario or any similar scenario you only optimize to the next point in the journey the prospect is able to travel to. From there, you use retargeting ads and abandoned cart strategies to bring them back, optimizing for those next actions which, unfortunately, we don’t have time to get into today.
For mobile apps specifically wanting to advertise on Facebook™ another route to go to make things simple is by installing the SDK (Software Development Kit) Facebook™ provides into the infrastructure of your app. From what I understand from my developer friends this isn’t a super time intensive or costly addition to any mobile app that’s already built. That said, I’m not a developer and it could be a case-by-case scenario. This not only allows for optimization of your ads, but a seamless experience for your end user since they don’t have to enter their basic information that Facebook already has as part of their account when they install / log in. You’ll optimize for App Events which is completed simply enough by connecting your app to your desktop once the SDK is installed.
Last, but not least, it’s important to note that your ad won’t be shown to the entire audience you’ve selected for targeting. The algorithm optimizes based on the goal you’ve set up and the likelihood that goal will be achieved. This means that if you select an audience sampling across the U.S. of 2MM prospects (side note: that’s a solid audience size for national ads depending on your budget) you believe could be your ideal users and/or buyers that only a portion of them will actually ever see your ad. This is due to the historical actions taken by the individuals in this audience (which includes piles upon piles of data), the algorithm can confidently predict who should see your ad.
Targeted audience vs the goal of your ad. Click to enlarge image.
Let’s Dry Off And Get Some Rest… Then, the real work starts!
I wish I could get into every nook and cranny of buying and placing digital media. Unfortunately, it’s a rabbit hole that goes deep, but what I’ve discussed here should help you find your way. There are plenty of resources out there that you can leverage to help you level up and have successful digital campaigns. Youtube™ certainly has plenty of videos on these topics and we offer a paid online course with over 50 tutorial videos which we’re constantly adding to that you can learn about if interested by clicking here. For local residents or if your business has any interest of traveling to us, we offer a 1-day full digital advertising intensive teaching all of our intellectual property which you can learn more about by clicking here. They’re both great options if you’re wanting to really dive in with the resources to run successful digital campaigns.
I hope this helps you drive amazing results for what you’re doing! Best of luck in your digital marketing journey! If you’re interested in talking to us about becoming an Apex Current client and us running performance-driven digital campaigns for your mobile app or business, click on the button below.
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About The Author
Corbitt Chandler was recently honored as one of Birmingham’s Top CEO’s as well as was recognized for leading his business, Apex Current, to being a Small Business of the Year Finalist, both awards being peer nominated and selected by a panel of judges through the Birmingham Business Journal.
Corbitt’s areas of expertise are founded in him being an elite-level Facebook campaign strategist, Clickfunnels specialist and Infusionsoft CRM technician. He has collaborated with numerous multi-million dollar brands and businesses across the globe building effective digital campaign strategies and pipelines utilizing performance-driven advertising. He is the Founder and CEO of Apex Current as well as its subsidiary companies, CoolStream and WaveFlow.
