For brands, Halloween presents a tantalising opportunity to engage with consumers through themed content. But the big question remains for many: is it worth diving head first into generating spooky content, or should brands steer clear?

We’re about to make that decision-making process a bit easier for you:

When it comes to marketing your brand and amplifying its offer, the visuals (images, video, graphics, branding etc) are one of your business’s most important assets.

For them to work, the visuals have to be deliberate and coherent. A random assortment of ill-fitting images and visual cues do nothing to help audiences recognise and understand your brand. Visuals that are consistent however, do.

If you want your business to be visible online, then get comfortable with the concept of SEO…

For location-based businesses—such as restaurants, retail stores, and service providers—local SEO is a game-changer. It ensures that when potential customers search for services or products near them, your business is prominently displayed. What makes local SEO so crucial? We’re so glad you asked…

Reels are undoubtedly the golden child of the social media world. With platforms like Instagram and TikTok pushing short-form video content to the forefront, mastering the art of creating effective reels can significantly boost your online presence. But what makes a reel truly stand out? Here’s a guide to help you create engaging and impactful reels that resonate with your audience.

Picture this: you enlist the help of a web designer to create a beautiful new website for your business. You then hire a copywriter to make it sound great, followed closely by a product photographer to make it look great. And then you launch it out into the world to the unrelenting sound of crickets. So you’ve spent all that time and money for a sum total of 2 people to see (one of which is probably your mom and the other is your best friend).

Between Reels, feed posts and stories, there’s a lot to be done when it comes to creating social media content for your business.

If you don’t have a lot of time but need to get some content out, what should you be focusing on that will get you the most runs on the board? Is your time better spent creating a reel or posting to stories?

Here’s your cheat sheet:

DID YOU KNOW?
Content marketing produces 3X more leads than paid search?

That means that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on paid search ads to get noticed by your target market - you just need to have a well thought-out content marketing strategy in place so that it does the hard work for you.

Let’s be honest: getting your brand to stand out on Instagram can be a challenge…

Not only are there millions of accounts and profiles on the platform all vying for an audience, but reach and engagement are at a frustrating low, making it feel like you’re ploughing time and effort into content creation with little return on all that investment.

A couple of years ago, Shout + Co. became the design partner for The Marketing Collective headed up by Marijke Timmers.

The Marketing Collective is a team of 5 marketing specialists who work alongside business owners to get their businesses humming. We offer design (hello!), copywriting, strategy, paid ads and social media support.

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to develop a marketing programme that you can do online and at your own pace - and it’s just launched THIS MONTH. It’s called: Mastering Marketing.

We’ve rounded up the latest in visual trends across the broad social media landscape so you don’t have to: from memes to infographics and colour updates, it’s all in here.

If you want your brand to keep up with what’s happening around us in the digital space, keep reading…

It would be an understatement to say that traditional marketing methods are no longer as effective as they once were: print media, billboard marketing, tv advertising… Most of it is expensive and the ROI can be difficult to quantify.

But do you know what does work without an eye-watering corporate marketing budget behind you and an ROI that is as easy to calculate as typing out “hey, how did you hear about us?” in an email?

Are you a brand owner with a website? You’ve probably considered at some point (if you don’t have one in place already) establishing a blog for your business. Between posting Reels, responding to comments and messages on social media, staying on top of the latest industry trends, never mind actually selling a product or service, there’s a lot on your to do list. Should having a blog be one of them?

We create imagery for all types of businesses: from scaffolding companies and adventure parks, right through to skincare and dog food brands.

So where are they using all the content we create for them?

In a variety of places and media! Here are just a few of them…

Whether you’re new here or we’re old acquaintances, we thought this would be a good time to do a team meet and greet and tell you about some of the personnel shifts we’ve made this year.