• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Anania Media, Inc

Anania Media, Inc

Build a Brand Not Just A Business

Open Menu
Author: Peter Anania

Ellie Roy joins the Anania Media team!

December 8, 2020 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

Expanding Our Team with New Talent

At Anania Media, we’re always keeping an eye out for new talent in the digital advertising space around Maine and New England. Sometimes that means being ready and open to expanding our own internal team. When you’re a small business like us, the latter can be a little daunting. But when you find a great fit for both company culture and advancement in the field, new team members can make all the difference.

Ellie Roy, Digital Marketing Specialist

In October 2020, we were happy to welcome our newest employee, Ellie Roy! Ellie is a recent graduate of Boston University, where she finished her degree in three years with a major in English and a minor in Cinema & Media Studies. She has published two short fiction stories in literary magazines and is currently working on her first novel. At Anania Media, she focuses on copywriting and social media project management, and she hopes to grow into a senior editorial role as the company continues to advance.

Ellie is humbled to have been given this opportunity amid all the challenges that 2020 has brought, and has hit the ground running with all our clients and their many projects. She runs her own author website, where you’ll find all her work, and you can also find her on Twitter and Instagram. Welcome to the team, Ellie!

Filed Under: 2020, Company News

Hello, we’re here. We’re good, an update from Anania Media.

March 18, 2020 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

This has been a tough time for small businesses, and marketing agencies are not immune. We feel fortunate in a lot of ways, as we are in a better position than similar agencies and for right now, we’re good. This has a lot to do with how we’ve structured our agency and our incredible clients supporting us. We wanted to take this opportunity to fill you in on a couple of things.

We’re doing everything we can to help our clients who are struggling during this time. We’ve seen this with clients in the travel and hospitality industries. It’s been rewarding to see our efforts having success in promoting alternatives to their main revenue streams by leveraging social media advertising. If you know anyone struggling in these industries, let us know. We can be a resource by offering guidance and advice.

Our team is being given the option to work remotely. As an agency that embraces technology, we’ve had this capability for a while and this will not slow us down. We can also be a resource for individuals who may be new to this concept.

Although we are better shape than what we’re seeing with similar agencies, some key projects and accounts have been paused. If you are in a position to go forward with a marketing project that’s been on the back-burner let us know, we’re ready to take it on.

Lastly, I will let you know that a new Anania Media will be emerging from the crisis, this has been in the making for a while. We’re redoing our website, improving our process and ready to take our agency to the next level. Through our efforts and support, we will help our clients, friends and families through these uncertain times.

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.

Filed Under: 2020, Client News, Company News

Eight Steps For Your 2020 Marketing Strategy

March 13, 2020 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

Is Your Marketing Strategy Updated for 2020?

Each year, it is important to take time to do an overall assessment of your company or organization’s marketing strategy. Doing so can help you identify where you want to focus your efforts and how you need to shift your marketing plans to keep up with an ever-changing media and technological landscape. At Anania Media, we’ve distilled the steps for assessing and creating an annual marketing plan down to eight basic steps. They are:

  • Define your target audience
  • Determine your short-term and long-term goals
  • Conduct an audit of your current marketing efforts
  • Conduct a competitor analysis
  • Identify and assess aspirational brands
  • Determine a marketing and advertising budget
  • Detail your marketing tactics
  • Determine a plan for evaluating the results of your marketing methods

These steps are a basic guide to planning out your marketing strategy, providing you with a path that ensures you take into account all aspects of an effective strategy.

Define Your Target Audience

The first step in developing your marketing strategy should be to define who you are trying to sell to. Whether you’re selling goods or offering a service, there is an audience out there that is most likely to do business with you. To determine your target audience, start by asking yourself simple questions – who will be walking into my store in 2020? Who is picking up the phone to call me to make an appointment, or emailing me for more information about the services I provide? One of the tactics we like to use at Anania Media is to cut down your audience to job titles. What are the job titles of the people you want to gear your marketing towards? Lawyers? Accountants? Chefs? Stay-at-home moms? Teachers? All of the above? Using job titles as a way to define your audience is a way to get you thinking about demographics, though in a more general sense. For a more detailed dive into your audience, you absolutely should look into demographics – income levels of your clients/customers, towns of residence, marital status, gender, etc. All of this information comes in useful in crafting marketing materials, as well as in determining where to spend your advertising dollars.

Determine Your Short-term and Long-term Goals

When you’re developing a marketing strategy, you don’t want to just consider the what. You also need to consider the why. Why are you creating a marketing strategy and what will it help you accomplish? Determine your goals in three different categories – marketing, business development, and overall business. Marketing and business development are more likely to have short-term goals that are helping you achieve your long-term overall goals for your business.

Conduct an Audit Of Your Current Marketing Efforts

Every business has some form of marketing, even if they don’t have a dedicated marketing department. Before you begin crafting a new marketing plan for 2020, look at what you are currently doing. This might just be an assessment of your website and brand logo, or it might be a sweeping audit of dollars spent on tv advertising, digital ads and print materials. Take each piece of your current marketing efforts and evaluate what it is currently accomplishing (or not accomplishing) for you. How does your brand exist in your space? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your brand and your current strategy? How can you incorporate the strengths in 2020? Where can you improve your marketing materials and efforts throughout the year? Ask yourself these questions, and write down the answers so you have information and ideas to turn to while you create a new marketing plan.

Conduct a Competitor Analysis

Because your company doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it is also crucial to conduct an analysis of your competitors’ marketing efforts and branded materials. Look at the strengths and weaknesses of competitors within your region and within your industry, and identify areas where you can improve your own brand based on their successes. You want to assess your competitors’ marketing efforts from the perspective of how you can rise above and stand out in your space. Analyze your competitors, then use your 2020 marketing strategy to help you stand apart from them.

Identify and Assess Aspirational Brands

Identifying and assessing aspirational brands is a separate endeavor from analyzing competitors, as aspirational brands don’t even necessarily have to be in your industry. We recommend looking at two or three different brands, including one regional brand and one or two national brands. Aspirational brands can be brands that have printed materials, a digital presence, or an entire mission or presence that you admire. Looking at what your aspirational brands are doing correctly can help strengthen your own marketing efforts as you strive to achieve the kind of impressive presence that these brands have.

Determine a Marketing & Advertising Budget

As you begin to move towards designing and implementing your 2020 marketing plan, you need to know your budget. To have a successful implementation of your marketing plan, your budget needs to be more detailed than just having a total figure that you are able to spend on marketing throughout the year. Our advice is to create a spreadsheet in which you allocate available funds under different categories such as “Facebook ads,” “Printed materials,” “Google ads,” and so forth. To make this spreadsheet easily understandable for people who don’t ‘speak marketing,’ we also recommend adding descriptors. For example, under Facebook ads you could note that this money will be spent to reach X demographic via Facebook ads because they aren’t a demographic that is reachable by radio ads.

Detail Your Marketing Tactics

In addition to detailing your marketing budget, you should also detail individual aspects of your marketing strategy. Different people and different companies may find varying levels of detail work for them – one company may want to go as far as creating a monthly editorial calendar in advance, while another may find that simply having a bulleted list that includes ‘monthly blog’ as an element of their marketing strategy is sufficient. Every tactic included in your 2020 marketing plan should have an identifiable or trackable return on investment or ROI.

Determine a Plan For Evaluating the Results of Your Marketing Efforts

The final step we advise you take as you craft your 2020 marketing plan is to determine how you will be evaluating the effectiveness of your plan as you implement it. Decide which metrics you’ll be assessing, which tools you will be using to assess them, as well as how often you will be looking at the results. Month over month and year over date are two effective comparisons to look at. Keeping on top of your data and adjusting your strategies is key to a successful marketing plan implementation. It can also be fun to look at the data and see how much progress you have made!

Watch Our Full Discussion About the Eight Steps for Your 2020 Marketing Strategy

As you plan and implement your 2020 marketing strategy, we wish you the best of success. If you’d like to hear our full discussion on our eight steps for your 2020 marketing strategy, you can view the video podcast on our YouTube page. We regularly add new content with insights into marketing, digital media and business development, so be sure to follow the Anania Media YouTube Channel to stay up-to-date with our new material.

Filed Under: 2020, Marketing & Web Tips, Marketing and Web Tips

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

February 15, 2020 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

Suspendisse sed posuere orci. Nam eget feugiat neque, id iaculis urna. Suspendisse blandit ipsum felis, eget commodo eros maximus nec. Sed pharetra est at purus dictum consequat. Nam imperdiet, metus quis luctus sodales, quam velit congue lectus, vel condimentum lectus ligula et lectus. Vivamus a cursus felis, et imperdiet urna. Ut iaculis mi in velit ornare rhoncus. Nam in tellus ac nunc lobortis ullamcorper.

Vivamus id aliquet ex, et vestibulum dui. Sed hendrerit eu erat vitae porttitor. Vivamus semper tempor dui, eget iaculis sapien imperdiet ut. Pellentesque eget vestibulum magna, ac pharetra sapien. Donec id tempus nulla. Phasellus at dictum magna. Donec eget enim dapibus, mollis lacus at, dignissim massa. Aliquam sit amet iaculis massa, vitae feugiat elit. Curabitur tristique, diam et varius pharetra, metus ligula pulvinar dolor, accumsan consequat enim lacus sed enim. Nulla ultrices diam mauris, eget interdum justo tempor a.

Morbi sed sapien vel ex mollis maximus eu quis lorem. Curabitur rutrum diam eget dui feugiat, eu ultricies neque efficitur. Donec vel elit pharetra, aliquet leo a, cursus felis. Nulla egestas lacus ut tellus iaculis aliquam. Sed sodales quam quis sapien sodales, vel mollis purus tempor. Maecenas nec sem eu diam pulvinar tempor. Donec quis eleifend enim, sed fringilla diam. Nam vel tempor turpis. Etiam elementum eleifend elit ac aliquam. Etiam sollicitudin lectus ut dolor blandit efficitur. Curabitur sit amet suscipit ex, vel imperdiet ligula. Nunc in lacus est. Praesent vehicula elementum felis, eget faucibus nulla. Maecenas congue sem vel semper mattis. Mauris accumsan facilisis ullamcorper. Vestibulum posuere dui justo.

Aenean cursus, elit at tempor mattis, nibh ligula tincidunt dolor, et commodo massa eros quis neque. Sed fermentum, nisi non tincidunt ullamcorper, libero turpis malesuada arcu, ut volutpat ligula odio et neque. Morbi fermentum luctus ex in ullamcorper. Nulla vulputate vel nisl eget dignissim. Cras dapibus egestas elementum. Sed faucibus porta nulla, eget venenatis ex. Mauris erat sapien, ornare vitae iaculis sit amet, euismod non ex. Mauris blandit ultrices leo, finibus lacinia leo dictum vitae. Etiam rutrum, lectus vel semper molestie, ipsum odio finibus mi, et scelerisque velit arcu in massa. Nam eleifend eros orci, et pharetra libero iaculis non. Phasellus pellentesque lectus vel sem tincidunt bibendum. Integer ut convallis augue. Integer non felis ac ligula fringilla vulputate sit amet a velit.

Mauris eu dolor et lectus auctor efficitur. Morbi rutrum augue vulputate elit rutrum viverra. Morbi a fermentum turpis. Cras iaculis sed justo sit amet facilisis. Ut id mi rhoncus, suscipit sapien facilisis, faucibus velit. Maecenas auctor, magna non tincidunt consequat, leo ligula finibus lacus, vel ultrices nisl quam et velit. Sed luctus nunc ac ipsum eleifend, eu scelerisque nisi efficitur. Integer ligula est, tincidunt at nisl id, vehicula pretium nisl. Fusce pharetra sapien sed rhoncus euismod. Nulla quis lectus ultrices, tristique risus sed, porta lorem. Nullam lacus elit, consectetur quis magna et, suscipit egestas mauris. Nulla tellus justo, luctus eu eros at, ultricies rutrum ante. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Phasellus eu nibh eros. Nam a erat tortor.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Sarah Kaplan joins the Anania Media team

September 13, 2019 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

We are excited to announce we have a new videographer – Sarah Kaplan. Sarah is excited to be assisting our team with video projects for our wide range of clients from different industries.

Sarah received her B.A in Screen Studies from Clark University in Worcester Massachusetts. During her time in college, she interned close to home at Maine Media Workshops and O’Maine Studios. As well as across the pond, in Dublin, Ireland at Marmalade Films. She has also held a role previously as a Digital Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Sarah currently resides in Westbrook and can be found spending her free time with her dog, Brody and catching up on some Netflix shows.

Filed Under: 2019, Company News

Matt Mcgillvray joins Anania Media team

August 9, 2019 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

We’re excited to announce that Matt McGillvray has joined the Anania Media team as our new multi-media and web designer. Matt will be using his skills to bring new creative concepts to life for their brands.

Matt received his BFA in Graphic Design at the Maine College of Art, in Portland. Matt has used his branding and graphic design skills recently at ReVision Energy. He also has extensive experience in web design on many sites built on WordPress.

Filed Under: 2019, Company News

Our “Lite Site” Development Process

June 18, 2019 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

Over the past decade, members of our team have built a number of websites for small businesses. During that time we’ve mastered best practices revolving around search engine optimization, performance, information architecture, user experience, analytics and design.

“Lite Sites” by Anania Media takes this experience and packages it into a pre-built WordPress theme. Our standardized process allows us to build impactful websites on a smaller budget.

What separates an Anania Media Lite Sites from a DIY tool is more than just the time-saving aspect. Choosing a Lite Site is an investment in the life of your website — the digital extension of your business or organization. We believe your site should be visually appealing, easy to find, easy to navigate and an all-around positive experience for those who use it.

Here is a detailed look into the process behind the product:

Kick-Off Meeting

A kick-off phone call or meeting helps our team better understand your goals and target audience. To ensure that everything you need is included in your Lite Site, our team will create a standardized questionnaire that’s designed to guide the discussion and, most importantly, guide the creation of the website. We typically include questions about your product or service, business goals, target audience and essential messaging points.

After our kick-off meeting, our team then will look over the notes and begin crafting an initial outline. Once the outline is approved, our team will be ready to build your Lite Site.

Copywriting

At Anania Media we understand the importance of engaging content and its role in your messaging. Our copywriters will take the findings from our kickoff meeting and then use that information to create written content. If you would like to utilize the copy on your current website, our team can review and edit it to ensure that all essential items are included. From there, our team will also think through the most effective calls-to-action that makes the most sense for your target audience.

Theme Customization and Creation of Staging Site

Next, we create what’s called a staging site from which we will begin development. With our custom theme, we can efficiently stage pages, posts, widgets, WordPress plugins and custom CSS. During this stage we will incorporate your company’s brand into the website design, taking the time to make sure everything is consistent sitewide.

Client Review

Once the content has been uploaded and branding updated, our team will send you a private link for your review. At that point, we can have a phone call or meeting to go over any changes that might be needed. The staging site is only visible to your team and ours, so rest assured that no unwanted visitor will see an unfinished website.

Search Engine Optimization

The last step in the Lite Site process is to optimize the website for search engines. Our team will follow industry best practices when writing and uploading copy, but we also will take the time to fill out meta titles and descriptions for each page, which will make things easier for those searching for your product or service. To further increase visibility, our team will also create a sitemap and submit it to Google during testing and launch.

Testing and Launching

After we have made any requested changes, our team will go through the site and thoroughly test everything before making it live. We test “tap-to-call” phone numbers and email links, forms, as well as broken and missing links. From there, we will then put in any necessary 301 redirects to ensure old, inactive pages redirect to new ones.

Security Features

All of our Lite Sites come with the security features needed today to protect your information. All sites are established on HTTPS to protect the privacy and integrity of the information stored on it. This Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) allows secure access for visitors on your site — without interference from unwanted third parties. We also use several plugins to avoid unsafe web practices, such as spam and unsanitized uploads.

Website Analytics

In the process of migrating your website over, our team will integrate your Lite Site with Google Analytics. On top of that, we will set up event tracking in Google Tag Manager using Google Analytics. This will allow you to track the various sources for all email clicks, phone “tap-to-calls”, form submissions and monitor overall traffic.

Hosting on Anania Media Cloud Server

All Lite Sites are hosted on our secure cloud server. Our team will take care of everything from website encryption to routine maintenance, such as automated daily backups and WordPress plug-in updates every quarter. Our team does this to ensure the security and longevity of every one of our websites, leaving you with added peace of mind.

At Anania Media we know an investment in your website is critical to business, both online and offline. Our team has improved the web presence of plenty of local businesses, and we are confident that we can put our expertise to work for you.

If you or someone you know is interested in renewing their site or starting a new one, consider a Lite Site for a big website impact at a small website cost.

Filed Under: 2019, Website Development

We’re Hiring: Digital Marketing Manager

May 31, 2019 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

Anania Media is a growing advertising, digital marketing and video production company based out of Westbrook, Maine. We are currently looking for a new member to join our team in the role of digital marketing manager. The individual in this role will work closely with the creative director/agency owner as well as our other digital marketing manager.

Digital Marketing Manager Responsibilities:

  • Maintain client social media presence across all channels
  • Assist creative director/agency owner
  • Send monthly reports to clients giving any needed explanation
  • Plan client digital marketing campaigns, including web, SEO/SEM, email, social media & display advertising
  • The individual in this role will eventually take the lead on most of the project management and communication for relevant client accounts

Requirements:

  • Degree in english, communications, marketing or other related field
  • Proficiency with photoshop and graphic design
  • Highly motivated individual with a positive, enthusiastic attitude
  • Strong writing skills
  • Passion for communications/marketing
  • Comfortable with public speaking and giving presentations
  • Ability to develop and maintain relationships with team members, clients and prospective leads

Other Experience Desired:

  • Illustrator and InDesign
  • WordPress
  • HTML and CSS
  • Google Ads
  • Facebook Advertising
  • Compensation and benefits:

Compensation will be hourly and dependent on experience
Group policy health insurance available

Filed Under: Company News

Dustyn Bailey joins Anania Media team

March 14, 2019 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

We’re excited to announce that Dustyn Bailey has joined the Anania Media team as a digital marketer and copywriter. Dustyn is responsible for managing the digital marketing efforts for Anania Media’s small business clients.

Dustyn holds a B.A. in Communications and English from University of Southern Maine. He has previously held roles in strategic marketing, insurance and banking.

Filed Under: 2019, Company News

Welcome to Maine: Part Two

March 8, 2019 by Peter Anania Leave a Comment

One of the best parts about working with Maine-based clients is having the opportunity to travel around our great state, taking in the unique sites and sounds of each community.

A few months ago, we released Welcome to Maine: Part One, which featured some of our favorite drone clips that were captured during our travels around the state. Now, we’re excited to share with everyone Welcome to Maine: Part Two.

We weren’t able to get to every corner of our great state, but we do hope you enjoy part two of our favorite Maine-based drone clips.

Filed Under: Company News, video, Video Production

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Request more information from a member of our team.

547 Main Street
Westbrook, Maine 04092

info@ananiamedia.com
(207) 591-0036

  • Our Approach
  • Website Development
  • Social Media
  • Video Production
  • Digital Marketing
  • Media Buying
  • Contact
Copyright © 2021 Anania Media, Inc | Developed by Anania Media
  • Our Approach
    • Our Team
  • Website Development
    • Our Website Development Process and Theme
    • Website Hosting & Maintenance
    • Website Development FAQs
  • Social Media Marketing
    • Social Media Management
    • Social Media Advertising
    • Social Media Management FAQs
  • Video Production
    • Our Video Production Process
    • Video Preproduction
    • Video Editing
    • Video Production Portfolio
    • Our Video Production Team
    • Video Production Equipment
    • Video Production FAQs
  • Digital Marketing
    • Pay Per Click Management
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Email Marketing
    • Graphic Design and Branding
  • Media Buying
  • Contact
  • Blog