Danielle Hixenbaugh had just started interning at a print media company when everybody was being let go. A revolution was happening and she was learning about it firsthand.
Sensing that the landscape of print was changing, Danielle altered courses and started learning everything to know about digital marketing. She fell in love with everything related to digital marketing: social media, photo, and video editing, coding, funneling, etc. She was a natural, who absorbed knowledge like a sponge and honed her skills rapidly.
Her career grew quickly. “I got a job as a Digital Marketing Specialist at a non-profit and, later, I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch,” Danielle recalls. It was in this second role that she became infatuated with retail and e-commerce.
Danielle opened a successful online store with her partner (now husband), but she craved more. As she puts it, “I wanted to build a place where creative professionals could develop their skills, be happy, and leave a mark in the marketing world by doing things differently.”
She started Bloom Digital Agency, which she defines as “a highly organized and effective team of creatives that love what we do.”
Are you looking to partner with them? If so, we will give you an in-depth look at what makes Bloom special and the reasons Danielle and her team have been turning heads since they burst onto the e-commerce marketing scene.
What Do They Do?
Bloom specializes in four areas of digital marketing for Shopify stores: email & SMS, paid advertising, social media, and digital roadmaps & planning. These four services cover two elements of the marketing funnel: awareness and consideration.
Danielle explains why focusing on these two elements increases the ROI of Bloom’s partners: “If we’d only manage one of the stages we’d have to wait for improvements in other parts of the funnel from either an internal team or another agency This would delay the ROI.”
This way, they also get to gather customers’ info to simplify retargeting and reconversion. “That way we make the juice worth the squeeze, you get multiple channels managed under one roof,” Danielle says.
What Are Their Values?
Danielle created Bloom to do things differently by not making the project about her own success or image, but about the goals of Bloom’s partners. Danielle and her team chose a set of values that aid horizontal communication, care, transparency, and results for their partners.
Communication is about listening well before reacting and being proactive in the search for answers. It also means treating everybody with respect, including colleagues and clients.
Impact is about taking action and avoiding analysis paralysis. It also entails performing consistently to be a reliable team member, while having the confidence to “fail forward” and learn from that experience.
Curiosity is about being eager to learn rapidly and striving to understand Bloom’s strategy, market, and clients, while seeking to make an impact as a collaborator.
Innovation is about imagining new ways to simplify, knowing there is no such thing as the status-quo, and keeping up-to-date on cutting edge tools, strategies, and tactics. It is also about making and listening to suggestions, regardless of who they come from.
Courage is about saying what you think as a team member, even if it’s controversial. It also involves making tough decisions without agonizing and taking smart risks without fear and according to Bloom’s values.
Passion is about inspiring each other with results, impact, and energy, as well as caring intensely about Bloom’s success. It entails celebrating everybody’s wins and moving on quickly from losses.
Honesty is about being direct, but kind, being transparent with clients and teammates, and admitting to mistakes quickly.
How Do They Do Things?
They put your goals first and show you the way. Bloom doesn’t use marketing buzzwords to dazzle you and then gaslight you later.
When you start working with them, they will ask you what your goals are.
Bloom’s passionate experts will analyze where you stand and create a personalized plan to get you where you actually want to be. As Danielle explains, “Our team will take a deep dive into essentials like competitor research, mind mapping, keyword research, budgeting, and more.”
Bloom will keep it real and provide you with sound explanations in simple language that are based on data, while setting clear expectations to start your relationship off on the right foot. “We set standards based on tangibles like data, timelines, and your real-world goals,” says Danielle.
After that, Bloom’s team will put your plan in motion and stay with you throughout the process. As Danielle explains, “We sent our partners weekly KPI reports to keep track of what’s being spent, while also monitoring daily accounts for maximum payoff.”
They go where your customers are. This includes Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. After conducting solid research, Bloom will select a number of channels to best reach your customers and start deploying your campaign across those channels.
Bloom’s experts will run experiments that take all the variables into account to ensure your ads are effective on every platform. They’ll gather a bunch of data to optimize your campaigns and tweak every ad for efficacy.
Bloom understands that marketing is about emotions. “Customers crave the emotional connection related to a purchase, which has become especially important after COVID,” states Danielle.
Bloom’s team will make exciting and beautiful ads with awesome copy to keep your customers intrigued about all you have to offer and make them feel like they are looking directly at your product. “People who are buying online can’t see your product in person. We need to fill that gap,” Danielle explains.
They focus on email marketing and SMS. Some marketers might think ads are all you need to reach your clients, but this is not the case.
Bloom’s team understands the power of email marketing. It lets you reach your clients in a personal space where you can talk directly to them. “If you’re not spending at least 30% of your budget on email marketing, you’re leaving money on the table,” Danielle states.
“Add in the power of SMS, and you’ll hit the holy grail,” she adds. Bloom’s team uses the intimacy of SMS wisely. They will reach your VIP clients to share information on special benefits, discounts, and events that these clients really want to know about, without abusing this direct line of communication.
This potent combination will keep clients in the loop, while constantly converting and generating lifetime value for you.
Are you ready to get on board? We invite you to get in touch with Bloom via their website, Facebook, or Instagram.