Thursday, April 30, 2015
Decoding the Top 4 Digital Visitors and Turning Them into Shoppers (Infographic)
10 Common Pitfalls of Product Launches and How to Avoid Them
10 Top Trends Driving The Future Of Marketing
Editor's Note: Today's post comes courtesy of Daniel Newman, President of V3 Broadsuite and Broadsuite Media Group, a company dedicated to helping companies be found, seen, and heard online by tying together paid, owner, and earned media to drive meaningful business outcomes.
Marketers are constantly looking into the future, trying to predict the next big trend, be it for their brands or their clients. Naturally, marketers are preoccupied with questions like: What is the next big campaign? How can we turn our client into the “next big thing”? What is the next hot trend going to be in retail? Etc. Everyone wants to the answers. Knowing this, what do some of the top minds in marketing predict for their own futures? A recent article by Jeff Beer on Fast Company Create collected 25 future trends that will change the marketing landscape five years from now based on top innovators in marketing and advertising. After reading this, I started to ponder what I saw as the top trends driving marketing.
Here are the 10 trends that I think are going to have the biggest impact on the future of marketing.
1. Mobile is going to become the center of marketing. From cell phones to smartphones, tablets to wearable gadgets, the evolution of mobile devices is one of the prime factors influencing the marketing world. As the focus is shifting to smaller screens, brands will be able to strike up a more personalized relationship with their customers by leveraging the power of mobile.
2. Transparency will dictate brand-customer relationships. Currently, customers are seeking more engagement from brands. This trend will continue with customers becoming more demanding in their expectation of transparency. Genuine brands – the ones that “walk the talk” and create real value – will be rewarded. This means brands that still haven’t made their customer dealings transparent are headed to a future of doom.
3. The need for good content will not slow down. Ever. Content, particularly visual content, will rule the roost in the online marketing world, evolving into various forms and disrupting the conventional marketing models. Moreover, the speed at which a brand can create amazing content will play a part in their success.
4. User-generated content will be the new hit. The power of user-generated content will surpass branded content as brands begin to relinquish control of their own brands’ marketing to their customers. From online reviews, to social media posts and blogs, this means there will be a strong need for brands to create a positive impact in their consumers’ minds. In response to this model of content production, content co-creation between brands and consumers will become a popular trend.
5. Social will become the next Internet. Social will become an integral part of the “broader marketing discipline.” As its impact grows stronger, most brands will fully transition their marketing efforts to social channels. As such, social has the full potential to become not just one of the channels but the channel.
6. Brands will own their audience. By cultivating brand community and entering into direct conversations with their customers, brands will begin to own their audience in a way that will create loyalists and brand advocates. In the future of marketing, branding and marketing efforts will have their seeds rooted in what customers are talking about. The customers’ responses and feelings toward the brand will dictate future campaigns. Essentially, if the customers are happy, they’ll gladly wear the marketer’s hat and do what is needed to bring their favorite brand in focus.
7. Brands solely-focused on Millennials will go out of relevance. Brands will need to understand that the millennials are not a niche “youth” segment but a generation of people who will ultimately give way to a newer generation. Therefore, millennial-focused brands will have to change their game to stay relevant.
8. Good brands will behave like product companies and not like service companies. While service companies aim to create a happy customer and look forward to a contract renewal, product companies thrive on innovation. So, for brands of the future, customer satisfaction and retention will not be enough. They will need to innovate more efficiently to create more value for their customers. However, great service will NEVER go out of style.
9. Personalized, data-driven marketing will become more refined. There is a difference between data-driven marketing and intrusive marketing. While the former is based on relationship-building, the latter is nothing but old-school push marketing wrapped in a new cover. The difference between these two formats will become even more prominent in future. Marketers who focus on relationship building will be rewarded, while intruders will be shut out.
10. More accurate metrics will surface. What most brands do in the name of measuring marketing success is look at hollow “vanity” metrics such as likes, shares, or tweets. Even in terms of data mining, we are still developing more sophisticated means to capture the right data. Many ideas are hypothesized, but few are practical. The future will witness the rise of better analytical tools to help marketers gauge the success of their campaigns.
Which trends do you think will mark the future of marketing? What did I miss? I’d love to hear your predictions.
1:1 Communication -- The Next Big Evolution in Marketing
Editor's Note: Today's post comes courtesy of Daniel Newman, the author of The Millennial CEO, The New Rules of Customer Engagement and Evolve: Marketing (^as we know it) is doomed. Follow him on Twitter @Danielnewmanuv
Being technology driven – both as people and as marketers – we spend an inordinate amount of time focused on how to automate and scale our marketing efforts. Trust me when I say it is important, but as marketers we also need to realize that we are gradually moving away from “push”-based marketing, and gravitating towards communicating with customers on a more personalized and 1:1 basis, through multiple channels and the devices our customers use.
In fact, the next big evolution in marketing is going to feel like a move backwards, if I may say so, from tech-first to people-first. We may need to unlearn a few things that we were taught in school, and start learning about the basics of customer-centric marketing. But why? The answer lies in the fact that consumers have evolved from being “buyers” of products and services only to becoming brand advocates who are interacting with us and seeking active involvement with our brand. Personal connections and conversations with customers will lead to conversions and this is why marketers need to adopt customer-centric strategies today.
Our Customers have Changed, Why shouldn’t our Marketing?
According to a CEI survey, 86% of buyers don’t mind paying more for a better customer experience, while only 1% of customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations. That’s not good. But, where are we going wrong? As marketers, we need to realize that today’s consumers behave differently than they did even a few years ago. Technology has given them the power to make informed choices and voice their preferences. They are not just signalling that they want to interact with brands through social media or other channels, but they are also divulging their personal information with the hope of getting more personalized services.
A great example of this is the way that some progressive companies are using big data and omni-channel to create intimate customer experiences that transcend on and offline purchasing behaviors. Amazon does this extremely well. Even though they are a gigantic company with millions of customers, they still personalize their offerings. Just this week I received a tailored note from them to let me know that an Author whom I’d bought a previous book from had published a new book. They also offered me a promotional price if I bought the book immediately. This is a simple example of personalizing marketing and moving buyers between channels to make marketing feel more 1:1.
But the quesiton remains. Are marketers listening? I’m sure smart marketers are. The breed of marketers who are listening to their customers, engaging them, and interacting with them are the ones who are thriving during this evolution. All the while, old-fashioned marketers are still wasting their time and money running campaigns and promos.
Marketers Should Focus on Driving More than just Visibility
From mass communication to Internet marketing, the long game has been about reach and visibility. But these metrics don’t necessarily help us make sales. Then what does? I’ve written a lot about data-driven marketing in the past and how it drives conversion. The real result lies in how we use the data we receive: how marketers handle data to track and measure the ROI in their marketing efforts. These are the metrics that reflect connections and customer satisfaction, while also leading to customer-creation.
Since customers are running the show today, businesses should put them at the center of all of their actions. Customer centricity gained force in 2014, and will be even more relevant this year. If we are not revamping our strategies and switching to a more customer-friendly marketing model, we are running the risk of losing opportunities and failing to connect. Technology should not be our focus, rather it should be treated as the penultimate tool to win at building deeper and more meaningful relationships with our customers. I give you the evolution of marketing, will you evolve, or become extinct?
Are Paid Content Distribution Platforms Cost Effective?
Are Paid Content Distribution Platforms Cost Effective? written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Creating great content is only one aspect of digital marketing. In order for that content to be effective you need an audience, you need eyeballs and traffic. Generate enough traffic and that content will drive a steady uptick in conversions and a return on your marketing budgetary spend. Finding that audience is often the hardestContinue Reading
Infographic: 14 Online Marketing Tips to Improve Design, Content & Conversions
A trusted resource can be a friend, colleague or industry expert and we may turn to them from time-to-time for guidance. Today’s online marketing landscape is crowded with advice from marketers that may have the power to influence you, but not necessarily the authority to give you sage advice. In our eBook “Winning with Authority [...]
The post Infographic: 14 Online Marketing Tips to Improve Design, Content & Conversions appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Email Marketing and Copywriting: Why you should send “spam”
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
How to Leverage Your Product to Discover New Growth Channels
Why The Customers Who Don’t Convert Are Immensely Important
12 Awesome Content Marketing Ideas That Aren’t Blog Posts (Infographic)
Editor's Note: Today's post comes courtesy of Sylvia Jensen, Senior Director, EMEA Marketing, Oracle Marketing Cloud.
Today I want to share with you 12 creative media formats that make your company’s story stand out from the blogging sphere. An easy-to-grasp guide introducing 12 great ideas for content that isn’t blog-shaped.
With so much content out there it can be hard to ensure that your brand’s message does not get lost in the noise of the Internet. Particularly if that message is being presented in the standard blog format - SEO optimised for sure, but is it engaging and different from any other content?
So to help your content stand out from the numerous dry standard formatted blogs out there why not take a different approach and frame your content as a quiz, or a comic strip? Perhaps move onto Twitter and host a Q&A session? Or why not post your content into a shared space and generate discussion around it?
There are many ways in which you can differentiate your brand message and really engage with prospects - below we have pulled together 12 of the most awesome creative media formats, from charts, text messages all the way through to content vampires, to help you really make sure that your content is noticed. As fashion designer and style icon Vivienne Westwood once said “You will have a more interesting life if you wear impressive clothes” and the same applies for content marketing - you will have a more interesting brand if you create impressive content”.
But remember - the key to content is all about making it relevant to your target prospects in message, design and distribution - so read on, get inspired, keep creative and start generating the awesome content needed to really get your brand noticed.
Discover Oracle Marketing Cloud’s ‘5 Pillars of Social Success’ in our Modern Marketing Essentials Guide to Social Marketing.
Why Do Sites Rank High on Google When They Aren’t Optimized?
The Automatic Customer
The Automatic Customer written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with John Warrillow Recurring revenue – now that’s business owner’s dream – or at least it should be! Creating a model where customers come back over and over again is a powerful way to build ongoing momentum and perhaps more importantly it’s a way to build a business that’s an asset rather than aContinue Reading
How Online Courses Changed My Business
I’ve been teaching online courses for the last three or four years. When I started out, it was because Julien Smith told me that I ought to teach people how to create their own blog topics. That evolved into Blog Topics: The Master Class, and since then, I’ve launched a dozen or so more. Continue […]
The post How Online Courses Changed My Business appeared first on chrisbrogan.com.
Solar Energy – A Brief History in the United States
Behind the Curtain: 4 Tips for Creating Landing Pages That Convert
Landing pages are still somewhat of a mystery to many marketers. In theory they sound simple, but it may feel like there are secrets or some mystic formula that has to be cracked in order to be successful. Now you not only need a website that is filled with stellar content and optimized for [...]
The post Behind the Curtain: 4 Tips for Creating Landing Pages That Convert appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Retargeting, As Explained by Nerf Guns [PODCAST]
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
My New Blendtec Designer 725
The folks at Blendtec sent me a Designer 725 super duper high tech smart blender. As a fitness and health guy, it’s a pretty cool thing to own. My parents own a competing brand of blender, and I’ve owned a much less expensive blender that I used to use to make smoothies until it died […]
The post My New Blendtec Designer 725 appeared first on chrisbrogan.com.
How You Can Build an Email Marketing List as Quickly as Possible
Setting Themselves Apart From Their Competitors - The Penn Foster Story (Video)
Founded in 1890, Penn Foster has been a leader in career-focused distance and hybrid learning for over 125 years. More than 13 million people have enrolled in their College, Career School and High School to further their education and learn advanced skills to better position them for life success.
Today, they have over 133,000 active students in programs focusing on high growth, in-demand fields like Veterinary Technician, Business, Medical Billing and Coding, HVACR Technician and Pharmacy Technician to name a few.
And of course, like any other brand they want to set themselves apart from their competition.
To do just that they partnered with the Oracle Marketing Cloud.
Sara Dellecave, who is the email marketing manager for Penn Foster says it's vital they engage with their students and deliver great content at the right channels. "Oracle Marketing Cloud has really helped us pull together all the data that we have on our students and create meaningful messages."
Watch this video to see how Penn Foster extends its marketing team with Oracle Marketing Cloud.
To learn more as to how the Oracle Marketing Cloud can help your brand be sure to check out the Modern Marketing Essentials series which are invaluable resources to help you better understand and execute on marketing effectiveness, manage organizational structures, sharpen the skills necessary to round out your technology toolkit, and support the creation of ideal customers.
5 Relatively Simple Steps to Dominate Local Search
5 Relatively Simple Steps to Dominate Local Search written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
If you do business mostly in your town, your marketing efforts must be hyper focused. You’re only targeting a very select group of people so, when those people go out there looking for a business in their community, you want to show up, right? But, not just show up – dominate – be seen asContinue Reading
Live Streaming Showdown: Meerkat Versus Periscope
Solar Power Battery – The Answer To Our Energy Needs
I’m Pretty Sure Your Mobile Marketing Strategy Isn’t Good Enough
Monday, April 27, 2015
How to Market to Customers When The Free Trial is Over
5 Easy-To-Use Blog Post Formats
5 Easy-To-Use Blog Post Formats written by Alex Boyer read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
If you’re starting a new blog for your business, you probably have done a lot of research on how to write blog posts. You’ve probably come across all different kinds of posts, everything from other businesses like yours to Buzzfeed’s top 10 cat gifs of the week. It can be a bit overwhelming. Every blogContinue Reading
Build a Killer Conversion Strategy with Nothing but Time and Empathy
How to Grow Your Blog Traffic by 20,000 Visitors a Month
How to Successfully Launch Your First Marketing Automation Program
Editor's Note: Today's post comes courtesy of Zach Watson, content manager at TechnologyAdvice. He covers gamification, healthcare IT, business intelligence, and other emerging technology. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
For marketing departments accustomed to smaller, fragmented software applications, implementing marketing automation software can be a daunting task. Properly integrating marketing automation into your organization requires a certain set of criteria, including:
- Understanding what marketing automaton can and can’t do
- Having a copious amount of leads to nurture
- Having the necessary talent to operate the system to its full potential
- Having enough content to fuel your nurturing campaigns
If you meet these standards then it’s likely you’ve already investigated solutions and perhaps even chosen a platform. But selecting a capable tool is only the beginning. Automation software touches numerous channels and presents marketers with a broad range of capabilities, so narrowing down the expansive strategies to actionable tactics should be the first order of business.
Luckily, there are several core undertakings that all marketers should complete when they begin to use marketing automation software. By segmenting your database from the start, setting up a scalable campaign creation workflow, and implementing clear lines of communication with sales, you’ll lay a strong foundation on which you can build successful marketing campaigns and optimize your business processes.
It all begins with your database.
Create Accurate Segmentations
Before you begin developing your automation campaigns, you should take the time to fastidiously segment the customer data you’re storing in your marketing automation platform. Because the real goal of marketing automation platforms — and really marketers at large for that matter — is to create personalized marketing for each customer, you have to spend time on the front end organizing your customers into appropriate segments.
On an operational level, this task isn’t all that complex. Most marketing automation platforms use lists (which are essentially customer segments) as reference points to deliver content. It’s the responsibility of the marketer to create lists that reflect the differences in your customers.
Common strategies for segmentation include dividing leads based on where they entered your system, e.g. through a webinar or landing page. A more detailed approach will use where these customers are in their buying journey and which of their pain points your product or service addresses. The behavioral analytics included in your automation platform are often the best data sources for deciphering how to segment.
The real value of segmentation becomes apparent once you start deploying campaigns. By empathizing with your customers and only sending them content that’s relevant to their interests, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of converting them from prospects into customers.
Take an Agile Approach to Creating Campaigns
Once your customer information is properly organized, you can begin creating drip campaigns. Depending on the buying cycle in your industry, these email autoresponders could span a couple of weeks or they could extend to several months.
Since marketing automation features a number of moving parts, it’s best to get one campaign up and running as quickly as possible. Once you launch your initial campaign for one segment, you’ll be able to move on to another campaign while your first initiative runs in the background. While it’s important to monitor campaigns for opportunities to improve, approaching the campaign creation process with an Agile outlook can reduce the period between implementing your new software and seeing results.
Starting with a single campaign also allows you to approach the project with more detail, learn the myriad of minor functions on offer, and set baselines for performance. Build your first campaign where your business is strongest, whether that’s a specific marketing channel or a certain customer segment.
Work with Sales on Lead Standards
Marketing automation software helps create a more holistic journey for customers by building a better link between your marketing and sales departments. Sales can access the behavioral data marketers have build up in the automation system, and marketing can better tie their efforts to revenue.
This relationship helps keep the entire buying experience relevant for the customer, but marketing has to get sales involved in the automation process early for it all to work. Sorting out lead scoring and defining a “marketing qualified lead” are the building blocks to a successful marketing/sales partnership.
Collaborating with sales on how to score leads will not only result in more accurate scoring criteria, but also reduce tension between the two departments about when a lead should be sent to sales versus when a lead should be further nurtured. The numerical aspect of a lead score adds a quantitative element to this strategy that helps eliminate any vagueness around each department’s expectations.
Like all digital marketing, experimentation will be necessary to truly nail down lead scores, but sales department input is invaluable for deciding which type of behavior truly signals buyer intent.
In many respects, marketing automation embodies the advancement of digital marketing, and the possibilities it presents in terms of data consolidation, cross channel campaigns, and improving the buyer experience are undeniably exciting. However, certain steps must be taken before marketers can start to turn some of these possibilities into reality.
Developing strong protocols for segmentation, campaign creation, and lead scoring will place your marketing automation program in a much stronger starting position.
2015 Enterprise B2B Content Marketing Report: More Isn’t Better
Email Marketing: Improve subject lines in 7 steps by using the right words, in the right order
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Weekend Favs April Twenty Five
Weekend Favs April Twenty Five written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from stock or oneContinue Reading
Build Your Own Solar Panel System
Friday, April 24, 2015
The Art of eCommerce Upselling
Why You Need a Social Media Calendar and How to Create One
How Not to Get Lost in the Content Creation Wasteland
How Not to Get Lost in the Content Creation Wasteland written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Planning an entire year in advance – who DOES that?? You should – if you want to stay focused and on track to meet your marketing goals. To be more specific – if your marketing strategy includes blogging, sending e-newsletters, or any other form of content that you share digitally, a content calendar is aContinue Reading
My Ideal Buyer Partner
The people who work best with me are trying to grow their business. They may or may not be employees of some other company, but they want to grow their business, their part of the story. They are looking for next-level advantages. Continue Reading
The post My Ideal Buyer Partner appeared first on chrisbrogan.com.
Online Marketing News: Facebook Says Hello, Twitter Gets More Direct, Google Gets Mobile-Friendly
Why No One is Reading Your Emails on Mobile
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Using Storytelling to Engage and Persuade (Infographic)
Converting Subpar Writers In to Content Champions
Converting Subpar Writers In to Content Champions written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Consumers love content. It entices them visit company websites. It inspires them to share business insights. It gives them trust in the brand. And, ultimately, it encourages them to make a purchase. Sixty percent of B2C marketers anticipate increasing their content marketing budget within 2015, according to Content Marketing Institute. While this statistic isn’t necessarilyContinue Reading
There’s More to Life than Analytics – Why Ignorance of Conceptual Models is Costing You Money
How To Win At Social Media Marketing From 8am-8pm: Your Timetable
Social media never sleeps, find out how you can fit it all around your day.
Being a Social Media Manager can be stressful - you need to juggle staying on top of trends, whilst creating a longer term strategy. There are so many different tasks to be done - how can you squeeze them all into a 12 hour day? Being successful in your role requires structure, so here is a plan to that will assist you in making your social media marketing a success.
8am: The morning commute
9am: Arrive at work, check your emails
Time to sift through your emails. Catch up on social media newsletters and trawl through your Google alerts for interesting content to post about, or as inspiration for your next campaign.
9.30am: Sync up with your teams
Catch up with your team and discuss your tasks for the day. What content is coming down the pipe? What other campaigns are going on that you can support socially? Book in some time with a colleague to go over last month’s report and to work on your upcoming campaign.
10.00am: The company blog post is out - time to distribute!
Check with the design team that the social media graphics are ready for the post. Having images with the correct dimensions and 
10.30am: Send out the Twitter Tuesday tweets
Compile social posts about content or events to be pushed out on social and email them out weekly to all or a select bunch of your most social colleagues.
Trying to get everybody in your company to get social is no mean feat. Perhaps you could introduce a ‘social tutorial’ into HR’s new starter induction day? A foolproof way to get everyone - not just marketing - talking online (and gather a bit of extra engagement).
11.00am: Research
Your engagement and posts are only useful when targeted at the right people. Use this time to locate industry influencers on Twitter and create a list so that you can engage with them directly. Find out where the action is! Research which hashtags are gaining traction for your upcoming campaign and what LinkedIn Groups have the most active discussions in your industry.
11.30am: Writing social copy
12.30pm: Grab lunch and check social media platforms
Time to check through your platforms again whilst you have your lunch. What conversations are happening today and which can you get involved with later on this afternoon? Have any of your posts gained a lot of attention? Bookmark areas for attention.
1.00pm: Respond to your audience
Now you’ve seen what’s going on, it’s time to start responding. Start by replying to comments and get a conversation going. Check out what your customers are doing online. Share their content, like their statuses, and promote your brand advocates. Their success is your success. Join a few discussions and ensure you engage with target personas and industry influencers. Tools like Talkwalker make this task easier by identifying what the big conversations are and who is having them.
2.00pm: Catch up with other departments
As the one in the know, everyone is keen to learn your social media knowledge. Sometimes you run sessions for the technophobic sales 
2.30pm: Work on your upcoming campaign
Grab your colleague and start discussing your upcoming campaign. Compare your research and decide what hashtags to use and what to call the campaign. Consider who you are going to target and what you want from your audience.
3.30pm: Scheduling
Set up timing for the first batch of messages for your campaign. Get the ball rolling and schedule a few Tweets or Facebook posts to introduce the idea to your audience. Schedule some social copy around the articles you’ve found - social media should be about entertaining and informing your audience, so offer something other than your own blog post or products.
4.00pm: Reporting
5.30pm: Journey home - walk through your day
Now is the time to go over your tasks and start putting together a plan for tomorrow. It’s also a great time to go through social media marketing blogs such as Buffer and make notes on ideas that inspire you.
7.00pm: Arrive home - back to work
Take half an hour to go through the agenda for your meeting tomorrow. What ideas do you have to bring to the table?
8.00pm: End of the day and feeling inspired.
You’ve been reading tips and tricks all day and, finally, a light bulb has gone off over your head. You scribble down a few ideas for the blog post you’ve been asked to write and some ‘to dos’ for tomorrow, then finally get some rest. After checking Twitter, that is.
Discover more essential tips about effective social media marketing by downloading: Modern Marketing Essentials Guide to Social Marketing
What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Solar System Installer
4 Essential Tips for Content Marketers to Survive Mobilegeddon, Google’s Mobile Friendly Update
Internet users are spending more time than ever on their smartphones, which means Content Marketers must adjust their strategies to create a better user experience for those drawn to the small screen.
The release of Google’s new mobile-friendly update, aka "mobilegeddon", has drawn a firestorm of attention to the need for improving website responsiveness and user experience on mobile devices.
There's a good reason for this: A recent study by ComScore and Millennial Media found that approximately 56% of digital content is now consumed via smartphones. Knowing that a large portion of your audience likely searches, consumes and interacts with content on their mobile device should inform how you execute on your Content Marketing initiatives.
The good news is, despite the apocalyptic headlines on many blogs, Google has stated that the new mobile-friendly update only affects:
- Search rankings on mobile devices
- Rankings of individual pages, not entire websites
#1 - Understand Where You Are Now
Google has provided a very handly (albeit not 100% accurate) tool that can be used to quickly check to see if any website is mobile friendly. If you pass the test you’ll be shown a snippet of how Googlebot see your page as well as some additional resources on creating mobile-friendly web pages.
If your website fails the test, Google will provide reasoning for the failure as well as recommended steps for making the website mobile-friendly. Below is an example from Moz of a website that unfortunately did not pass the mobile-friendly test. In fact, this blog did not pass the test until recently, thanks to the efforts of Evan and Howie on our team to update our WordPress template.
The third way you can assess if a website is mobile-friendly is by simply typing a query in your smartphone on Google. If the website is mobile-friendly it will be indicated just prior to the web page meta description.
#2 - Always Keep Your Audience in Mind
Google doesn’t make purchasing decisions, your customers do. So while it’s important to follow the guidelines that Google sets forth, your customers should always be top of mind when determining your Content Marketing strategy. Rely on your data and what you know about your audience to help form the changes you will make to content in order to meet Google’s new mobile-friendly requirements.#3 - Make Your Headlines Notable
Between smartphone apps, email and mobile web content, consumers are constantly inundated with digital content on their mobile devices. This means your window of opportunity to grab and hold their attention is very small. When crafting your content headlines, focus on:- Offering a teaser of the content to draw them in
- Clearly articulating what they’ll find
- Empathizing with their needs and pain points
#4 - Create Concise Content That is Easy to Consume
How your audience consumes and interacts with your website content on a mobile device can be much different than your desktop users. Keep in mind that your website must serve both mobile and desktop users in a way that is relevant. How can you make your website experience more meaningful for mobile users?- Website Home Page: Offer brief overviews and appropriate Calls to Action for the various focal points of your website.
- Website Interior Pages: Provide a concise overview at the top of the page so that mobile users can quickly scan the content. As you move down the page you can dive deeper into your focus areas. This will ensure that both mobile and desktop users have access to the proper amount of content.
- Blog Content: Focus your introduction on providing an overview of what they will find in the post. Again, this will allow your audience to determine if they want to consume the information on-the-go.
Show Off Your Copywriting Skills and Win a Ticket to CTA Conference
The 5 Major Factors to Look for When Evaluating a Website
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Pros and Cons of Employing Solar Powered Lighting
Customer Acquisition Cost: The One Metric That Can Determine Your Company’s Fate
The CMO Technology Conundrum And How To Solve It
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” —Bill Gates
Given the vast array of technology, data points, channels, and tactics available, new technology and marketing automation has stepped in to help CMOs bring all their activities together and support the delivery of the ultimate customer experience. But has it really helped so far? Or has it simply created another overwhelming challenge for the CMO who now must become a technology expert to apply it efficiently?
The above is an excerpt from a recently-released guide we created along with The CMO Club entitled the CMO Solution Guide to Leveraging New Technology and Marketing Platforms. The guide contains results of a survey of over 100 marketing leaders plus the five key solutions we identified to help CMOs and marketing leaders tackle the challenge of providing a seamless customer experience across all marketing channels via the use of technology - the right technology that is.
Nothing New Here
Kevin Akeroyd, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Marketing Cloud recently wrote in a Forbes piece that "the need to become customer centric isn’t new, nor is marketing’s responsibility to drive growth. In fact, the need to make the best possible use of content, the need for marketers to apply technology, the need to use data to drive insights, the need to prove marketing’s value and show ROI–none of those things are really new."
He went on to add that "in the digital world, the unprecedented access to the customer that requires marketers to build lasting relationships on behalf of their brands has created a Wild West of vendors making big promises but all too often delivering a fragmented and obscured path to success."
This may explain why, according to survey results, when asked how well they can truly deliver a seamless, personalized consistent customer experience across all touch points a mere 13% indicated they could do so using their current technologies and platforms.
And if you're wondering why it is so vital to in fact deliver that seamless experience, consider the following:
The Solutions Identified
In the CMO Solution Guide to Leveraging New Technology and Marketing Platforms we identify the following five solutions that will CMOs and marketing leaders meet the challenge head on.
- Be the Customer Champion Every Step of the Way (Understand the Customer Journey and Technology Requirements for Engagement; Engage the Organization; Create a Customer-centric Culture)
- Become BFFs with Your CIO (Speak the Same Language Collaborate in Person)
- Co-design the Optimal Customer-Driven Technology Roadmap (Foundation: Cross-Channel, Content, and Social Marketing Platform – Open or Proprietary? Data – Data Management Platform (DMP)
- Rethink Your Marketing Organization and Processes (Skills – Creation of New Cross-Functional Teams Talent – Data Scientist and Campaign Artist)
- Establish a System for Continuous Improvement (Results Oriented – Test, Learn, Repeat)
When the only constant is change, the new role of the CMO dictates the use of new technologies and marketing platforms to increase competitive advantage. There is an undeniable need for CMOs to be constantly vigilant when it comes to monitoring the technologies and platforms they utilize and depend on. The health of their brand demands it.
Download the CMO Solution Guide to Leveraging New Technology and Marketing Platforms today to increase your competitive advantage.
Finding Non Obvious Trends
Finding Non Obvious Trends written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Rohit Bhargava Trends are funny things. People spend their entire careers trying to spot them, but more often than not, the prognosticators are either wrong or simply stating something that’s become obvious to others. It’s kind of funny too because those same folks are often the first to erroneously pronounce when a trendContinue Reading
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Rejoining TopRank Marketing: 5 Career Lessons That Brought Me Back
One of the most exciting parts of life is uncertainty. You never really know where the decisions that you make will lead you. Sure, you have a rough idea of where you may end up but there are always unforeseen factors outside your control.
In my first stint at TopRank Marketing, I was the agency Marketing Manager. This was a unique and very creative position that allowed me to work closely with our CEO Lee Odden. In that time, In that time I focused on being a sponge and soaking up as much as I could from the years of digital marketing knowledge contained within the walls of the TopRank office.
Eventually, I decided that I wanted to pursue building up some of my foundational skills. Since my departure, I’ve worked for companies large and small, ranging from workplace wellness to Digital Marketing. We all go through different phases in our careers where we are searching for what really drives us and makes us happy.
After a couple years of searching, what lessons did I learn that drew me back to TopRank and how can you apply them to your career?
Always Surround Yourself with People That Are Smarter Than You.
Over the last few years I’ve learned to truly listen and learn from the people that I work with. I consider myself to be extremely self aware of my strengths and weaknesses. This has led me to the conclusion that I need to rely on other people whose strengths compliment mine and that I can learn from.
Luckily, TopRank is flush with a dedicated, smart and talented digital marketers that all bring unique perspectives to the table. Some are old friends, others I look forward to getting to know and work with.
Passion For The Business Is Essential & Has to Start At the Top.
Being in a leadership position is always challenging, and especially when you work in an industry where change is eminent and constant.. Working with an upper management team that immerses themselves in the industry and has a true understanding of the in’s and out’s associated with everyday execution is one of the essential keys to success.
One thing I have always appreciated about TopRank’s leadership team was that they each brought their own “something special” to the table. Lee Odden is an authority on Content Marketing and is very generous in sharing information, Susan Misukanis is an idea machine and Jolina Pettice is an expert at driving change.
Upper management sets the tone for the rest of the team and TopRank is approaching it from the right angles.
Continue Your Own Education.
As I mentioned before, I try to surround myself with people who are more knowledgeable than I am. While it’s true that in some cases I may be considered the resident “expert”, it’s always important to gather input from others that have a different or complementary understanding of the challenge at hand.
Secondly, I am a person that craves knowledge. If there is one day that passes and I didn’t learn something new (no matter big or small), I am disappointed.
TopRank has always focused on ongoing internal training to make sure that their clients are getting the latest and greatest. Additionally, TopRank has done (in my opinion) a fantastic job serving as a training and education source for the online marketing community through daily posts on TopRankblog.com and industry events.
Trying & Failing is Ok As Long As You Try.
Sometimes we become so crippled by the fear of failing that it’s difficult to take the first step. Personally, I feel that I’ve learned just as much from my failure as my success.
Testing and innovation is always encouraged at TopRank. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get every single detail right the first time or that there won’t be hiccups, but it provides a breeding ground for new ideas that ultimately impact the level of service and quality of deliverables for TopRank clients.
I Want to Be Part Of Something Big.
In the time since I’ve been away from TopRank I’ve learned some very valuable skills and life lessons. I think this experience has made it possible for me to join TopRank at this juncture and be truly impactful.
TopRank is poised for enormous growth over the next few years. I mean this in terms of company size, range of services, areas of expertise, creativity of deliverables; the list could go on and on.
You never know where life will lead you, but that’s part of the adventure. With every passing day comes new challenges, lessons and opportunities. Re-joining the TopRank team is sure to bring all three of these in spades, but it’s a new chapter of life that I’m excited and truly honored to embark upon. What lessons have you learned throughout your career (long or short) that you carry with you on your journey?
Your Social Media Campaigns Should Never Skip This One Step [PODCAST]
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
What Are Solar Homes?
Don’t Do A Redesign! Learn Why Evolution Beats Revolution
9 Reasons to Take Keyword Research Beyond SEO
9 Reasons to Take Keyword Research Beyond SEO written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
When the marriage of Content + SEO + Social became official back in about 2009 (although some states still don’t recognize it) the act of keyword research became a vastly different animal. While SEO pros still use keyword research today as a means of identifying terms and phrases to use to optimize pages on aContinue Reading
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Monday, April 20, 2015
An Ebook on Authority
I was asked by Lee Odden to contribute to an ebook that relates to the upcoming Authority Rainmaker conference. I would’ve said yes anyway, but they added to the story that Henry Rollins was going to be in this same ebook. Having read most of Henry’s books, to actually be on some other page in […]
The post An Ebook on Authority appeared first on chrisbrogan.com.
One Tweet And It’s Gone! Why Social Media Is Not Always Your Friend
Never in human history have we been so connected, so able to communicate our every thought and word. Sadly, just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Beware of what you tweet or post, it may come back to bite you or your business.
Common misconceptions
It seems we as individuals and business operators may not really understand that just because parliament hasn’t made laws called ‘What not to do when using social media’ it doesn’t mean the existing laws don’t apply. The downside of social media use by individuals and businesses was discussed by legal experts Justine Munsie (Addisons), Stefanie Benson (Allen and Ovary) and James Mattson ( Bartier Perry) at a recent Q&A panel discussion for digital marketing specialists hosted by Oracle and the Marketing Cube.
Here are some of the common misconceptions they discussed.
What goes on tour stays on tour…
The email sent late at night after a bottle of wine and a carefully nursed grievance about our ex-employer. The tweet in poor taste about a co-worker.
For the simple reason that common sense is not that common, invariably, employees will use social media without thinking, type at a whim and post without fear or hesitation. This all amounts to a recipe for embarrassment for the business and the employee if the wrong words are used or the wrong photo posted.
What can businesses do to protect against stupidity? Hire smart people? But even smart people engage in silly acts. Ban social media? Not likely! Screen prospective employees to see if they are social media junkies? Well it is done but businesses need to be very wary and careful to not use what you discover to discriminate on protected characteristics.
Workplaces should have a policy on the proper use of social media and training for staff to understand what is expected of them. The biggest challenge however is breaking down the perception that what happens out of work is private. With social media ,what happens at home travels into the workplace and all of a sudden, everyone is dealing with the drama and emotions of last night’s regrettable post.
At least they no longer have access to the customer database
Don’t think that problems only travel INTO the workplace. With professional applications like LinkedIn, your customer database may also be walking out the door with a departing employee. Your departing employee has a ready-made list of our key contacts.
Welcome to the world of the modern workplace.
It’s only 140 characters so no need to ask…
You read a tweet, think ‘that’s good’ and then post it as your own. It’s only 140 characters. Who will know? You play a song while you record a video to post on YouTube. Well just because it is short doesn’t mean it isn’t protected by copyright.
Consider how the video of Premier Mike Baird reading mean tweets was pulled from YouTube after he played Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off’ and REM’s “Everybody Hurts” in the background without the record labels permission. You never know who is watching.
The is the best [blank] you’ll ever find…
Social media will give you a huge potential audience/market. But do you have to include any disclaimers?
Well yes. You may think you only have room to promote the benefits of a product but if you would include a disclaimer in any other medium then it should be in social media posts as well. While the ACCC can’t regulate everything, they do watch so beware and don’t leave your business open to a possible fine. As a general rule, the need for a disclaimer is governed by the size of the potential audience.
What to do to help protect my business? Answer: get the book!
These are only some of the traps of social media usage for business and individuals. Justine Munsie, Stefanie Benson and James Mattson are 3 of the 8 co-authors of a new book called Social Media and the Law published by LexisNexis. The book gathers 8 legal experts to put together a definitive guide on social media no nos in areas like defamation, employment, copyright and the ACCC.
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How to Repurpose Content in a Clearly Useful Way
How to Repurpose Content in a Clearly Useful Way written by Sara Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
You have read 100 times by now how important content is. You have spent some time doing a bit of research on keywords and have a list of different content formats you know you need to create (blog, newsletter, podcast, email campaigns, advertising, the list goes on….) but the problem is: This is a full-time jobContinue Reading
How Missguided Won Over Fast-Fashionistas With Trigger-Based Marketing
Consumers are using more devices than ever before to compare and research even more products. As a result, the path to purchase is becoming increasingly complex for marketers to understand. Every shopper follows a very different route to purchase to the person before them and so in order to create effective marketing campaigns, marketers must have a strong understanding of the individual customer.
For marketers working in online fashion, competition is particularly prevalent as consumers shop around; never more than a click away from finding a product at a lower price or something more suited to their needs. This means that shoppers are even more in control, setting the agenda for the brands they are buying from.
So, in order to be the brand which is front of mind for shoppers, retailers need to utilise intelligent, targeted and creative marketing in order to avoid disengagement; otherwise they risk losing out to the competition which is only the next web page away.
Missguided, an online retail brand with a focus on offering the most on-trend items, felt it could be doing more to deal with heightened competition in the fast-fashion industry by welcoming in new audiences and keeping customers engaged between purchase cycles. The retailer also wanted to encourage single-visit shoppers to become multiple-purchasers. To realise this vision, the marketing team set out to achieve a more personalised marketing campaign to increase shopper engagement.
As a fresh and vibrant online fashion retailer delivering fast fashion to a highly active female online audience, Missguided already had a loyal user base with over 10 million unique monthly users online. However, as an online-only brand, Missguided recognised that there was an opportunity to harness the power of technology by sharing relevant and creative content that would resonate with customers and inspire long-term loyalty.
Trigger the Personalised Approach
This is where Oracle Marketing Cloud stepped in to help the retailer achieve their ambitions of delivering more personalised marketing through intelligent and targeted automated marketing. We recommended a trigger-based marketing solution where email communication activities would be based upon the measurement of relevant and identifiable changes in a customer's individual needs.
Whereas previously Missguided’s marketing strategy had been to use a contact approach, which lacked rhythm, trigger-based marketing helps the retailer capitalise on sales opportunities at each stage of the customer lifecycle, boosting engagement rates and keeping customers coming back.
The first step was to rethink the timing of all of Missguided’s customer emails in order to optimise communications. By using key consumer behavioural triggers such as customers’ life-cycle position, Missguided obtained the insights needed to increase the relevancy of emails delivered to both desktop and mobile.
Together with Missguided, we implemented modular templates, which respond to data considerations and distribute several personalised campaigns to drive additional revenue or brand loyalty. Two that were particularly effective were the ‘Welcome Campaign’ and ‘Birthday Campaign.’
The ‘Welcome Campaign’ is activated by sign-up information and engages new customers with a series of emails in the first week after joining Missguided’s database. The ‘Birthday Campaign’ rewards Missguided’s customer base with an incentive-driven email containing unique birthday offers or encouragements inviting them to purchase from the site, such as free next-day delivery or discounts. This is a highly effective way of building a personalised relationship with the customer from the start, and an incentive at a later date can lead the customer down the marketing funnel towards a purchase.
The trigger-marketing automation module was specifically chosen to catch the attention of the increasingly distracted consumer, not only by providing even more relevant and timely content in the email body, but also for its stimulating and responsive format.
This marketing technique increased the click-rate by 133%, and as a result, email conversion rates have increased by 298%. At the bottom line, email revenue for the automated campaigns is up by 439% since the implementation of the modular template, with yield per email improving 118%. This shows the real business value of relevant and timely content, and the response to personalisation in campaigns amongst the recipients.
By using trigger-based marketing, Missguided has realised that to engage time-poor, distracted consumers a personal approach and timely delivery is key. As consumers increasingly hop, skip and jump between devices, it is increasingly difficult for retailers to gain - let alone keep - their attention.
Missguided is a fantastic example of a retailer who has devised a marketing campaign with their audience at the centre. These results revealed to Missguided that the key to driving engagement and building long-term relationships with distracted customers is utilising intelligent, targeted and creative marketing.
So, when planning your next campaign, be sure that you completely understand your audience and design your communications around their needs. It’s the only way to develop strong and long-lasting relationships with customers, and to create efficiencies in your marketing outreach.
