Marketing encompasses countless business activities aimed at stimulating business growth. With a wide variety of tactics to implement and an increasing level of expertise required, it’s easy for marketing teams to go on overload. To accomplish goals and drive real results, it may be time to outsource. When organizations recognize the need for an outsourced partnership, they free up time for in-house teams to focus on their priorities, while bringing a fresh perspective and new skills to the table.
Boost Your Lead Generation with Landing Pages: Do’s and Don’ts
In digital marketing, a landing page is a standalone web page designed exclusively for an individual marketing or advertising campaign. When users click a link on an ad, email, call to action request or other marketing initiatives, they are directed to a page that guides them to the next stage of the sales funnel.
Remote Work in 2022: Seven Statistics You Need to Know
Remote work isn’t a new concept, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated our adoption of remote business options. This made the reality of remote work a viable choice for organizations and employees alike. Despite this change, many industries still struggle to find the right balance between employee priorities, business goals and technological capabilities. These seven statistics show us the state of remote work for 2022 and beyond.
Starting a Podcast? Consider These Top Hosting Platforms in 2022
Podcasts have been growing in popularity since their introduction in the early 2000s. With 41 percent, or an estimated 116 million Americans, listening to podcasts at least monthly, the appeal of podcasts is increasing at a rate of 15 percent in less than three years. In addition, people are listening to podcasts more frequently as audiences integrate audio content consumption into their busy schedules.
Self-Promotion or Thought Leadership? When and Where It’s Okay to Beat Your Own Drum
There’s one cardinal sin when it comes to thought leadership: self-promotional content. In fact, it’s often the first guideline marketers will hear when talking with editors, event planners and podcast hosts. Self-promotion is for marketing assets and advertising, not for thought leadership.
5 Tips for Creating Powerful Calls to Action (CTAs)
In marketing, a “call to action,” or “CTA,” is a small but mighty element of every marketing initiative. It answers the question “what now?” after a prospect consumes a blog, article, video, advertisement, email or other types of content. The call to action, whether digital or print, encourages prospects to take immediate action. Whether you urge a prospect to buy now, subscribe to a newsletter, schedule an appointment, download a white paper or connect with a customer service rep, effective CTAs keep potential customers engaged and guide them through the buying journey. How can marketers maximize these small but powerful tools in a strategic way?
The Death of Third-Party Cookies: What Every Marketer Needs to Know
For years, marketers have been using cookies to track website visitors, enhance user experience, collect data, target messaging and retain user account details and user preferences. But as users seek more and more privacy, governments are increasing regulations. As a result, internet browsers are responding by gradually phasing out third-party cookies. According to Google, “Users are demanding greater privacy—including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used—and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands.” To meet these demands, Google began making efforts to reduce third-party cookie usage, with the intent to have it fully phased out by 2023. With approximately 80 percent of advertisers and marketers relying on third-party cookies to boost the impact of their tactics, what does the phaseout mean for marketing professionals?
How to Use Color Psychology to Influence B2B Buyers
According to noted psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung, “colors are the mother tongue of the subconscious.” Jung is credited with early studies that reveal how color affects the human mind. Using the results of his research, Jung developed a form of color art therapy that encouraged patients to express their emotions through color and images. In combination with color theory based on Sir Isaac Newton’s color wheel, color psychology considers how different colors have different meanings, associations and psychological impacts across a variety of individual and cultural norms.
Improve Your Business by Enhancing Your Website’s User Experience (UX)
As the saying goes, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” When it comes to a company’s website (often a prospect’s first experience with your organization), making a good impression is critical. In terms of website design and user experience (UX), focus on making a website appealing and easy to use. Think about how visitors first experience your website. Is it attractive, professional, simple to navigate, well-organized, full of resources and interactive?
How the Current “Great Resignation” Impacts Marketing
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, during the months of April, May and June of 2021, 11.5 million workers quit their jobs. The term “Great Resignation” began popping up everywhere and still fills headlines today. As the mass fluctuation of employment continues in 2022, its impact is seen in businesses of every size and industry. As such, there’s a natural trickle-down effect to the marketing department.
Is Wikipedia a Viable Marketing Tool?
Wikipedia may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about content marketing. Yet, despite the lack of traditional peer review, Wikipedia pages rank at the top of Google search results. This makes it a pillar resource for initial research of all kinds. But can it play a part in your marketing strategy?
Supply Chain Challenges and the Role of Marketing
A supply chain is the network of those involved with the production and distribution of a company’s products or services. Supply chain operations include the internal and external steps and processes required to design, create, market and deliver products and services to customers. They cross department lines and involve multiple activities, people, entities, data, information and resources.
The Value and How To’s of Video Testimonials
When it comes to making a purchase decision, potential customers want to know what current customers think. In fact, nine out of 10 people say they trust what a customer says about a business more than what that business says about itself. When customers share their experiences, it creates social proof that helps brands attract viable prospects, showcase what a company can do and shorten the sales cycle. And one of the best ways to utilize customer opinions is through video testimonials.
29 Takeaways and Reflections from Our 2021 Blog Posts
Writing and posting a weekly blog, which we do, requires a commitment of time, energy and resources. As we wrap up the year, we’ve reflected on what we’ve produced and would like to share some of our takeaways from our blog posts with you. If you get one new idea from these “lessons” that helps you increase performance, productivity or profitability for you and your company, we believe we’ve been of service.
How to Incorporate the Holiday Spirit in B2B Marketing
There’s no doubt that the holidays are a big part of business-to-consumer marketing. Consumer holiday ads from companies big and small are sometimes as familiar to us as decorations and time-honored, family traditions. But is the season ripe for B2B marketers as well?
How Chatbots Support Sales, Marketing and the Customer Experience
Chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) are rapidly growing tools that support sales, marketing and customer experience initiatives. Yet, some businesses still hesitate to invest in AI and chatbots. They are concerned they may appear as disingenuous, impersonal or ineffective due to the lack of human involvement.
5 Experts Share Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Leader
There are countless books, articles, blogs, videos, events and courses that aim to help individuals become better leaders. Why are there so many? Because every organization needs an authentic leader who serves as a role model and exhibits the behaviors and mindset that help deliver on the company’s vision, mission and values. True leaders are always trying to improve their skills to best influence and impact the success of their team, employees or other stakeholders. Here are five do’s and don’ts from the experts.
How to Expand Business Growth Using Customer Engagement
Did you know that 65 percent of a company’s business comes from existing customers? In fact, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70 percent, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is between five and 20 percent. With statistics like that, it’s no wonder why enhancing customer engagement plays a key role in business growth.
18 Quotes that Inspire Gratitude this Holiday Season
For many of us, last year’s holidays looked different than any previous year. In 2021, celebrating may be looking closer to “normal” for some, while it might still seem discouraging for others. Although memories of the past and visions for this year tend to focus initially on activities, traditions, gifts and food, the real joy from the holiday comes from mindfulness—the mindfulness to inspire gratitude, connect with others and spread kindness.
How Link Building Adds Value to Your Marketing Strategy
Links are one of the top-two criteria considered in Google’s page ranking algorithm. In fact, 41 percent of SEO experts consider link building to be the most difficult aspect of search optimization. If you’re not currently using or considering how to strategically build a network of valuable content hyperlinks on your website, you’re missing out on a fundamental part of SEO and actively engaging with your target audiences.
Promote Positivity in the Workplace with These 11 Tips
We’re all busy people. Sometimes it’s due to competing priorities, being short-staffed or just trying to meet the requests and expectations of peers, managers, vendors and other stakeholders. In the process, it’s easy to get caught in a hamster wheel of activity and lose sight of the positive experiences in our daily work lives.
How to Streamline Marketing Using Automation Technology
Marketing automation technology, when integrated successfully, helps companies streamline repetitive tasks, generate more and better leads, nurture existing leads and distribute personalized messaging across varied channels. As a result, marketers can increase efficiency, get better data and grow revenue faster. When incorporating marketing technology into your marketing plan, there are four types of automation to consider.
What Every Marketer Needs to Know about Photo Copyright Infringement
There’s no question about it. Marketing communications content is more engaging when it includes graphs, charts, photos or other visual elements. But sourcing images for marketing materials isn’t a straightforward process. From attribution to non-commercial to royalty-free to fair use, there are a lot of rules and regulations to untangle. There’s a lot at stake, too. Breaches of copyright can land your business in legal battles with hefty fines, especially if an image is used for social media marketing. To protect yourself and your company, it is important to know the copyright laws in effect.
6 Questions (and Answers) to Boost Your Social Selling Acumen
Social media continues to be a leading source of information, connection and promotion for B2B and B2C companies. These platforms create one of the most accessible routes to link companies with their target markets. Using social media does not necessarily mean a company has social selling acumen or a strategy for social selling. Social selling is the process of using social media to connect and engage with existing and prospective customers.
