Category Archives: Blog
5 Content Marketing Tactics Worth Stealing
Getting Back to Basics: Facebook Marketing 101
You’re probably already marketing your business on Facebook. If you’re not, you should be – but it’s not just a question of having a Facebook page and using it. You’ve got to use it wisely if you want to get great results. It’s not uncommon for small business owners to dive into Facebook marketing without… Read More
7 Content Marketing Tactics Every Small Business Should Steal
Ad campaigns are still effective, but the truth is they’re not as effective as content marketing. Bill Gates proclaimed “Content is king” back in 1996 and his words have proven to be remarkably prescient. Web users expect top-notch content from the companies they follow. Easier said than done, right? Well… maybe. There are lots of… Read More
Holiday Promotional Ideas That Work During a Pandemic
Why SMS Marketing Should Be in Your Mix Right Now
Marketing is always changing and the changes in 2020 have been profound, mostly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve all had to adjust our work and home lives as a result. With more consumers working from home and budgetary concerns at the forefront for most people, you might be thinking that mobile marketing isn’t as… Read More
What Will Digital Marketing Look Like in 2021?
As 2020 winds down in the next couple months there are still a lot of questions that we can’t answer. How soon until there’s a vaccine to Covid-19? When will the pandemic end? When will we return to business as usual? For small business owners, that last question looms large. With COVID cases spiking across… Read More
Try These 7 Growth Hacks to Help Your Small Business Soar
Wouldn’t it be great to find some simple tricks that would help you leap ahead of your competitors and see your small business soar to new heights? Well, I’ve got good news for you. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about growth hacks – little tricks you can use to fast-track your growth and increase… Read More
How to Increase Customer Retention with Email
New customers are great. There’s something undeniably exciting about attracting someone to your business who might not have found it otherwise. That’s the reason that new customer marketing gets all the attention. It’s the glitziest way to grow a business. But guess what? It’s not a very cost effective way to grow a business, which… Read More
Holiday Promotional Ideas to Consider During a Pandemic
The 2020 holiday shopping season promises to be unlike any other. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment rates are high, and consumers may be reluctant to do their shopping in person. But don’t worry! Not all the news is bad. In fact, most experts are predicting a robust holiday shopping season that might not look… Read More
Get More (and Better) Traffic with Your Local Business Blog
You already know that content marketing is widely considered to be essential for your business. Maybe you’ve already got a blog that gets some organic traffic. What’s next? The sad truth is that most local businesses aren’t blogging about the right things in the right way. As a result, they’re losing business that’s going to… Read More
Tabitha Jean Naylor Named to List of 150 Women B2B Thought Leaders You Should Follow in 2021
Why Your Marketing Game Is Failing (and what to do about it)
How to Turn Your Business News into Publicity to Attract More Customers
A well-known actress, Jane Russell once said “Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don’t have any.” It’s true. Your business needs publicity and there is no better marketing tool for your business than publicity, it’s “grade A” online exposure. Publicity is vital to the growth of your business because it gets people talking… Read More
Are You Ignoring 35% of All Web Users?
If you tend to keep up with SEO and search trends, then you know that almost everything focuses on Google. And why not? Google is by far the largest search engine, snagging about two-thirds of all searchers. Two-thirds is a lot, but do you notice what’s missing there? If you remember what you learned about… Read More
Marketing Hacks (That Make Your Life Easier)
Marketing your local business can seem like a full-time job. Most business owners can’t afford to have a marketing department which means that you’re adding marketing to all your other responsibilities. Since there are only so many hours in a day, it’s essential to have a few tricks up your sleeve: things that can help… Read More
How to Ask for Reviews (and Get Them Fast)
I hope you’re not sick of me talking about online reviews, because I’m about to do it again. Why? Because they can have a huge impact on your business and bottom line. 91% of consumers between the ages of 19 and 34 trust reviews, and consumers are more likely to trust your company if you… Read More
Facebook Ad Objectives… Explained
Most local businesses should advertise on Facebook. That’s what I believe, and the evidence backs me up. It’s cost-effective and, if you do it right, it can help your business to grow. Easier said than done. The issue is that while Facebook ads are effective, a lot of local business owners don’t know which objectives… Read More
Tabitha Naylor.com Announces Launch of New Podcast on Spotify, iTunes and Google Play
Tabitha Naylor.com Announces Launch of New Podcast on Spotify, iTunes and Google Play
TabithaNaylor.com recently launched its brand-new digital marketing podcast on the Spotify platform. The company, owned by Tabitha Jean Naylor, previously only offered online articles for business owners and entrepreneurs to read and learn more about how they can successfully market their business online.“Our goal with the podcast is to make it easier for business owners, and those who dream of being business owners, to gain access to the valuable information they need to help their business succeed in today’s digital world, even when they are on the go,” explained Owner and Founder, Tabitha Jean Naylor.
More than half of all homes in the United States are podcasts fans and more than one-third tunes into their favorites weekly. There are more than 16 million avid podcast fans across the US, making podcasts one of the most popular forms of digital entertainment and education. Podcasts are especially useful to reach business owners, as well as consumers with expendable income as more than 40 percent of listeners have a household income topping $75,000 per year.
“At TabithaNaylor.com, we are committed to ensuring GOOD marketing advice reaches business owners,” Naylor added. “It is more important than ever for entrepreneurs to access reliable advice in an easy, convenient, and reliable way. Podcasts offer the opportunity to get your advice in one place, from digital marketing experts you can trust.”
Digital marketing can be tough, even for the savviest business owners. Getting advice from an expert like Tabitha Naylor is one of the best ways to ensure you’re getting good advice that’s been tried, tested, and true. With the digital marketing strategies changing faster than social media changes it’s algorithms, now is the best time to subscribe to the company’s podcast on Google Play, iTunes and Spotify.
About the Company
TabithaNaylor.com is a full-service marketing firm that delivers ‘big agency’ quality at rates that are affordable for startups and small businesses. We work with US-based and international business owners who are looking to improve brand awareness, fill their sales pipelines and increase revenue. Our goal is to get the phones ringing by using strategic marketing initiatives designed for max ROI. To learn more, visit TabithaNaylor.com or contact us at info@tabithanaylor.com.
The SEO Metrics That Matter (and how to track them)
10 Practical Local Marketing Ideas You Can Deploy Right Now
You already know that local marketing is the name of the game if you want to grow your business. The challenge – especially during this difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic – is choosing practical local marketing tactics that can help you without breaking the bank. I hear you. So, without further ado, here are… Read More
How Social Proof Can Give You an Edge Over Your Competitors
Do you offer a worthwhile product or service? You know you do! But how can you convince the people in your target audience of its worth? That’s the purpose of marketing. It’s your job to prove your product’s worth. There are all kinds of ways to prove that a product is good. Remember the old… Read More
Why Your Social Media Game Is Falling Short
By now, most small business owners know they need to be active on social media. Regardless of your industry or niche, your customers expect to find you there. And social media’s free, so… it’s all easy, right? I wish it were that easy. In fact, I notice that a lot of small business social media… Read More
What Are the Most Important SEO Metrics to Track?
SEO matters. You don’t need me to tell you that – although I certainly have told you all about it! Understanding the importance of SEO is one thing and knowing what to do with your SEO metrics is another. With so many metrics to choose from, how do you know where to put your focus?… Read More
Increase Your Website Conversions with These Helpful Tools
In the world of digital marketing, traffic gets a lot of attention. Small business owners understand that without visitors to your site, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to grow or sustain their businesses. I’d argue that the focus on traffic isn’t helpful unless it’s paired with a focus on conversion. After all, you… Read More
7 Simple Ways to Acquire New Customers
How to Ask for Reviews Without Sounding Cringy
11 Marketing Ideas to Get You Through the Pandemic
Have you cut back on marketing due to the COVID-19 pandemic? You’re not alone. A lot of business owners are trying to save money by reducing their spending. Cutting back is understandable and may be necessary, but marketing isn’t a luxury for your business. It’s a necessity. And it’s possible to keep things going even… Read More
10 Marketing Ideas You Can Implement for Free
Is your marketing budget tiny – or non-existent? It’s a common problem with local businesses who put everything they make into inventory and payroll. If you don’t have much to spend on marketing, you might wonder how you can ever grow your business. The good news is that there are plenty of things you can… Read More
Hey Google: Should Businesses Take Voice Search Serious?
Voice search isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s more prevalent than ever before and that’s not going to change. The latest stats show that by 2020, at least 50% of all searches will be voice searches. Even more surprising is this nugget of information. Digital transformation leader Gartner anticipates that in the same time frame,… Read More
How to Get the Most Out of your Facebook Business Page
You probably already have a Facebook Business Page. If you don’t, you should – in fact, setting one up should be the very next thing you do after reading this article. Why? Facebook has more than 2 billion active monthly users. Regardless of where your business is located or what you sell, the chances are… Read More
How to Turn Your Website into a Lead-Generating Powerhouse
Your website is the headquarters of all your online marketing. It’s the first thing most people will find when they search for your business. Between 70% and 80% of all consumers say that they research businesses online before buying products. In addition, 38% say that they’ll navigate away from a website if it is poorly… Read More
8 Great Types of Content Marketing for Local Businesses
You know that content marketing is still king. That’s unlikely to change and that means that it’s your job to create and share the kind of content that’ll bring customers to your business and help you improve your bottom line. The numbers back up content marketing’s importance. Research shows that 91% of all B2B companies… Read More
5 Local Marketing Ideas That Will Make an Immediate Impact
How To Write Emails Like a Pro
If you’re a good marketer, you already know that mail marketing remains one of the best ways to market your business. Yet there are still many businesses out there who view it as an outdated, and antiquated way of getting their message out to the masses. Those businesses tend overlook email marketing altogether, which is… Read More
How to Use Social Media to Drive More Foot Traffic to Your Business
For many local businesses, online marketing is only part of the game. And, if you don’t have an online store, then it might seem like marketing on the web is an afterthought – something that has no relation to your sales and foot traffic. Think again. The truth is that a growing number of consumers… Read More
Get Ready to Improve Your Engagement on Social Media
Social media marketing is a must – but getting organic engagement is becoming increasingly difficult. With sites like Facebook and Twitter tweaking their algorithms constantly, local businesses need proven strategies to ensure that their customers see and engage with their posts. Engagement isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition, but it’s undeniable that some strategies to increase engagement… Read More
5 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Customers
Local business owners are busy people – you know that already. In a single day, you could be acting as an HR manager, marketing guru, IT expert, and cashier. That’s a lot for any one person to do. For that reason, SEO can sometimes take a back seat. It’s understandable. When you’re the one doing… Read More
The Unofficial Email Marketing Roadmap for Local Business
Email marketing remains one of the best ways for local businesses to build customer loyalty and attract new customers. It’s affordable and accessible – but it won’t be effective if you don’t make the most of it. The good news? Every dollar spent on email marketing in the United States generates $44 of revenue. That’s… Read More
How Much Does It Cost to Start Online Business? 51+ Online Entrepreneurs Share How Much They Spent to Launch
How to Use Facebook to Connect with Your Local Followers
You probably already know that Facebook has more than two billion active monthly users. Obviously, not all of them are in your target audience – but many of them are. For that reason, it’s important to understand how to use Facebook to encourage your existing customers to talk about your business and recommend it to… Read More
Navigating the Generation Gap with Social Media Marketing
Creating a Loyalty Program That Keeps Your Customers Coming Back!
Loyalty programs are everywhere. I’m willing to bet you have several loyalty cards in your wallet. You may even have loyalty memberships you’ve forgotten about. Customers love them – and with good reason. A well-thought-out loyalty program provides benefits to customers that can range from reduced prices for products to giveaways to exclusive access to… Read More
7 Ways You Can Make Sure Your Website Isn’t Falling Behind the Times
Is your website hip and modern – or is it out-of-date and sad? If it’s been a while since you updated your site, there’s at least a chance that it’s a dud. That doesn’t mean it’s poorly designed, but it does mean that it’s your job to give it an honest evaluation and update it… Read More
The Top Content Marketing Tools You Should Consider Using Right Now
Content marketing is all about content. That’s obvious. What isn’t obvious to many local business owners is that they don’t need to be the ones to create every piece of content they share. The term for using content created by someone else for marketing purposes is called “content curation.” The word ‘curation’ is a clue… Read More
How to Target Local Customers Using Geolocation Marketing
Local businesses have special marketing challenges. Namely, it’s your job as a business owner to make sure that the people who are most likely to patronize your business – the people who live in your service area – know what you have to offer and where to find you. One way to accomplish that goal… Read More
How to Bring Your Social Media Presence Back from the Dead
How long has it been since you did anything with your company Facebook page (or Twitter or Instagram)? If it’s been a long time, then you might feel stuck. How can you resurrect your social media presence? Is it possible? Should you bother? The short answer is yes, it’s possible. You’ll need to be methodical… Read More
4 Core Types of Video Marketing to Boost Your Sales
How to Create Amazingly Great Content
In the days before the internet, local marketing was simple. You paid for a listing in your local Yellow Pages, printed flyers, and maybe took out an ad in the local paper. People knew who you were and where you were. Then web marketing came along and changed everything. At first, the recommendation was to… Read More
How to Fix Your Crappy Sales Consultation
When deciding what type of lead magnet will attract the most signups (leads) for your business it’s natural to want to go right to your best offer – the thing that’ll convince first-time visitors to your site to dive right in and hire you, retain your services you or purchase your product. There’s just one… Read More
8 Smart Ways to Power Your Business with Automation
Before automation was possible, people had to do everything by hand. It took a long time – and once we realized that we could automate repetitive tasks, we never looked back. So, the question I have for you about automating your business is a simple one: What are you waiting for? The numbers don’t lie.… Read More
5 Tips to Get the Most from Your Local Business Blog
Blogging is still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website and attract new customers. But are you making the most of your local business blog? Maybe not. If you’re not, the big question is what should you be doing? The answer starts with numbers and ends with specific advice. So, let’s… Read More
How Chatbot Marketing Works
It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of a chatbot would have seemed like the stuff of science fiction, right up there with Daleks or droids. Not anymore. In fact, chatbots are everywhere these days. They’re readily available, highly effective and – believe it or not – not that expensive to create. That said,… Read More
6 Smart Ways to Generate More Positive Reviews
Who doesn’t love a positive review from a satisfied customer? Every business owner knows the value of positive reviews – and they’ve never been important than they are right now. Did you know that more than 80% of all consumers say that they trust a product review from a stranger as much as they would… Read More
How to Curate Great Content for Facebook
Does hearing the words “Facebook content” immediately tire you out mentally? Do you cringe at the thought of having to drum up original posts every single day? Let’s be honest. Nobody really wants to do that. And there is an easier approach to Facebook content curation. It’s what we call the 70-30 approach: posting 70%… Read More
The Best Way to Get Your Customers to Drive More Customers
It’s Official, We Are Aweber Certified!
How to Increase Sales on a Shoestring Budget
You’ve got to spend money to make money. Right? Well… maybe. The truth is that it it’s not that simple. Many of the tried and true marketing tricks you read about do require a substantial budget. But some don’t. In fact, there are ways to increase your sales even if you’re running on a shoestring… Read More
Calculating the Value of a Lifetime Customer – What You Need to Know
Attracting new customers is the most important marketing goal you can have. That’s what you’d think based on the way a lot of people approach marketing. But is that the correct approach? Is your time (and money) well spent if you focus on attracting new customers? Brace yourself, because the opposite is true. You’ll get… Read More
Your Next 30 Days in Marketing…
Marketing in a time of economic crisis is no joke. But you already know that. Let’s face it: it’s difficult, at best, to know how to handle your marketing when unemployment numbers are high, spending is low, and uncertainty is everywhere you look. And yet, for all that, marketing is a must if you want… Read More
The Ultimate 60-Minute Business Audit
Audits. Nobody likes them, am I right? I get it. I really do. But audits serve a purpose – and if your business is closed right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic, then this is the perfect time to change ‘audit’ from a dirty word to a tool that can help your business thrive. Not… Read More
A Guide to Social Media Marketing in 2020
10 Remote Work Tools to Help You During the Pandemic
If Your Marketing Isn’t Adaptive, You’re Setting Yourself Up for Failure
Adaptive marketing is crucial. If you can’t quickly change your approach when it’s not working, you can be throwing money down the drain. Even when it is working, you should still have a plan to switch it up. When you have a good marketing message and a recognizable brand that are performing as they should… Read More
5 Types of Video Marketing to Boost Your Business
Video marketing is still the king of the hill when it comes to driving clicks and sales. The numbers don’t lie. According to Social Media Today: 72% of consumers prefer to watch a video to learn about a product or service. 78% of consumers watch a video online at least once a week, and 55%… Read More
Digital Marketing Hacks to Use Now
Regular internet users will see thousands of adverts every week. How many of them will actually be remembered? This is the battle that marketers are fighting. With these hacks, you can increase the number of leads coming in, leaving you to concentrate on the conversions. Use Pop-Ups Intelligently A well-placed pop-up, shown at the right… Read More
Interview with Tabitha Jean Naylor
Staying Afloat During the Pandemic
The Best Way to Get Your Customers to Drive More Customers
You want to grow your business. That’s a given. New customer acquisition is expensive. Another given. What a business owner to do? If you have an unlimited marketing budget, you can simply put it into attracting and nurturing new customers. But I don’t know many small business owners who have that luxury. Fortunately, there are… Read More
Marketing on a Budget – and Staying Afloat – During the Pandemic
What do you do when business is slow, and profits are down? If you think that the answer is “stop marketing,” then it’s time to think again. While it’s true that marketing might seem to be less essential than other areas of business, the truth is that a solid marketing plan could spell the difference… Read More
How to Offer More Value to Your Customers During a Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire world. Business owners have had to scramble to find ways to stay afloat even as they’ve had to work from home and halt in-person sales and services. It’s a lot for anybody to deal with at a time that’s already stressful. The solution for most business owners is… Read More
eCommerce Marketing Strategies: 6 Ways to Stand Out from the Competition
Business technology is moving at a very rapid rate. One of the blessings of this tech is eCommerce. However, several businesses are adopting the eCommerce business model, thereby creating the need for marketing strategies that will make you stand out. When referring to eCommerce strategies, this goes beyond owning a website or running a social… Read More
10 Marketing Tips to Improve Your Website Traffic
Improving your website’s traffic is something that, as a business, is an essential thing to work on all the time. The more you can build up your traffic, the more opportunities you have of turning in those potential leads to sales. Whether you’re selling a service or product, every effort you can make to help… Read More
5 Tools We Use While Working Remote
Top Tips for Leaner, Cleaner Press Releases
When it comes to getting your brand out there, growing your visibility, and establishing a reputation within your industry, then press releases can be a vital part of your marketing strategy. Aside from having newsworthy events to write about, presenting them as well as possible can make a big impact on your chances of getting… Read More
Marketing During a Pandemic – What You Should and Should NOT Do
100 Women B2B Thought Leaders You Should Follow in 2020
3 Smart Ways to Use Facebook Messenger to Promote Your Business
How to Present the Virtues of Your Business via Marketing
Marketing can feel a lot like giving a pitch to clients and customers alike. We must tell our potential audience just how worthwhile our services are to use, how reliable our products and services are, or how competitive our prices may be. All of this can seem like an array of promises that consumers are… Read More
Personalization Is Key to Success with Your Marketing
It’s easy to assume that customers and clients want to buy from big businesses and this is true. They definitely don’t want to take a chance on an unproven business. The tales of the underdog may be fascinating to hear but they are not what clients want to see when they buy from a company.… Read More
11 Superb Ideas for Creating Content You Probably Never Thought Of
It’s important for businesses to regularly create content to share as content marketing is one of the best ways to gain exposure and increase the number of customers you have. It’s absolutely essential that you create relevant content that your current and prospective customers will find useful. Of course, it’s difficult and time-consuming to try… Read More
6 Ways to Get More Reviews for Your Business
Is Content Still the King of Marketing? Yes!
Are you exploring new ways to market your company? It’s always a smart idea to think outside the box, but you also need to realize that some tried and true methods are still relevant. Many people are questioning whether content is still a heavy hit in terms of marketing and promotion. The answer is definitely… Read More
How to Market a Business in the Local Area
There are many ways to market your business. While many companies typically adopt a broad approach to their marketing, and thus advertise their companies across the country and beyond, it’s important not to overlook the local side of things, too. Treat your local customers well, and make them know that you’re there for them, and… Read More
9 Uplifting Stories of Community Support To Inspire You
What’s the BEST Loyalty Program for Your Business.jpg
The Pros and Cons of Search Engine Optimization
When the idea of running your own company or business came along, it was filled with dreams and creative visions that you couldn’t wait to share with the world. Then, the marketing, advertising and financial realities came along and we realized that running a business, company or website is not all sugar and spice. Marketing… Read More
Proven Local Email Strategies to Try
How to Market Your Business Effectively
If you want to make sure your business thrives, you have got to have an efficient marketing campaign. Without one, I’m afraid you may have the best product or service in the world, but it simply is not going to sell. You need to set aside some revenue to focus on marketing, advertising, and public… Read More
What Global Crises Teach Businesses about Marketing
The show must go on. Even when the whole world is struggling through a health crisis, businesses know that they have to find a way to continue making money. While governments are helping out, it may not be enough for your company. And, in some cases, the money isn’t available right away, meaning that mounting… Read More
How to Get the Most Out of Facebook Lead Ads
3 Marketing Tools to Check Out in 2020
5 Smart Ways You Can Promote Your Content to Drive Leads
3 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid at All Possible Costs
Marketing is such a hard thing to get used to, and often we leave it up to the professionals to do. It’s rare that a business handles its own marketing unless of course, they are a business that’s in the marketing niche, or if they have a marketing team in house. If a business has… Read More
5 Free Marketing Ideas You Can Start Using Immediately
5 Content Curation Tools You Aren’t Using… But Should Be
Content Marketing Key Takeaways from 15 Experts
100 B2B Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow in 2020
Hey, Your Free Consultation Sucks. Here’s How You Can Fix It!
What Are the Differences Between Traditional Search and Voice Search
20 Cool Facts About Chatbots
The Top Benefits of Chatbots for SMBs
Keep Your Customers Coming Back with These Top 5 Ideas for Loyalty Programs
4 Core Local Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore
5 Tips to Get the Most from Your Local Business Blog
5 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Customers
4 Ways to Drive More Foot Traffic to Your Business Using Social Media
The Top Local Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford to Ignore
Marketing trends change all the time. As a local business owner, it can sometimes be hard to keep up or even know which ones you should be following. Are any of the past or current marketing trends worthwhile? In marketing, you’ve got to pick and choose. Very few people have an unlimited budget that allows… Read More
3 Tips To Becoming a Better Email Marketer
How Your Business Can Benefit from Chatbots
2019 has been the year of the chatbot. Businesses who have adopted the chatbot trend have been able to support and scale their business operations by offering convenient and efficient communication to their customers. Implementing chatbots has also helped businesses increase their sales, by providing 24/7 chat support to customers who need questions answered before… Read More
3 Common Website Vulnerabilities Digital Marketers Should Know
Cyberattacks can strike no matter how big or small your website might be. In fact, they strike more frequently than you might think, with one study showing that most websites face around 58 attacks every day, even when patched. The kind of damage resulting from these attacks can vary, from things like financial loss, compromised… Read More
The Top Email Marketing Trick You Should Be Using To Boost Your Open Rates
These days, a solid email marketing campaign is a crucial tool in any robust online marketing strategy’s toolbox. Subscribing to a weekly newsletter is easy—all it takes is one click. But what happens after the person in question is signed up to your mailing list? How can you ensure they actually open as many emails… Read More
Get More Attention with These Online Marketing Techniques
Marketing isn’t the same as it was ten years ago. With digital advancements, marketing is no longer all about billboards and full-page spreads in the local magazine. Are you making the most of online marketing opportunities? If you’re not, you’re losing out on plenty of attention from potential customers and clients. People are spending more… Read More
The Power of Facebook Messenger Marketing Chatbots – and Why You Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Them!
Level Up Your Marketing Game with AI and a Chatbot
The Most Common Facebook Chatbot Misconceptions, Myths and Marvels
The Surprising Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Messenger Marketing Bot
Understanding the Foundational Basics of Facebook Messenger Bots
What You REALLY Need to Know About the Facebook Messenger Bot Takeover
Why Your Employees Are Your Best Asset for Building Your Brand Image
Take a second and look around. Brand imaging is everywhere, especially on social media. There’s no denying that social media engagement has become crucial to a digital marketing strategy, but managing your brand across multiple social media platforms is a lot of work, not to mention time consuming. Small businesses run up against the same… Read More
How Chatbots Build Engagement and Revenue for Nonprofits
Chatbots, which are pieces of AI technology designed to have automated conversations, are a hot topic right now, and with good reason. Anyone who spends any amount of time online knows that more and more business, both small and large, are fighting for your attention. It has become crucial for businesses to find ways to… Read More
The Top 5 Things to Identify in a Social Media Audit
Just like with the content on your blog, the quality of the content you publish on social media is just as important. So is having established goals and objectives regarding why you’re posting in the first place. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s simply not enough to post great content… Read More
What Successful Law Firms Know About Targeted Lead Generation
There is one thing that will make or break your law firm in terms of profit this year. Do you know what it is? The answer is conversions, but I guarantee that it isn’t in the way you think. Conversions equal profit, right? Yes. But what has an even bigger impact on your success isn’t… Read More
B2B Marketing Tip: Participate in LinkedIn Groups
Actively participating (aka: not spamming them with backlinks to your content) in LinkedIn groups within your niche and/or location can be a great way to get your name out there and make new connections. Don’t shy away from starting a new conversation or joining an existing one. Ask questions, share ideas, or/or provide insights into what’s… Read More
What Engineering Firms Need to Know About Mastering the Art of Marketing
Where would we be without engineering? Probably stuck back somewhere in stone age technology. Engineering firms, and the services they provide, have been critical to creating the world as we know it. When you provide such an essential service, it is easy to push aside the idea that, just like every other industry, you need… Read More
The Lead Generation Tips Every Accounting Firm Needs to Know
Creating successful lead generation strategies for your accounting firm can be a frustrating process. In the accounting industry, your services are needed and required, but they also aren’t something that most clients are excited about fitting into the budget. Your potential clients know that competition among accounting firms gives them the upper hand. You need… Read More
Marketing Q&A: Mastering the Art of the Elevator Pitch
Having a great elevator pitch in your arsenal is a must. Your audience has a short attention span, so if you want them to buy what you’re selling, you need to be able to present your idea quickly and persuasively. It’s your chance to make a great first impression that generates interest around your idea… Read More
14 Can’t-Miss Strategies for Getting Your Target Audience to Fall in Love with Your Brand
As content creators and marketers, we are always in hot pursuit of our target audience. And, while love is in the air, there is no magical rhyme for getting your audience to love your brand. After all, matters of the heart require more than just luck.Here are 14 proven strategies to win over your audience… Read More
The Most Important Ingredient in a Successful Branding Strategy
I personally think that being consistent is the key ingredient to branding. Too many companies want to be all things to all people, which is the exact opposite of targeting a specific audience. That’s why you have so many businesses rebrand, because they don’t know what they want to be, and they’re constantly trying to… Read More
Branding Tips and Strategies for Small Business Owners
Branding is the process by which a company stamps its business culture and what it stands for in the mind of a customer. When you think of Apple, you think of sleek products with interesting designs. When you think of Red Bull, you think of action and adventure, and exploring new things. Branding isn’t about… Read More
The Best Advice for Launching a Successful B2B Website
You need to make sure your site is responsive, so that people who access it on mobile devices have the same quality experience that they would if they were on a desktop. While this may seem obvious, a lot of B2B sites aren’t optimized for mobile, so you’re seeing businesses lose a chunk of mobile… Read More
Tips on Building a Strong Online Community
An online community interacts, engages, and becomes a vital part of a business. That’s why the first step is to offer great content. It’s beating an old horse, I know, but quality content is still the best way to distinguish your business from the competition, to build credibility and authority, and to attract prospects. Great… Read More
Mastering the Art of Putting the Right Content on the Right Platforms
Do you know the biggest mistake some businesses make when it comes to content? They post that content on every single social media platform they can imagine, and hope for the best. But this scattershot, one-size-fits all approach doesn’t work, because it ignores something very valuable in the marketing process: the audience. You can’t put… Read More
2 Online Marketing Trends To Help You Grow Your Local Small Businesses
I think the surge in video content can – and will be – a big game changer for small business owners. Videos play well on desktop, but they are fantastic on mobile devices, and since more than half your target audience now consumes content on the go, video is powerful way to reach them. For… Read More
The Most Underrated Marketing ROI Belongs to…
I think, on average, pay-per-click (PPC) is overrated when it comes to marketing ROI. Why? Because I think marketers almost become obsessed with paying for quality leads, so they overspend, and when they step back, they often realize that could have saved a chunk of that money by building organic leads instead. PPC is a… Read More
3 Strategies to Make Your Brand Story Truly Stand Out
Stories are powerful. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, film or print, a good story has the power to impact people emotionally and change lives. And for centuries, people have not only been turning to storytelling for entertainment but for education and persuasion because of a story’s power to connect and impact audiences. And because connecting… Read More
Personalizing Your Content to Connect with Your Audience
Part of any good marketing strategy is connecting with your audience on a human level. One of the best ways to do that is to make sure that some of your content is personalized to each and every user who sees it. Most of your content will still be relying on quality and value to… Read More
5 Foolproof Strategies for Creating Content That Stands the Test of Time
Figuring out what kind of content to include in your strategy can be tricky. Jumping on timely and hot topics can absolutely help bolster your overall content marketing strategy at different times – holidays like Christmas and Valentines Day, or popular events like the Super Bowl and World Cup can give you the opportunity to… Read More
What Sort of Impact Will WhatsApp’s New Business API Have?
In July of 2017, WhatsApp boasted 450 million active users per month. With so many users and thousands of businesses looking to reach them, the new Business API has potential. The API can help companies reach their target audience through advertisements that lead to chat boxes. It can assist in shipping confirmations, appointments reminders, and event… Read More
3 Smart Strategies to Stand Out on LinkedIn
With millions of users logging in everyday, LinkedIn can be the perfect place to grow your professional network and promote your business. Having access to so many people with similar networking intentions is obviously beneficial, but it can also pose a problem – there’s a lot of people competing for recognition. So how do you… Read More
6 Tips for Simple and Successful Video Content
Video content is king on social media. On Facebook alone, videos are played 8 billion times a day, yet many marketers still shy away from incorporating videos into their marketing strategy. Creating great video content can be a daunting and overwhelming task when so many companies are consistently publishing social content filmed by professional film… Read More
Q&A: Rebranding 101
Thinking about rebranding? If so, here are the 6 most common questions we’re asked about it, as well as our honest-to-goodness opinions 1. What leads to a company rebranding? Companies rebrand because something isn’t working, or because they’ve gone through a major PR crisis. When we say something isn’t working, we’re talking about marketing that… Read More
Q&A: 3 Cutting-Edge Strategies for Generating Highly-Qualified Insurance Leads
We personally think voicemail drops are a really effective way for insurance companies to generate leads, because you can target prospects with valuable offers without interrupting the flow of their daily activity. The key with voice drops for insurance companies is making sure that your message is short and relevant. What are you offering? A free insurance… Read More
Q&A: What Is Big Data?
Many people will try to tell you that big data is a magic elixir that can cure all your marketing problems. But let’s cut right to the chase: that sort of oversells its value. Obviously, big data provides businesses with a lot of really useful information about customer behavior, customer pain points, buying trends, and other… Read More
Q&A: What Small Businesses Can Learn from the Social Media of Big Brands
Let’s face it, as a small business owner, there are never enough hours in the day, or enough of a marketing budget to do everything you’d truly like to do. That doesn’t mean you have to settle for mediocre marketing that delivers little-to-no ROI, however. Case in point, if your social media marketing efforts are… Read More
How to Keep Your Bounce Rate Down and Your Conversion Rate Up
In the world that exists outside of marketing, bounce isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s usually associated with something fun – trampolines, basketballs, inflatable bounce houses. However, inside the word of marketing, the way we view bounce is an entirely different story. Bounce is a word used to describe the rate at which an… Read More
Q&A: 3 Tips for Using Chatbots as a Small Business Owner
You’ve probably heard quite a bit recently about how chatbots are the “in” thing that every small business owner needs to be using. If you’re thinking about setting one up for your business, here’s a high-level primer that walks you through the foundational basics, sans the over-hyped hoopla many self-proclaimed guru’s are peddling. First and… Read More
Q&A: The Easiest Way to Audit Your Digital Footprint
The Internet is like the wild, wild west when it comes to marketing. And often times, business owners are so busy trying to keep up with the seemingly never-ending list of things they need to do that they never stop to think about things like what people are saying about them… that is, until someone… Read More
Q&A: 2 Strategic Marketing Ideas for Plumbers
Let’s face it: plumbing isn’t the most glamorous thing to talk about. Yet, at the end of the day, pretty much anyone who is reading this article right now has needed a plumber at some point or another. If you’re a plumber and struggling to get your business in front of your target audience, here… Read More
How to Use Videos To Boost Lead Generation
Until a few years ago, many businesses ignored video marketing in favor of marketing that focused on blogs, games, podcasts, and webinars. Well, what a difference a few years makes, because video has become the buzzword in marketing, prized for its unique ability to capture attention, stir the imagination, and best of all, generate leads.… Read More
Q&A: Tips for Successfully Marketing a New Store
Congratulations! After months – and maybe even years – of blood, sweat and tears, you finally opened your retail store. Now what? If you’re like many small business owners, the answer to this question comes crashing into you like huge waves from the ocean. You need to focus on getting people through the front door,… Read More
Q&A: How to Manage Your Personal Brand Online
The Internet has made it easier than ever to connect with people from every corner of the world. Unfortunately, this has also opened up Pandora’s Box in terms of what people say about others online. This is compounded by the fact that a disgruntled employee or ex can literally drag someone’s name through the mud…… Read More
How to Develop an Insanely Effective Unique Selling Proposition
Why do so many small businesses fail? The answer is that they do a bad job of figuring out why anyone would want to buy their products and services. And no, I’m not just talking about communicating what a product or service does, I’m talking about expressing why that product or service would do one… Read More
Q&A: 2 Marketing Strategies that CPA’s NEED to Embrace… Today
Now that tax season has come and gone, there’s no better time than the present to start analyzing your marketing strategies for the remainder of 2018. And here are 2 things you DEFINITELY need to embrace… 1. Optimize your website for mobile users. More than 50 percent of people now access the Internet through a… Read More
Google Launches ‘Small Thanks’ and Turns Customers into Brand Advocates
Google is always up to something, and often it’s some little update that sends us scrambling to adapt to their latest change in metrics. However, this time around things are a little different. The search engine has introduced a program called Small Thanks with Google, and its purpose is to show a little extra love… Read More
Q&A: Top Video Marketing Tips
Many people are saying that 2018 is the “year of the video”. If you want to tap into this incredible marketing opportunity, here are 3 key things to keep in mind: 1. Build a CTA Into Your Video. Too many business owners forget that video content has the same goal as written content, and that is to engage their… Read More
5 Ways To Get More Out Of Visual Marketing… Starting Today
Maybe you and I have noticed the same thing about all the advice out there on marketing. It seems that it’s all about content. Content is king. Content is crucial. The fact is, that it’s true. You won’t get anywhere, especially on social media, without stellar content. But, it feels like we’re missing a big… Read More
Q&A: E-commerce Web Design Trends for 2018
E-commerce is hotter than ever. If you’re planning on jumping into the game this year, he’s some advice to keep in mind… 1. What kinds of web design trends are dominating the ecommerce market? I think one of the biggest trends to heed is making sure websites are responsive, which means that they have the same… Read More
Q&A: Automotive Marketing Ideas
If you’re in charge of the marketing efforts at an auto dealership – and are looking to get a leg up on your competition heading into Memorial Day weekend – here are 2 tried and proven strategies you cannot afford to miss: 1. Always remember that referrals are the lifeblood of an automotive business, so… Read More
Why Great Brands Need Good Looks To Succeed
Image: Pixabay The old axiom that says you need to put your best foot forward is spot on when it comes to modern marketing. Only in marketing, you have to put your best face forward. The importance of establishing a strong visual identity for your business is critical because humans are predominantly visual creatures. They… Read More
How Marketing Personas Enhance Customer Experience
Have you ever created marketing personas for your business, or have you updated your existing personas? If the answer is ‘no’ or ‘a long time ago’ respectively, then this is a great time for a refresher course on why personas are such a key aspect of properly targeting your audience and delivering the appropriate message.… Read More
Q&A: The Future Technology of Social Media Advertising
One of the biggest trends in the future of social media advertising will be the importance of mobile advertising. We know that mobile has now inched over the 50 percent mark when it comes to how users access the Internet, so the trend is clearly moving toward consumers who are on the go. So how does… Read More
Q&A: How Restaurants Should Respond to Online Reviews
1. How should restaurant owners respond to online reviews that are both positive and negative? Restaurants must respond to any review that same day, and that’s especially true for a negative review. The restaurant business is all about positive word-of-mouth, so if a restaurant owner ignores a negative review, it sends a message that he or… Read More
A Beginner’s Guide To Geo-Conquesting
Location-based marketing is more than just a ‘thing,’ it’s become an essential part of marketing, especially for small businesses that want a bigger piece of their local marketing pie. In fact, SEO and content marketing expert Pratik Dholakiya said local marketing most benefits four types of businesses: plumbing and electric, legal services, repair shops, and… Read More
Q&A: How to Get Past Ad Blockers
The most important thing you can do to avoid Chrome’s native ad blocker when it arrives is just to make sure that your ads are not examples of the types of ads that Chrome will block. For example, Google has made it clear that it doesn’t like pop-ups, auto-playing ads, and ads that count down… Read More
Q&A: The Most Cost-Effective Online Marketing Strategy Today
If you have no virtually no budget, then I’m still a big believer in influencer marketing, but here’s the thing: target your influencers very carefully. A lot of us get caught up in the idea that we have to go out and catch the eye of Big Whales like Rand Fishkin, but how realistic is… Read More
The Real Reasons Why You Need To Add Link Retargeting To Your Marketing Arsenal
As marketing tools expand so does the number of businesses using those tools, which means you’re embroiled in a dog-eat-dog war with your competitors for prospects. Instead of filling you with dread, that fact should stir the fighter in you to harness every new resource at your disposal. One of those resources could be link… Read More
Q&A: Must-Use Marketing Analytics Tools for Small Business
There’s a few go-to tools that I love, starting with Google Analytics, which pretty much sets the standard for everything you need when it comes to tracking what’s happening on your website, including analyzing lead generation strategies, tracking conversion rates, and measuring the effectiveness of the website in keeping visitors engaged. It’s really a one-stop shop… Read More
Q&A: How to Deal with Online Reviews
The biggest advice I have about online reviews is that businesses should acknowledge and respond to both negative and positive reviews. Obviously, you have to engage customers who leave negative reviews immediately, and find a way to resolve the problem, or make it up to a cus tomer wh o had a bad experience. And… Read More
3 Bold Examples of Viral Video Social Media Campaigns
Every brand would kill for a viral video on social media. The free publicity not only engages prospects, but it expands a brand’s reach beyond just its target audience. What are the elements necessary for a social media video to go viral, and how have other brands accomplished this elusive goal? Let’s take a look… Read More
Q&A: How to Use Social Media for Customer Service
Social media is the great equalizer for customers, because they can interact directly with businesses and express their wants and needs as well as their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with a product or service. And brands have responded by creating social media cha nnels wh ere they engage with customers, solicit opinions and suggestions, and respond… Read More
Super Lessons from the Best Super Bowl Social Media Campaigns
With the confetti still streaming down in Philadelphia from the Eagles exciting win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52, now is a good time to take a look back at how some companies used the big game to market their products and services. The Super Bowl offers multiple branding opportunities, but only… Read More
Q&A: How to Create a Great Elevator Pitch
Your elevator pitch shouldn’t last more than 30 or 40 seconds, and it should include the name of your company, your core product or service, the audience that you believe would most be interested in your product or service, and most importantly, the reason your company exists. I know that sounds strange, but if you… Read More
Creative Valentine’s Day Marketing for Small Business
The most important thing to remember about any seasonal campaign is that you have to find a way to tie in the theme of the holiday or event into your products and services. Valentine’s Day is all about showing love to the romantic partner in your life, and to other people in your life. However,… Read More
Q&A: How to Grow as an Influencer
Now that the dust has settled from “bloggergate,” let’s take a look at how the woman at the center of the controversy (I refuse to use her name since I don’t want to give her any more marketing reach than she’s already received) could’ve handled things differently… and in my professional opinion, more professionally. 1. … Read More
Google’s Ad Blocker Is On The Horizon… Here’s How To Get Past It
The most important thing you can do to avoid Chrome’s native ad blocker when it arrives is just to make sure that your ads are not examples of the types of ads that Chrome will block. For example, Google has made it clear that it doesn’t like pop-ups, auto-playing ads, and ads that count down… Read More
3 Ways To Re-Engage Prospects With a Remarketing Campaign
Remarketing is the process of trying to re-engage people who visited your website without taking any action, through targeted ads that can refine your company’s message, and remind a prospect of what he or she is missing. Let’s take a look at three principles you should always keep in mind to help ensure that your… Read More
The Newbie’s Guide To Video Content That Converts
You’re ready to jump on video, right? In a recent post, digital marketing expert Becky Brooks said more than half your audience is consuming content on a mobile device, and video is king when people are on the move. The problem is you don’t quite know where to start, because there are different types of… Read More
What Facebook’s Newest Changes Mean for Marketing
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve been hearing the rumblings about the announcement made by Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook is yet again changing things up. The social network has always moved to adapt its platform to give users what they want. Except this time the changes are different. They affect you, the marketer.… Read More
Q&A: Super Bowl Marketing Opportunities
The Super Bowl is usually seen as a massive marketing opportunity for big brands, and sometimes that means that smaller businesses take a timeout, thinking that they can’t compete. But that’s not true, and usually it’s simply a lack of having a viable strategy that is the biggest reasons small business owners don’t maximize the… Read More
How to Make a Marketing Video that Actually Converts
Unless you’ve been hibernating for the past year, you know that mobile and video are the two big ‘it’ factors in digital marketing today. That means if you aren’t involved in one or both of these hot market drivers, you’re probably going to be on the losing end. And this is especially true for video,… Read More
Social Media Trends For Businesses 2018
In 2018, you’ll see brands shifting their social media marketing away from the Millennial audience to the generation that’s coming up behind them. So instead of targeting that 25 to 35 age group, brands are going to focus more on audiences that are 8 to 22, and if you think that’s too young, think again.… Read More
Influencer Marketing for Small Businesses: 3 Strategies Most Gurus Aren’t Telling You About
As a small business owner, you need outstanding products and services, but you also need a distinct presence to compete with other companies in your industry. Because if you can’t communicate the qualities that make your business different, why would you expect customers to choose you over the company down the street? And one of… Read More
The Top Digital Marketing Trends You Need To Be Aware Of For 2018
The countdown clock is ticking and it’s time to officially say goodbye 2017. It’s been a great year for digital marketing, but I have a feeling 2018 is going to be even better. Are you, and your digital marketing strategy, prepared for the year ahead or did it sneak up on you out of the… Read More
Marketing Q&A: The Most Effective Sources for Gathering Meaningful Customer Intelligence
First and foremost, there a ton of useful sources to gain meaningful customer intelligence, so it’s definitely an all hands on deck kind of mission. But I always go back to the best source, which is engaging your customers directly. You may not be able to reach them all, but if you can get to… Read More
Everything You REALLY Need To Know About SSL Certificates And Your Website In 2018
You’ve spent months designing the perfect website, getting all the features and functionalities on it that you want and need. Just as you are about to go live, a friend asks if you have SSL certification. You don’t. And now, you start to panic. What is it? Do I need it? Here are all the… Read More
Marketing Q&A: How the Internet is Changing Advertising
Businesses across the spectrum are using data to change how they market their products and services based on analyses of the information they review. But the problem is that regardless of how specific the data is that you receive, you don’t always know how that data was culled, and what it really means. To me,… Read More
Marketing Q&A: Best Tips for Customer Retention
For me, the advantage of an SBO over a big name brand or big-box ecommerce site is one word: personalization. You can’t fight them on equal footing, so why even try? Instead, shrink your world so that it’s just your business and each individual customer. Send personalized emails that ask how you can serve that… Read More
6 Landing Pages That Should Truly Inspire You To Do Better With Yours
How do you convince new visitors to take the leap and dive into your website? You start with a perfectly optimized landing page. Your landing page is the first impression that new visitors have of your business. Think of it as a soft place for them to land after they have made their way through… Read More
Twitter Isn’t Dead, You Just Have to Be Smart in How You Use It
Once considered the king of the social media world, Twitter use among users has decreased, while other platforms, like Facebook and Instagram have risen to the top. Yet, despite its decline in the hierarchy of social media giants, Twitter is still a valuable tool for marketers. Contests, customer service and networking opportunities are still very… Read More
Marketing Q&A: How Can Small Business Owners More Effectively Market On Facebook?
I think the biggest advice I could give for SBs marketing on Facebook with limited resources is to forget the sale and remember the person. Hunh? What I mean is that you can’t hard sell on social media, users are way too savvy for a sales play that is naked and greedy. So what do… Read More
Marketing Q&A: Small Business Owner Holiday Advice
I think the most important things for small business owners who are new to the holiday season is that you have to create campaigns to take advantage of a time of year when consumers are more likely to spend their money. But the key is to make sure that your holiday campaign ties directly into… Read More
Marketing Q&A: How Can Companies Make Themselves More Appealing and Relatable To Customers?
I personally think one of the most effective ways to tell your company story is to post a video on your blog, site and social media platforms that gives users a peek behind the scenes. For example, you can post “Meet the Team” videos in which your employees talk about their work process, a typical… Read More
What You REALLY Need To Know About Big Data And Your Marketing Strategy
Big data is watching you. Well, not really, but doesn’t it seem like big data is everywhere these days, touted as the next big thing in marketing? But let’s face it, a lot of business people who hear the words ‘big data’ probably don’t know exactly what the term means, so they pretend to be… Read More
Marketing Q&A: What Is The Absolute Worst Social Media Mistake People Make?
One of the most common bad social media practices involves brands that have no idea to whom they are marketing. So they end up with campaigns that are scattershot and one-size-fits-all, which ultimately results in consumer confusion. The most important thing companies must do before starting any type of social media campaign is ask this… Read More
3 Ideas To Help You Crush Your Goals On Small Business Saturday
Small Business Saturday is right around the corner, and once again smaller brands get an even playing field to make as many sales as possible. The event takes place on November 25, fit snugly between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and small businesses that implement an effective marketing strategy can take advantage of this big… Read More
Marketing Q&A: Why Are The Holidays The Perfect Time For A Social Media Facelift?
The holiday season is synonymous with things like spending quality time with family, traveling, cooking, planning/attending parties… and of course, shopping, which is why if you’re a small business owner, updating your social media profiles is a MUST! If you want to close out the year on a high note and get that one final… Read More
Marketing Q&A: What Are The Hottest Content Marketing Trends Heading Into The End of 2017?
I think the big content marketing trend heading into the end of 2017 is still live streaming and how it can help brands engage and convert prospects into long-term customers. Facebook Live has really upped the live stream game, and you’re seeing huge brands as well as smaller companies utilize this social media tool. Live… Read More
The REAL Reasons Why SEO Doesn’t Work For Every Business
Is SEO still the best way for marketers to draw visitors to their sites? No one is saying SEO is dead, despite the cottage industry of blog pieces about its demise. In fact, marketing legend Rand Fishkin believes that SEO is more powerful than social media marketing because users on search engines want to accomplish… Read More
Marketing Q&A: What Are The Best Marketing Strategies Right Now?
I think influencer marketing has worked wonders, because it has helped me establish my credibility and authority as an agency owner. Getting on the radar of an influencer can take a lot of work. It also requires patience and diligence, because establishing your credentials with someone who is already an authority requires a specific strategy.… Read More
Marketing Q&A: What Are Some Of The Most Effective Financial Marketing Strategies?
I think it’s really important for financial services companies to market with one question in mind: How do we help our customers better understand what we offer? Because more so than many other businesses, the financial services industry has a lot of technical jargon and concepts that many consumers simply don’t understand. So how should… Read More
How to Handle a PR Crisis
People always used to say that there’s no such thing as “bad PR.” But in a day and age when videos of people being dragged off airplanes go viral in a matter of minutes, I think that even PR folks with nerves of steel can agree that this is simply no longer the case. If… Read More
How Controversial Content Can Help You Successfully Brand Your Business
Controversy sells, and it always has and it always will. Marketing expert Jeff Bullas calls this ‘contagious content’ that ‘people can’t wait to share.’ But as the owner of a business, you have to be very careful how you use controversial content, because if you stop over the line into being offensive, you will not… Read More
Why Storytelling Is the Secret To Branding
Branding is how a business expresses its values and vision to customers in a way that is distinct and unmistakable. And one of the branding methods businesses can use is to tell the ‘story’ of their company. Done properly, a company’s story can help advance its goal, and that was true for marketing expert Beth… Read More
What Is Good Content… and More Important, Why You Don’t Truly Know
The irony about content marketing is that many people focus on the ‘marketing’ part to the detriment of the ‘content’ aspect, which really defeats the purpose. Because the quality of your content will largely determine the effectiveness of your marketing, and if your content isn’t up to snuff, you better figure out what’s wrong. As… Read More
How Social Media Could Overtake Google For Promoting Your Business
If you think Google is the only real way to promote your business online – you’re mistaken. The reality is – social media is bigger than ever. And it looks set to continue to grow. While you shouldn’t ignore Google completely – you might be wasting a lot of time (and money) trying to improve… Read More
What Is Influencer Marketing and Why Do You Need To Do It?
More than just a hot buzzword, influencer marketing has now become an essential aspect of branding. But a lot of companies still view influencer marketing with a wary eye, mostly because they are not sure what it entails and how it could benefit their business. Simply stated, influencer marketing refers to strategies in which businesses… Read More
5 Steps To Target Your Market Today and Make a Killing
What’s one of the biggest mistakes you’re making right now? No, it’s not your prices or your content marketing strategy, it’s something much more important: You’re not targeting your market in the right way. You can’t achieve great marketing returns if you haven’t properly targeted your market, because the “who” determines the “how.” Marketing guru… Read More
2 Quick Tips for Better Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses
I think the biggest advice I could give for SBs marketing on Facebook with limited resources is to forget the sale and remember the person. Hunh? What I mean is that you can’t hard sell on social media, users are way too savvy for a sales play that is naked and greedy. So what do… Read More
Successful Marketing 101: Effective Financial Marketing Strategies
I think it’s really important for financial services companies to market with one question in mind: How do we help our customers better understand what we offer? Because more so than many other businesses, the financial services industry has a lot of technical jargon and concepts that many consumers simply don’t understand. So how should… Read More
How to Use Gamification Marketing to Attract or Retain Customers
If you’re trying to entice new customers, gamification is effective because you are rewarding consumers for sampling your products and services. So for example, if you have a rewards offer for new customers that offers them a free product or service of equal price for every two products or services they buy, you are offering a valuable… Read More
A New Marketing Trend That’s Here to Stay
A big content marketing trend for 2017 is live streaming and how it can help brands engage and convert prospects into long-term customers. Facebook Live has really upped the live stream game, and you’re seeing huge brands as well as smaller companies utilize this social media tool. Live streaming can be used in several effective… Read More
Successful Marketing 101: One of the Biggest Cardinal Sins of SMM
One of the most common bad social media practices I run into is brands that have no idea to whom they are marketing. So they end up with campaigns that are scattershot and one-size-fits-all, which ultimately results in consumer confusion. The most important thing companies must do before starting any type of social media campaign… Read More
3 Strategies for Better Apartment Marketing
IDEA 1: Show Properties Virtually With so many visual platforms to advertise properties, there’s no excuse for you not to provide 360-degree panoramic virtual tours of your available properties on your website. Virtual tours provide every detail a tenant would want to see before they commit to a live walkthrough, but it also sets up… Read More
3 Key Pieces of Advice That Will Make Your Company More Likeable to Your Customers
I think one of the most effective ways to tell your company story is to post a video on your blog, site and social media platforms that gives users a peek behind the scenes. For example, you can post “Meet the Team” videos in which your employees talk about their work process, a typical day… Read More
Successful Marketing 101: Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing can – and does – work wonders. Don’t believe me? It’s helped me establish my credibility and authority as an agency owner tremendously. Getting on the radar of an influencer can take a lot of work. It also requires patience and diligence, because establishing your credentials with someone who is already an authority… Read More
The Real Reasons Why Different Browsers Display Different Results
If you use Google regularly, you may have noticed that when running a Google search, your search results often vary between browsers, even when the device is the same AND the search terms are the same. Why does this happen? It happens because Google’s algorithms return different search results based upon a variety of different… Read More
Sealing The Deal: 4 Strategic Ways Realtors Can Use Drones To Grow Their Business
Every Realtor knows that buying a home is a much more complicated and emotional process than simply browsing through Zillow listings and finding a good deal. A home that captures the imagination and creates a sense of wonder will attract interested buyers faster, and elicit a much more powerful sense of urgency to close. By… Read More
7 Tips for Marketing Success With Limited Resources And Unlimited Demand
As a marketing professional, it is your responsibility to help transform your businesses to be more agile, to react to the disruptive market forces within your industry. In order to achieve this, you need resources that can assist your company in executing your decisions.Good leaders form mutually beneficial partnerships for long term strategic growth. We… Read More
How Live Video Can Be a Real Estate Game Changer
The real estate business is undergoing seismic changes as more buyers and sellers are choosing to go online to initiate their transactions. This has forced a business that for decades relied on face-to-face interaction and personal connection to shift to a less traditional, digital strategy when it comes to marketing. But instead of looking at… Read More
3 Things You Can Learn From Donald Trump About Branding
No matter where you lie on the political spectrum, the feat that Donald Trump pulled off in November to win the presidential election was impressive. Why? Because Trump didn’t so much as run an election as sell a brand, and that brand did exactly what he intended: identify a target audience, and deliver exactly what… Read More
Social Bookmarking And Article Marketing For Small Business
Once a small business owner gets his blog up and running, content curation and content marketing can help him (or her!) get more SEO out of his blog and posts. Content marketing is creating new material like newsletters, blogs, eBooks, and videos that people can use or learn about a specific subject. This content can… Read More
Successful Marketing 101: Developing a Brand Voice
1. What goes into developing a brand voice? First, I think you absolutely have to identify and correctly target your consumer group, because without knowing WHO you are selling to, you can’t know HOW to market your business. For example, if I’m selling a product or service that appeals to young, active Millennials, I can’t… Read More
Geotargeting in Marketing: What You REALLY Need to Know
Local marketing is becoming more important, whether you own a brick-and-mortar or whether you are solely digital. Geotargeting simply means using geography to target your market in a hyper-specific way. The first thing to do when employing this strategy is to establish your perimeter. So for example: Do you want a one-mile, three-mile, five-mile or… Read More
4 Quick Tips for Creating an Uber-Awesome Company Newsletter
1. Newsletters should always be a good mix of content, coupled with some sort of call-to-action. Straight sales pitches are NOT newsletters and you will have people unsubscribing faster than you can say “told you so” if that’s the method to your madness. 2. Pay attention to design and layout. Newsletters that are just haphazardly thrown together are not going… Read More
Natural Search Marketing
For retailers who are heavily invested in natural search marketing, the recent decision by Google to switch the location of paid ads from the right side of the search results page to the top of the page, was a blow to the gut. Why?Because it means that natural search results will be pushed further down… Read More
Successful Marketing 101: How to Create the Perfect Brand Image
1. What are your best tips for developing your brand image? I think you have to first identify your target consumer group and know exactly what their wants and needs are before you can brand your company. Because properly researching your market allows you to understand what is most important to them and how you… Read More
Local Search Marketing: Google vs Facebook
It’s interesting, because for nearly a decade, Google has been the industry leader in local searches, and it’s kind of dominated that service to the exclusion of every other company. But here’s the thing. Facebook has a billion consumers, and when they launched Marketplace in October 2015, Google had to take notice. A billion? That’s… Read More
Paid Facebook Conversions
I’m not sure there’s any magic formula to improve your Facebook Ads conversions, but there are some solid strategies that can help you optimize your ads to draw more visitors and therefore more conversions. The biggest thing is to display a clear message as part of your ad. Users have short attention spans, so your… Read More
How Marketers Can Leverage Big Data for Customer Experience
Big data has become kind of the trending “thing” lately, and it’s easy to see why. With big data, you are getting specific information on your customer’s buying habits, whether it’s social media data, mobile usage data or specific data about customer wants and needs, you are building a profile of what your ideal consumer… Read More
Digital Marketing Trends in 2017
It’s always hard to predict what’s going to trend in the digital marketing space, but I think overall we’ve been seeing a push toward more personalized marketing that is hyper-specific to the wants and needs of a targeted audience. I think a lot of marketers were comfortable a few years ago with a kind of… Read More
A Total Market Approach to Cross-Cultural Marketing
The Total Market Approach (TMA) to cross-cultural marketing has become fairly widespread, especially with the bigger brands such as Coke and Nike. It’s kind of a no-brainer to use TMA these days, because there is so much diversity in consumer groups, and in some ways, trying to appeal to every unique need or niche is… Read More
How to Get the Most from Your Company Blog
I think blogging content is so important in marketing for a small business that I would recommend that entrepreneurs hire a dedicated person to handle all their content. I think it’s worth it, even if it means moving your budget from some other area and transferring it into your blog creation, because I’m a firm… Read More
How to Create a Successful Corporate Video
The key to any type of content you create for your business is this: don’t be boring. And that’s especially true when creating corporate videos. I think the first way to accomplish that goal is to use humor. Attention spans are short, and comedy is always a way to hook interest and keep people watching.… Read More
5 Killer Marketing Strategies for Construction Companies in 2017
First, you must offer quality and useful content by creating a blog. It’s not enough to just have a website that offers your services, you must have a blog that has actionable content targeted at consumers who know very little or nothing about the construction business. Why? Because when you educate consumers at a basic… Read More
How to Use Social Media on Valentine’s Day
Social media engagement has become one of the most important ways for digital marketers to reach their targeted audience, because so many people engage, debate and make purchase decisions on these platforms. And that’s especially true on special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, which offers companies a date tailor-made for social media outreach through a… Read More
Business Branding and Brand Audits
Without brand auditing, you really have no idea if your branding efforts are working within your target market, and where the weaknesses are in your marketing efforts. So what are some effective ways to conduct a brand audit? Well, first I think you have to understand and define what you’re auditing. To me, the most… Read More
Simple SEO Advice for Small Business Owners
What is SEO? SEO is an acronym for search engine optimization, and what it means is all the strategies a company uses to drive visitors to its website. That can be everything from the effective use of keywords to creating content that users find valuable. It’s important to remember that SEO is not a marketing… Read More
Marketing Trends for Lawyers in 2017
I think one of the big trends in law firm Internet marketing is offering content that differentiates itself from the competition. So many big and small law firms are online now, and they are trying to brand themselves in different ways. So what’s the takeaway for 2017? If you’re a law firm, you have to… Read More
Do Newsletters REALLY Help Small Businesses?
Newsletters should serve as a vital part of any small business’s marketing plan, because they promote products and services in a capsulated format, which can help draw subscribers to your site and generate revenue when they engage with the products and services that you offer. Newsletters help your business grow by educating the subscribers on… Read More
Web Design Trends in 2017
It seems as if web designs have gone kind of all over the place in the past five years, but I think you’re starting to a few trends that will take hold in 2017. First, I think because attention spans are at an all-time low, web pages are going to be simpler, less cluttered and… Read More
Chiropractor Marketing in 2017
Every chiropractic business needs a website and a blog at minimum. The website should be easy to navigate, well organized and emphasize videos and images. But you must also have a blog that is informative and entertaining, and that has actionable and useful content. What is useful content? Any content that a consumer can use… Read More
3 Can’t-Miss Strategies To Give Your Keywords Power and Placement In Search Rankings
One of the key aspects of an effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is the usage of keywords that convey relevance and value to visitors who search for the services and products you offer. In a recent article, marketing expert Bryan Eisenberg talked about the 5 R’s of SEO as being content that has reach,… Read More
Don’t Lose Out On Local Listings
One of the most important parts of online reputation management is maintaining what are known as your local listings. Your local listings are the information you will find about your business on websites and applications designed to give consumers localized information about the area around them. Some of the most well known places where these… Read More
Think You Have Great Content? Here Are Three Ways To Know For Sure
As the owner of an online business, you can read all the advice you want about SEO, CRO, ROI, and all the other acronyms that provide great tips about boosting the number of visitors to your website. But the truth is that it doesn’t matter how many people you entice to your site if you… Read More
6 Steps To Creating A Successful Startup Dream Team
A key, and sometimes pivotal point in the life of any startup is when the time comes to put the initial team together. Finding the right group of people to pull your idea out of its infancy and guide it through to the next level is of the utmost importance. A great team can help… Read More
Email Marketing Expectations: The 3 Secrets to Successful Conversions
Email marketing – sometimes you wonder how many people actually still use their email. Everyone is guilty of using an old email to sign up for something just so an employee will stop hassling you or you can use the website without having to worry about bombarding emails. Many businesses probably wonder on a daily… Read More
Soaring Above the Three Biggest Hurdles In Small Business Marketing
So you’ve spent years honing your products and services to the point where they are as good as can be, and now you’re ready to unleash them on the world. Except, that market that you’re targeting is already inundated with so many companies that it’s going to be difficult to make your business stand out.… Read More
3 Ways To Make Your Remote Marketing Firm Feel Like They’re Next Door
No matter how great your products and services are, your business won’t survive if you can’t get the word out to prospective consumers. But in the digital age, there are so many different ways to advertise that it can be quite a challenge figuring out whom to target, when to target them and on what… Read More
3 Marketing Myths That Hurt Small Businesses
If there’s one thing that holds true about digital marketing, it’s that there is no shortage of people, pages and blogs with advice about how you should handle your digital marketing. On one hand, this is a good thing. There’s a constant flow of new ideas and places to look for inspiration when you’re not… Read More
5 Ways To Make Your Content Easier To Read
So you’ve made it over that first marketing hurdle. You’re no longer the only one reading the content you’ve created. It took some time, but the persistence paid off and you’re starting to see some consistent traffic coming in. There’s only one problem — most of the people who are hitting your pages seem to… Read More
Finding Results With Voice Search
One of the biggest changes that is emerging as a result of the widespread and ever-growing use of mobile devices is the use of voice search. Almost every device we use these days has some form of digital assistant that understands voice commands. iOS has Siri. Windows has Cortana, and Google, in a slightly more… Read More
Three List-Building Myths That Will Kill Your Email Marketing Campaign
Over the past five years, email marketing has become one of the most effective ways to reach your targeted audience, because it offers so many different ways to present your content. But as online marketing guru Barry Feldman discovered when he interviewed email marketing expert Hunter Boyle, one of the main reasons emails fail to… Read More
The 4 Most Common Challenges of Hiring Writers to Create Your Content Marketing Assets
One of the biggest realities of the Internet is how it revolves so much around user-generated content. Today, just about anyone can be a publisher, and more importantly, it can be done for cheap. But that in and of itself is also problem. The ease of creating and publishing content means readers now have to… Read More
How To Use Pokemon Go To Boost Your Business – Part 2
Let’s continue with our series on how you can use Pokemon Go to boost your business. In part one, we talked about how to find out if you happen to be near one of the game’s Pokespots or gyms. We also talked about how to take advantage of the Pokespots by purchasing and using lures… Read More
How To Use Pokemon Go To Boost Your Business – Part 1
Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere for the last few weeks, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Pokemon Go. As a truly unique form of mobile gaming, the new app has attracted an unbelievable amount of attention as well as an enormous base of players, both children and adults, all over the world. So far,… Read More
Secrets Of Email Marketing Subject Lines
So you’ve had your website up and running for a few months, and you’ve been working hard to build a list of email subscribers, just like all the big name marketing gurus say you should. You’ve already got more names on that list than you thought you’d ever get. It’s amazing how many people actually… Read More
4 Common Social Media Myths — Busted
Even though social media has existed for quite some time now, it’s still a relatively new concept in the grand scheme of things. We’ve never had such an easy way to connect with so many people so quickly. Like any technology that is still evolving, there is a lot of misinformation about social media that… Read More
7 Unwritten Rules For Social Media Success
Social media can work wonders for your business. With literally billions of users checking in on social platforms every day, the possible reach is virtually endless. It goes far beyond any other marketing medium we’ve known. Navigating social media can be a bit like traveling through the wild west. Much of what happens is in… Read More
5 Ways To Market A New Business Online – and Offline
With any new business, marketing is always a top priority. After all, if nobody knows about your business, you aren’t going to have one for long. Getting the word out to as many people as possible is of the utmost importance. There’s no denying you’re going to have to do some work to get things… Read More
9 Ways To Get More Leads Instantly
Your website is looking good. You’ve got top-of-the-line design. You’ve got real content. People are interested, and maybe they’re even sharing and talking about what you’re doing. Are you ready for it? Do you have what you need to turn those visitors into bonafide leads? Once they’ve shown interest in your free content, it’s time… Read More
7 Tools To Supercharge Your SEO
SEO is an ever-changing part of running a business online. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out, or if you’ve had one or more sites online for years. Search engine optimization is one of those things that you need to keep up with and maintain constantly. A big part of keeping up with SEO… Read More
5 Ways To Integrate SEO Into Your Marketing Strategy
At one time, SEO and marketing were two separate things. Search engine optimization was just a small part of an overall strategy. Today, the two are virtually inseparable. If SEO is not a part of your marketing strategy, you might as well not have a strategy at all. In modern business, you absolutely must have… Read More
Fire Up Your Ad Campaigns with the Perfect (Keyword) Matches
If you want to take your paid advertising to the next level, you need to be using Google AdWords. I’ve written at length about this versatile platform, and why you absolutely need it. It’s the Holy Grail of internet advertising, and if you’re a savvy business owner in {ip:cityName}, you’ve likely already made it a… Read More
Use It, Don’t Lose It: Building and Maintaining a Powerful Online Reputation
You can manage just about every aspect of your business online. You probably already rely on the Internet to build robust marketing campaigns, manage your payroll, and track inventory, but if you’re anything like my clients, you’ve likely failed to focus on one very important area: reputation management. When our mothers and fathers were starting… Read More
You’re Falling Off the Google Cliff – And I’ve Got Your Lifeline
How many overwhelmingly positive SEO experiences have you had? Where the page you painstakingly optimized actually performed as expected? The traffic flowed steadily, you received a number of quality backlinks, and even generated a number of sales. It’s pretty hard to do in the hypercompetitive world of 2016, and it feels amazing when you succeed… Read More
Pick Up the Camera and Ramp Up Your Sales
Last week I wrote about the importance of hiring a talented copywriter. As I mentioned, nothing hurts a business quite like sloppy copy. It makes you look unprofessional, it can cost you potential sales, and it can really make it difficult for you to advertise successfully. Continuing in that same vein, I’d like to address… Read More
Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot: A Hire Every Company Needs to Make TODAY
As an entrepreneur, you know how hard it is to acquire customers. You have to invest aggressively in marketing, provide unbeatable products and services, and do everything else in your power to build trust in your brand. Good first impressions are essential to turning website visitors into paying customers, yet many business owners in {ip:cityName}… Read More
Your Website Gets NO Organic Traffic – And I Know Why
You’ve got a website. You’ve got an email platform to capture leads and stay in contact with your fans. You’ve got a company blog, vibrant pictures, a bunch of great products – and you’re still not getting ANY website hits. It’s maddening. There’s nothing worse than pouring a lot of time and energy into creating… Read More
To Blog – or Not To Blog?
It’s really no question at all – your business’ website should absolutely have a blog! I know what you’re probably thinking: Blogs are a waste of time. Blogs are for Game of Thrones conspiracy theories, not businesses. My company can’t possibly benefit from having a blog. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. No matter how “unsexy”… Read More
Not Just for Cat Videos: Why Your Business NEEDS Facebook
Look, I get it. Social media is everywhere, and it often feels like it’s better at promoting divisiveness than it is at boosting connectivity. Whenever I log on, all I seem to see is people using it for – in my opinion, anyway – all the wrong reasons. I cringe every time I see my… Read More
5 Steps To Getting Started On Social Media, Part 2
In the second part of our series on getting started with social media marketing, we’ll take a look at the two final steps to putting together your master plan. We’ll look at things like researching your competition and how to take advantage of what you find, as well as ways to figure out which social… Read More
5 Steps To Getting Started On Social Media, Part 1
No matter where you look, you’re going to find marketing advice in every corner of the web that tells you how you need to take advantage of social media if you want to succeed today. So off you go and now you’ve got your Facebook account, your Twitter account and maybe you even signed up… Read More
5 Mistakes That Can Kill Your Reputation – Part 3
Don’t Delete Negative Comments Nothing will speed a customer through the stages of unhappy to infuriated faster than having their comments deleted from your website or social media pages. If there’s one thing you never want to do, it’s to make an already unhappy customer even more unhappy. If someone is unhappy or even angry… Read More
5 Mistakes That Can Kill Your Reputation – Part 2
Don’t Hide From Problems Not responding to a problem at all can do just as much harm as responding badly. Ignoring a customer on the Internet is the same as ignoring a customer who’s walked into a brick and mortar store. Have you ever walked into a store with a problem or a question and… Read More
5 Mistakes That Can Kill Your Reputation
Trying to keep a handle on your online reputation is not always an easy task. There is a lot of information to keep up with. That information is spread across many different sites on the Internet. And to make sure your work is never done, it is constantly changing. Reputation management, in its simplest terms,… Read More
Building Buyer Trust
Marketing is much more than flashing an ad in front of someone and turning them into a drooling zombie who absolutely must have your product. Maybe in a perfect world, but alas, we do not live in that world. I’m sure this comes as no surprise to you. Learning to think like one of your… Read More
5 Tips for Improving Your Online Reputation
Reputation management is an important part of doing business in the modern world. Consumers can voice their opinions and broadcast their thoughts, literally, to the entire world in just a few minutes. What your customers have to say about you is just as likely to come up in search results as what you have to… Read More
The ABC’s of PPC
The number one source of traffic – the absolute best way to get people to visit your site, see what you’re offering and BUY it – is SEO. SEO has 51 percent of the traffic and that probably isn’t going to change anytime soon. It needs to be a central part of your marketing armory.… Read More
Don’t Lose Out On Local Listings
One of the most important parts of online reputation management is maintaining what are known as your local listings. Your local listings are the information you will find about your business on websites and applications designed to give consumers localized information about the area around them. Some of the most well known places where these… Read More
Reputation Management – What It Is, And Why You Need It
One term you will hear sooner or later once you get into business online is “Reputation Management”. The basic concept existed long before the Internet. The Internet, however, has made the concept a mission critical part of any online business. With customers (both happy and angry) being able to communicate their thoughts to the world… Read More
Write For Real, Not For Robots
While SEO considerations are important for a business website, it is very easy to go off completely in the wrong direction. If search engine optimization is done right, it can bring in more customers and leads than you thought were possible. If it’s done wrong, it can actually drive them away. Especially for small businesses… Read More
The Fallacies of DIY Marketing
A huge number of people offer advice on online marketing. Newsletters fall into inboxes like confetti. There are variations, but the message is generally the same: I (whoever is sending you the email) have worked with more companies than you can shake a stick at and transformed both their understanding of online marketing and its… Read More
Changing Your Social Media
Last week, we said we’d talk some more this week about Conversation Rate, Amplification Rate and Applause Rate: why they matter; how you can improve yours; and the effect that can have on your business. Conversation Rate We defined conversation rate as the number of audience comments or replies per post. Okay, that’s a nice… Read More
If Your Content Is Just Like Everyone Else’s Then, Really – What’s the Point?
AtoZ Inc knows it needs to be doing more online marketing. The marketing director hires an online marketing manager (a young one, not long out of college because online marketing is, like, young, you know, it’s a young thing. Look at Zuckerberg and those young guys from Snapchat). The director tells the manager the URLs… Read More
Contrarian Content: Too Risky?
Let’s be absolutely frank; a huge part of the blogging that goes on is wasted. Think for a moment about your own blog and the keywords that define the kind of people you want it to be found by. How many other blogs are using exactly the same keywords to search for readers? Three hundred?… Read More
Engagement Metrics That Really Matter
Last week, we said that this week we’d talk about three engagement metrics that really matter. The three are: Conversation rate (no, not conversion – conversation) Amplification rate Applause rate Conversation Rate When you post, whether it’s a web page, a blog or Facebook post or a tweet, how would you describe what you put… Read More
Importance of Engagement Over Other Metrics
It’s possible to have hundreds of thousands – even millions – of Facebook and Twitter followers and not sell much. The focus we see so often on “followers” can disguise the fact that followers aren’t necessarily buyers. They may not even be particularly engaged with your brand. A number of things can bring a nice… Read More
What Marketers Need to Know About “The Internet of Things”
The Internet of Things (IoT) is much talked about and perhaps slightly less understood. The IoT is, in effect, every single smart device in the world, pictured as a single network. By “smart” we mean that a device has embedded in it the ability to communicate with the mothership – the place where it was… Read More
Mobile Marketing Grows. And Grows. And Grows.
Sometime in 2014, the amount of time users in the US spent online using their mobile phones exceeded for the first time the time spent on desktop devices. The gap has gone on growing since then. It would be easy to assume that what people do on their mobile devices is of little interest to… Read More
Why Social Media Guarantees Business Success
Some things don’t change – and some do. Among those that stay the same from decade to decade (and, probably, century to century) are the qualities a business person needs. Tenacity. Resilience. Commitment and vision. Thomas Edison had all of those. Edison, though, did not operate in today’s environment. If he had, he’d have known… Read More
Omni-Channel Marketing: What You Need to Know
Competition is at an all-time-high today and marketers are having a difficult time pushing through the clutter to reach customers. Some marketing strategies have become outdated, others ineffective, but for the most part, it is simply the fact that consumers are on to all of those little marketing tricks. Since everything is in a constant… Read More
9 Marketing Trends That Will Set Your Business Apart in 2016
The business environment today is quite complex and customer groups are diverse, well-informed, and demanding; characteristics of people with high expectations, and zero tolerance towards businesses that fail to deliver. Remaining visible and relevant to such customers is not an easy feat, and it requires making profound changes in how businesses market themselves in the… Read More
How to Develop a More Memorable Brand in 2016
Fifteen or more years ago, IBM had a series of TV commercials in which a businessman reading a newspaper says to another, ‘It says here, the Internet changes everything.’ The other man says, ‘How?’ and the first man replies, ‘It doesn’t say.’ Then came video clips showing some of the ways the Internet was changing… Read More
5 Tips to Stay Ahead of the Curve in Your Niche
We beat the drum about keeping up with trends in your industry. It goes beyond scanning the headlines of the news for your niche. It is vital to be able to forecast the coming results of innovations, and determine how you can leverage those results for the benefit of your brand. The biggest question many… Read More
5 Reasons Your Business Must Have an Engaging Website
Do you know any businesses that don’t have a website? There are still a few die-hard brick and mortars out there that figure since their grandfather founded the place 40 years ago and didn’t have a website, their company will be just fine without one. They are so missing out on sales. Once you have… Read More
How to Stay Off Google's Naughty List
People joke about being on Santa’s naughty list, which is good for laugh because it’s not real. Google has a naughty list too, and unfortunately it is real. Not only that, if your site winds up on this list, it can make your brand invisible in organic searches, no matter how good your content is.… Read More
Why Your Landing Page Fails and Theirs Succeeds
How’s your landing page? Is it doing its job for you or (come on, be honest we’re friends here) does it need a little help? The answer is in the metrics. If your landing page has a job to collect leads, they should be coming in and increasing over time. If your CTA on your… Read More
Help! How Often Should I Update My Blog?
Being in the business world, we all have learned just how powerfully important blogs are to our marketing campaigns and to reaching the customer. Blogs offer a chance for us to relate to the customer and the client on a deep, personal level, showing them a different side of our work that is more relatable… Read More
Easy Postcard Marketing Tips To Make The Greatest Impact
Are you looking to create a marketing campaign that will be beneficial to your business and your entire customer base? If so, postcards are the way to go. Now, before you write this off as some antiquated marketing method, here us out: statistics have shown time and time again that direct mail IS still effective,… Read More
5 Tips to Break Out of a Business Slump
It’s a scary statistic in a recent study from Gallup that stated nearly half of all startups will fail within their first five years. It’s easy to get so into the aspect of managing day-to-day happenings, that you don’t at first notice your business has hit a plateau for growth or sales, or you keep… Read More
The 4Ps – Rules of Internet Marketing
Want to ensure your online marketing efforts are effective AND meet expected targets? If so, it’s time to go back to the basics. Forget black-hat tricks that may help for a short period of time but end up costing you in the long run. The basic rules – the 4Ps of marketing – are just… Read More
Marketing Tips to Rev Up Sales for the Holidays
The holiday season is looming. In fact, Google released a statistic that more than 25% of online shoppers start their holiday shopping before Halloween. Fortunately you still have time to ramp up your marketing to really make a difference in your revenues from now until the end of the year. A lot of businesses plan… Read More
5 Reasons You Need a Landing Page
Your brand is going to have a rough time becoming a household name if you just have a simple site that hopes to make sales. The big question is: do you have a landing page? Hint: it’s not automatically the index or home page of your website. It’s the page where potential customers land first,… Read More
7 Things That Can Hurt Your Business
In the planning stages, it’s easy to imagine your business is open, sales are pouring in, and you’re pretty much just watching your bank account increase. You can also put in the part where you’re looking at your bank account from your laptop while you’re sitting on the beach in some exotic locale. The reality… Read More
So, How Are Your Social Signals?
No, we don’t mean if you get nervous at parties filled with people you don’t know or otherwise get socially awkward, that’s okay if you do. What we’re referring to here is how your posts are displaying out there on your social media, and this is an area it’s not okay to be awkward in,… Read More
5 Things You Can Do to Rocket Your Sales
Whether your business is the new kid on the block in your market or you’re at a point where sales have plateaued, you know you need to break out ahead of your competitors. Instead of tossing more money into outbound marketing, focus on ramping up your inbound marketing efforts. The good news is, you’re probably… Read More
5 Tips to Power-Up Your Company Blog
Do your competitors have a blog for their brand? If so, according to a report from Hubspot, they are pulling in 55% more visitors than companies that don’t have a blog. If you don’t have a blog for your brand, get one going. If you have one and it’s not performing, learn how to leverage… Read More
Still Using Old SEO Tricks? Here's What Works Now
Your website can either be a great way to promote your brand and extend your reach or it can be a money pit that you pay for every month that offers no return. It’s all in the search engine optimization, and how easily your site is found through organic searches. If your site is relying… Read More
Stop Blogging Badly-Learn What Works
Blogging is a powerful way to use inbound marketing to promote your products and grow your brand. However, blogging done badly can be damaging and drive away people from your site faster than you can say, “Get me off this page!” We are going to go over the things that work and the things that… Read More
5 Ways to Expand Your Social Media Reach
Using social media incorrectly to promote your product or service is like buying a top of the line sports car and parking it in your garage forever. Social media can boost your business in a fast and powerful way if you understand how to harness the ways information is disseminated and shared. Here are five… Read More
Social Media Complaints are Golden Opportunities
Your startup is out of the gate and you’ve joined the ranks of several social media portals. You post and tweet good stuff about your product and company, the response has been good. Then one morning, insert the sound of screeching brakes here, you log into one of your accounts and see a complaint posted… Read More
Don’t Fall Into the “Ultimate Guide” Trap – How to Create Headlines that Aren’t Cliché
There’s a fine line between a great headline and the maligned click-bait headlines that are especially prevalent on social media and blogs. Think of a headline as a promise to your reader. A headline should tell your reader the basics of what to expect in your article or blog post. There shouldn’t be any sensationalism… Read More
Newsletters Aren't Dead, Here's What You Need to Know
Do you remember the mid-1990s when newsletters and e-zines were some of the most prevalent marketing tools out there? Some business owners in {ip:cityName} mailed them, others emailed text-only newsletters which were not amazing to read, but they worked for getting info out there. In the mailers, the graphics were horrible, the typesetting was often… Read More
Lies about Content Marketing You Likely Believe
Unfortunately, marketers and others who work in the world of content marketing spout quite a bit of horse-hooey. While a few of these misleading statements sound great and come from influential people in the industry, there is actually no truth behind them. Following some of this misleading advice can be detrimental to your business and… Read More
Stand Out and Scale Up with the Power of Video
You have likely heard – video is a popular marketing effort and highly effective online. Ok, so this may be a bit obvious, the fact is, video is now considered both a challenge and opportunity for brands. In terms of the size of the opportunity for B2B marketers, a recent study from Google and Forbes… Read More
10 Must-Avoid Phrases for Your Homepage
Cliché marketing terms are everywhere. While many copywriters use these with all the best intentions, when copy is published, it only looks like the same ‘ole thing to visitors who have heard it over, and over…and over again. When it comes to marketing terms and words there are just some terms, phrases and sentences to… Read More
The Basics of A/B Testing and How It Can Benefit Your Business
If you offered various versions of the same products, you would obviously know which one was selling the best. If there were a way you could gauge how well your website was doing based on another version of it, there’s no doubt you’d incorporate it as part of your success strategy. This success strategy does… Read More
5 Tips to Write Killer Landing Pages
Have you ever ended up on a landing page only to leave with absolutely no idea what the page was about? The page failed to create a clear message, leaving you confused and a bit frustrated that you were unable to find what you needed. Chances are you didn’t stay on this page long and… Read More
Not Using Google's AdWords? Here's 4 Reasons Why You Should
Businesses of every type of size have one thing in common: they must market consistently if they wish to gain new customers and grow. Search giant Google offers one of the best ways to market a business – regardless of its industry or size. The world of marketing was changed forever at the turn of… Read More
Marketing and Lead Generation: 3 Unpleasant Yet True Facts
Marketing a business is hard work and something that can quickly overwhelm you. You have to generate leads, nurture them, be a customer service expert, make tons of follow-up phone calls and send out lots of follow-up newsletters. As exhausting as it all is, marketing and lead generation must be two of your main priorities… Read More
Are You Paying Attention to These 3 Digital Marketing Strategies?
By nature, digital marketing is a strange beast that’s always changing. As soon as you think you’ve conquered marketing online, along comes another trend that prompts you to change gears yet again. The good news is that there are experts out there who make it their business to inform the rest of us what marketing… Read More
3 Reasons Why Your Landing Page Stinks
You can have the most amazing website and sell absolutely incredible products but if your landing page stinks, your business is not going to be as successful as you hoped. Your landing page should be the focal point of your entire online marketing campaign. It should compel visitors to take your desired action whether that’s… Read More
Website Performing Poorly? Here Are the Top 3 Reasons Why
Your business website should be a place online that your target market finds easily. Then, once they land on your site, your visitors should easily find all the information they’re looking for. But if your site is not performing well because you’re not getting traffic– or people leave it shortly after landing on it, you’ve… Read More
Avoid Doing These 3 Things that Will Drive Your Customers Away
It can take months to acquire a new customer but just seconds to lose one. You may have the most perfect product that you sell for a great price but if you do certain things, your customers will leave without even telling you why. Here are three things you should avoid doing at all costs… Read More
3 Secrets to Getting Your Pricing Right as a 2015 Small Business
While there have been some recent improvements to the economy, most retailers today are dropping their prices in a bid to improve upon their sales numbers. Even though consumers have enjoyed paying far less for gasoline thus far this year, overall consumer confidence in the economy is shaky at best. This consumer caution means that… Read More
Your Site Has Been Hacked… Now What?
You’ve worked hard to build your website. You keep your content current and credible and as a result, you’re seeing an upswing in traffic. Then, out of the blue, traffic takes a nosedive. And when you start to investigate, you realize why: your site has been hacked! Visitors may find that there’s a server error,… Read More
Summer – The Ideal Time for Your Small Business Marketing Checklist Review
Summertime is when most of us try to slow down the pace a bit so we can get outdoors and enjoy all types of activities that make summertime special. This is when people take their big vacations they’ve planned all year and when attending barbeques and other outdoor social events is a top priority. Summertime… Read More
Make the Most of Your Offline Marketing with These 5 Easy Tips
Even though online marketing is front and center today, it still pays to market your business offline. Offline marketing is far from obsolete and in fact, it’s one of the best ways to help ensure your message gets across to your target market. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your offline… Read More
Don't Spend Another Minute on Facebook If You're Doing These 4 Things
By now, most businesses realize that they need to have a strong presence on Facebook as the world’s number one social media channel is a great way to connect with both current and prospective customers. But getting the most out of Facebook is not something every business knows how to do. The good news is… Read More
Is Your SEO Service Provider Compliant with the Dreaded Google Penguin & Panda Updates?
Most people think of cute animals when they hear the words “Penguin” and “Panda” but for many search engine optimization service providers, these two words are to be feared. Google’s Penguin and Panda are algorithm updates that play separate roles in improving the overall experience of online users. While algorithm updates should be primarily a… Read More
Website Conversion Woes? : 3 Reasons People are Leaving Your Site
So you’ve done everything you can to convert those website visitors into leads and paying customers. Your website copy is top-notch, your product images are of the best quality and your overall site design is professional. So why aren’t those visitors you’re getting converting into leads and paying customers? Business owners commonly complain about poor… Read More
Does Your SEO Service Provider Ensure Compliance with Google's Penguin and Panda Updates?
While Google attaches cute animal names to its algorithm updates like ‘Penguin” and “Panda”, these updates are viewed by many SEO service providers as anything but cute and cuddly. Google makes hundreds of changes to its algorithms every year. And while we don’t hear about most of these changes, some of these updates get a… Read More
Choose the Right SEO Service Provider for Your Business
Why We’re the Right SEO Provider For Your Business Nearly every SEO provider out there today is quick to say they’re the answer to your online marketing woes. Frankly, the SEO industry has become saturated with many unqualified companies all claiming to be experts. But we are a premiere SEO provider with a proven track… Read More
3 Secrets to Getting More Social Shares… Without Turning Off Your Readers
If you’re on top of your marketing game, you should be in the habit of sharing each new post your write on the social web. If you are not seeing the results you want on social media because you’re not getting many likes, shares and comments, then you’re doing something wrong. As social media consultant… Read More
SEO Goes Natural & Social With High Quality Content
3 Secrets to Hitting a Homerun with Your Content Marketing
Not surprisingly, content continues to be one of the key aspects of online marketing in 2015. But what worked last year may not work now as the methods of marketing content have shifted. Businesses today that invest heavily in content marketing are seeing big returns. However, you don’t have to be a big business in… Read More
4 Website Design Makeover Tips to Take Your Site from Average to Wow!
Did you know that marketers redesign their websites on average every 18 to 24 months? Site redesigns happen this frequently due to the fact that the world changes considerably in 18 to 24 months including many businesses and consumers. What worked two years ago may not work today with all types of factors coming into… Read More
9 Things Our Most Successful Clients Do to Get Maximum Benefit from Social Media Marketing
9 Things Our Most Successful Clients Do to Get Maximum Benefit from Social Media Marketing
Could This Be Why Nobody is Watching Your Marketing Videos?
Researchers tell us that we’re now watching well over 160 billion hours of online video each year. Nowadays, all the big brands and savvy marketers are turning to video to promote products and services to cash in on the many benefits video marketing has to offer. If you’ve created and posted your own videos online… Read More
How to Automate Your Social Channels Without Sacrificing Engagement
Running a business is not easy and time seems to work against you when you’ve got a lot on your plate each day. One of those tasks that must be attended to regularly is maintaining your social channels so that you always have a consistent flow of content to share with your followers. But cranking… Read More
What's your Story? Storytelling is Poised to be the Next Marketing Darling
Every year or so, it seems there is a new “marketing darling” that turns the business world on end. For instance, blogging was considered the thing to do a few years ago which was quickly followed by guest posting when every marketer and his brother rushed to find businesses willing to allow them to write… Read More
Leads, Leads, And More Leads Through Blog Article Promotion
We have all heard it before, write consistent blog posts, promote them, and revel in the number of website visits that will invariably end up coming in. However, all the positive effects of such a blog writing process takes time to materialize, generally in the scope of a couple of years. Realize though, that the… Read More
3 SEO Tactics You Can Stop Using Now
Everybody knows that employing solid SEO tactics and techniques can go far in marketing a business online. But as time marches on, some SEO tactics are simply not effective anymore as they do little to improve a website’s rankings. This is why it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends in the world… Read More
Pinterest as a Marketing Tool? Are you Kidding Me? Nope, We're Not!
There’s a lot of buzz in marketing circles about Pinterest and for good reason. This image-based social sharing site can drive incredible amounts of traffic to your website. And using it is easier than you may think. Here are a few tips for getting started on Pinterest that will help you get the most out… Read More
5 Free, No-Strings Attached Ways to Market Your Small Business
The chances are that when you launched your small business, you figured that marketing was going to be easy because after all, you were offering a product that your targeted consumers needed. But once you got rolling, you probably quickly figured out that marketing a small business is not a walk in the park. In… Read More
Word of Mouth Marketing: Be a Blabbermouth But in the Right Way
You can have an very unique and innovative product that solves a major problem people have but if nobody knows about it, your business is doomed. Every business owner in {ip:cityName} knows how important it is to keep tabs on what people are saying about them and their brand on and off line but not… Read More
Why 2015 is the Year to Implement Your Video Marketing
Are you planning to make a purchase online? If so, there’s a good chance you have viewed a video on the product. After all, videos are much more effective when you want to learn the features of a product you are considering buying. Also, it is much less time consuming to watch videos, rather than… Read More
Is Meerkat a Part of Your Marketing Mix?
In case you missed it, there’s quite a bit of online buzz out there about a thing called Meerkat. What is Meerkat? It’s an app that allows users to easily stream live video from a mobile device with real-time interaction. While live streaming certainly isn’t a new way to market, Meerkat makes the process easier… Read More
Are your Best Workers Quitting? Here's How to Hold Onto Your Most Valuable Staff
Employee retention matters to any business and it matters a lot! Any business that is able to retain key, talented staff is much better off in the long run. Your best workers help you sell products and services, they ensure your customers are satisfied and they go far in keeping co-workers in check. In a… Read More
Sexying Up Your Unsexy Business Through the Art of Story-Telling
While there are many brands that are inherently sexy wherein it’s easy to market the products and services being sold, most businesses don’t have the privilege of having sexy or riveting products to make marketing a cinch. But it doesn’t matter how snooze-worthy your products and services may be — regardless if you’re selling bathroom… Read More
Still Ignoring Social Media? Then Your Marketing Efforts are Falling Short
Some business owners in {ip:cityName} which may include you, come up all types of reasons why they don’t use social media for marketing purposes. Some say they don’t market on social media because their customers don’t use it, others say social media is for teenagers while many say they just don’t have time to bother.… Read More
Let’s Get Visual: Using Instagram for Business
It’s time that we accept something. It might be a little weird at first, but it’s a pretty big deal. Instagram is no longer just for teenage selfies and pictures of gourmet dishes. No, it’s become a legitimate tool that can be really valuable for businesses. If you’re not already on Instagram, don’t panic. There’s… Read More
What the Ice Bucket Challenge Teaches Us About Marketing
If you use social media, last summer you undoubtedly watched a countless number of videos consisting of celebs and non-celebs alike having buckets of ice cold water dumped over their heads. The Ice Bucket Challenge was created to increase awareness of and raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease as it’s… Read More
Marketing To Millennials? Give Them What They Want
The Millennial Generation consists of people born from the early ’80s to the early 2000’s, making them the largest generation by population size. Without question, this generation is the most radically different generation since the industrial revolution. With the introduction of the internet and all the social channels that go along with it, the Millennial… Read More
Inbound Marketing Strategy – Go With The Grain And Break Into The Field
A Tae Kwon Do expert realizes how to properly break a board and always splits it with the grain. These individuals understand that it is difficult, if not impossible, to break a board against the grain. An inbound marketing strategy is like breaking a board with the grain and is the easiest path to success.… Read More
Are You Making These 4 Classic Content Marketing Blunders?
Regardless of what type of business you’re running, the chances are that you’re doing some sort of content marketing. After all, it’s a fairly ambiguous term that covers a lot of territory. But while you may be doing content marketing, are you confident that it’s working? Numerous surveys have suggested that many businesses are uncertain… Read More
Email Marketing Woes? Are Your Messages Impersonal and Boring?
Anybody who thinks email marketing is dead and gone should just take a look at their inbox as they’re sure to see definite signs of life. Contrary to what many people believe, email marketing is very much alive and well and if used in conjunction with a sound content marketing strategy, email can be extremely… Read More
Should Instagram Be Part of Your Marketing Mix?
Even though Facebook continues to reign as the world’s most popular social network, other visual-based social platforms have been gaining momentum the past couple of years like Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram. There are now over 150 million active users and counting on Instagram making this social platform one that cannot be ignored. In fact, a… Read More
Tips for Business Owners Who Should Be Marketing But Don't Know How To
An entrepreneur can succeed in his or her endeavors without being a marketer or sales expert. In fact, you don’t have to have one marketing bone in your body in order to find success with your business. This may sound a bit strange because after all, every entrepreneur goes into business to sell something, right?… Read More
Negative SEO Is a Marketing Bogeyman That Can Sabotage Your Website
Anyone who spends any time at all looking around online for search engine optimization news and information has seen a lot of buzz lately about negative SEO. What is negative SEO you ask? Negative SEO occurs when someone makes an attempt to lower a website’s rankings in the search engines. An easy way to look… Read More
4 Secrets to Modernize Your Social Media Campaign
Social Media platforms have become a valuable marketing tool for businesses large and small. Many experts suggest that maintaining presence on a variety of social media platforms is vital to the overall success of a social media marketing campaign. To get the most out of your social media marketing efforts, strategically using a variety of… Read More
Crush Your Competitors with These 4 Marketing Tactics
As a small business owner in {ip:cityName}, you already know that the better job you do of marketing your business, the greater your success will be. With so many new small businesses launching each day, the chances are that you have some direct competitors that are vying for the same customers you’re targeting. In order… Read More
11 Superb Ideas for Creating Content You Probably Never Thought Of
It’s important for businesses to regularly create content to share as content marketing is one of the best ways to gain exposure and increase the number of customers you have. It’s absolutely essential that you create relevant content that your current and prospective customers will find useful. Of course, it’s difficult and time-consuming to try… Read More
SEO: Then & Now – Oh What a Difference a Few Years Can Make!
With Panda, Penguin and all the other updates coming out of Google regularly, SEO has transformed over the years. What worked a few years ago, doesn’t work today as Google and the other search engines are constantly making improvements to provide internet users with an improved experience. If you were to look at a webpage… Read More
Too Much Marketing Can Be Dangerous
Is there such a thing as over communicating with your clients and the general public? The answer is a resounding YES! Often we worry about the style, medium and timing of marketing, while failing to put much thought into the frequency of these messages. Weather the messages are sent via one medium or several, one… Read More
Topic Ideas You Probably Haven't Thought Of For Your Small Business Blog
Most small businesses don’t have unlimited funds available to take advantage of all the many marketing strategies out there. That’s why blogging is a great way to get noticed online as it doesn’t cost anything to write and publish articles to place on your blog. Blogging is a great way to draw new customers to… Read More
Managing Your Online Reputation
In today’s day and age, the online reputation of a business is considered as important as any other aspect of running a successful company. These days, prospective clients and consumers have the ability to check out a business’ reviews right at their fingertips. With a majority of the population now using smart phones and checking… Read More
3 Up and Coming Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate in 2015
It’s that time of the year once again when small business owners in {ip:cityName} wonder what direction to take with their social media marketing campaigns. It’s important to keep in step with the most current social media trends as doing so will help ensure success in terms of establishing solid relationships with current customers and… Read More