A Dangerous Threat to Your Small Business: Mediocrity.
I think it’s safe to say that no one starts a new venture or a business simply to be average. There’s a drive, a passion and a vision of possibilities. There’s also confidence that great things can be achieved. People who start new companies often risk a great deal with substantial investments in time and money to make their ideas a reality. Having some skin in the game also drives many entrepreneurs to succeed because it’s all they have. Seasoned employees who join a small business also take some risks. But at the same time, they can have a substantial …
Online Marketing News: No Millennial Trust, LinkedIn Gets Lynda, 5 Years Of YouTube Ads
Content With Relevant Images gets 94{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} More Views [Infographic] – Do you want more eyes on your online content? It could be as simple as adding a photo or a video to your post. Visual storytelling is incredibly powerful. The good folks a Quicksprout recently published an infographic (below) outlining a few stats suggesting just how important “the visual” is on social media. Quicksprout Facebook Launches Messenger For Web Browsers – Facebook offers web users separate messaging option, but has no plans to remove chat from main desktop experience. Marketing Land 84 Percent of Millennials Don’t Trust Traditional Advertising – Social media has changed the way brands engage with their consumers, say…
Content vs. Advertising – Is There Really A Debate?
Recording last night’s BeanCast, Altruism or Consumerism, hosted by the talented Bob Knorpp brought up the topic of Content Marketing and whether paid placement of content is just advertising – among many other topics from Dove to Amazon Dash. This content vs. ad question was inspired by commentary from Mitch Joel in his post, Your Content Is Kidding No One where he states, “if you have to pay to have it placed, it’s not content. It’s an ad.” While I agree with what Mitch says in the post in terms of brands failing to create engaging, share-worthy and conversation-starting content, I’m not on board with the pay to play statement. Whether you call it content or…
Four Ways CMOs Can Differentiate & Optimize Their Content Marketing Strategy
Content isn’t King, it’s the Kingdom Taking inventory of the content we’ve produced over the past 10+ years, I realized we’ve collectively written 1.6 million words on this blog. There’s also numerous guides, articles, social messages and emails as well as a book and numerous contributions to industry publications. Looking to the future of our own content marketing strategy and the need for more visually creative, data-informed and cross platform content that’s highly specialized for our audience, it’s clear that simply …
An Authoritative Interview with Podcast Master Jerod Morris, VP of Rainmaker.FM
Who is Jerod Morris? I think that’s an important question and one deserving of a public answer because if you’re in the online marketing and especially, the podcasting world, you need to know Jerod. So let’s get started. Jerod (@JerodMorris) is part of a small team that plans, produces, and markets the content for Rainmaker.FM, Copyblogger’s digital marketing podcast network. He hosts two shows on the network: The Lede and The Showrunner and also develops new shows. Jerod speaks regularly at industry conferences and produces Rainmaker Platform webinars. Simply put, Jerod is an Authority on podcasting and Rainmaker…
Online Marketing News: LinkedIn Gets Elevated, Foursquare Gets Pinpointed, The Firehose Gets Cut Off
Content Creation vs. Content Sharing [INFOGRAPHIC] – If there were a magic wand to conquer the online content strategy, most, if not all, would give it a wave–or two. Unfortunately, there is no one magical solution to mastering your brand’s online presence, but there are a few ways you can revitalize it. See what content creation and content sharing can do for you. Social Media Today Facebook, Twitter to Claim a Third of Display Ads in Two Years – A new forecast from eMarketer sees the two leading social networks claiming some $14 billion in display ad spending in two years, or nearly 34{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} of the estimated $37 billion category. Facebook will…
eBook: Winning with Authority Rainmaker – Integrated Content, Search & Social Media
When faced with the seemingly insurmountable odds of information overload, 63GB per person per day in the USA, how can brands, let alone enterprising individuals stand out? Be the best answer wherever customers are looking. And how do you do that? By creating authority across channels and media from search to social to wherever content can be discovered, consumed or acted on. To provide you with a clear roadmap on creating authority through integrated marketing, our latest conference eBook project launches today for Copyblogger’s Authority Rainmaker conference. Featuring top experts including: Dan …
Rejoining TopRank Marketing: 5 Career Lessons That Brought Me Back
One of the most exciting parts of life is uncertainty. You never really know where the decisions that you make will lead you. Sure, you have a rough idea of where you may end up but there are always unforeseen factors outside your control. In my first stint at TopRank Marketing, I was the agency Marketing Manager. This was a unique and very creative position that allowed me to work closely with our CEO Lee…
4 Essential Tips for Content Marketers to Survive Mobilegeddon, Google’s Mobile Friendly Update
Internet users are spending more time than ever on their smartphones, which means Content Marketers must adjust their strategies to create a better user experience for those drawn to the small screen. The release of Google’s new mobile-friendly update, aka “mobilegeddon”, has drawn a firestorm of attention to the need for improving website responsiveness and user experience on mobile devices. There’s a good reason for this: A recent study by ComScore and Millennial Media found that approximately 56{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} of digital content is now consumed via smartphones. Knowing that a large portion of your audience likely searches, consumes and interacts with content on their mobile device should inform how you execute on …
Online Marketing News: Facebook Says Hello, Twitter Gets More Direct, Google Gets Mobile-Friendly
The Periodic Table of Social Media – There’s a science to social media. From content and metrics to terminology, here’s a fun way to test and verify your social marketing experiments. Direct Marketing News New Direct Messaging Comes To Twitter – With today’s changes, the ice cream shop can opt to receive Direct Messages from anyone; so you can privately send your appreciation for the salted caramel without any barriers. Twitter Facebook, Twitter…
2015 Enterprise B2B Content Marketing Report: More Isn’t Better
Companies in the B2B space from IBM to HubSpot have been actively and effectively engaging prospects with longer sales cycle content for years. Like many competitive environments, a lot of emphasis for marketers has been about creating “more” content. More blog posts, videos, infographics, social messages, emails, and so on. But here’s the thing about “more content” when it comes to enterprise-sized organizations. There’s a nearly unmanageable degree of added complexity when you start involving a matrix of customer segments and buying journeys across different product offerings, company divisions and geographies. How are large, enterprise B2B marketers responding to this challenge? There’s a new report…
Live Streaming Showdown: Meerkat Versus Periscope
Live streaming video services have finally hit the mainstream market, and are beginning to pick up steam. Many might compare their use to Dave Egger’s 2013 novel, “The Circle,” which explores the beginning of a transparent society in which politicians, public servants, and private citizens “go transparent” by wearing body cams and live streaming every moment of their waking life. In the book, this technology is offered by a popular social media platform, and is adopted at an exponential rate. Egger’s vision of a “live streaming” society is now coming to fruition. Live video streaming services like Meerkat and Periscope allow users to stream and share videos in real time. The…
Behind the Curtain: 4 Tips for Creating Landing Pages That Convert
Landing pages are still somewhat of a mystery to many marketers. In theory they sound simple, but it may feel like there are secrets or some mystic formula that has to be cracked in order to be successful. Now you not only need a website that is filled with stellar content and optimized for conversion, but you must also create landing pages for different marketing tactics. The question is, how effective are they really? According to Marketing Sherpa, 64{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} of marketers say that landing pages are the most effective way to test value proposition. Additionally, they’ve found that 48{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} of marketers build a new landing page for each marketing campaign. Chances are, your competition is already at …
Tru and The Players Theatre Present ‘Evolution of Internet Marketing’ Panel Tonight
Theater Resources Unlimited presents the March panel, The Evolution of Internet Marketing: What It Can Do for Your Show, tonight, March 26, 2015 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre , 115 MacDougal Street, 3rd Floor Loft Theatre, NYC. Doors open at 7pm for networking and refreshments; the presentation starts at 7:30pm.
Infographic: 14 Online Marketing Tips to Improve Design, Content & Conversions
A trusted resource can be a friend, colleague or industry expert and we may turn to them from time-to-time for guidance. Today’s online marketing landscape is crowded with advice from marketers that may have the power to influence you, but not necessarily the authority to give you sage advice. In our eBook “Winning with Authority – 15 Experts on Integrated Online Marketing”, we pulled together advice from trusted thought leaders in the marketing field. Now we present you an infographic with even more insights from …
7 Bold Statements About The 10 Year Forecast For SEO
I am a passionate speaker, entrepreneur, Navy SEAL combat veteran, and the Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Internet Marketing Inc. , one of the fastest growing digital marketing agencies in the country. IMI specializes in analytics and data-driven integrated online marketing strategies for medium and enterprise-level clients.
4 predictions for the immediate future of cloud computing – InfoWorld
InfoWorld4 predictions for the immediate future of cloud computingInfoWorldMany thought this would be race of a dozen or so public cloud providers, but the market has taken care of most of them. Indeed, smaller cloud providers, such as … Anybody who is not AWS, Google, and Microsoft will have to grab a smaller piece of the …
Google: Impact of Mobile-Friendly Update "Decreased Considerably" As Many … – Internet Marketing News
Internet Marketing NewsGoogle: Impact of Mobile-Friendly Update "Decreased Considerably" As Many …Internet Marketing NewsIt's fair to say that Google's mobile-friendly update was less impactful than expected. Now we know part of the reason why. Google's Gary Illyes confirmed on Twitter today that the negligible impact of the update was partly due to the fact that many …St. Louis Business Websites Cannot Escape Google's Mobile Friendly UpdateSTLtoday.comMobile-Geddon: What Now?New Jersey Law Journalall 15 news articles »
Why You Want to Own Facebook Inc Rather Than Google Inc – Smarter Analyst
Smarter AnalystWhy You Want to Own Facebook Inc Rather Than Google IncSmarter AnalystGoogle once again reported higher sales and profits. And that is a good thing. But, once again, the price of Google's primary product declined. Revenues increased because volume gains exceeded the price decline, which indicates thatthe market for …and more »
Alibaba Yanks Job Ad Seeking Candidates With Pornstar Qualities – AdAge.com
Alibaba Yanks Job Ad Seeking Candidates With Pornstar QualitiesAdAge.comAsia's biggest internet company advertised on its website for applicants who know how to praise the "code monkeys," wake them up and organize morning meetings. Physical characteristics similar to adult film … The posting was an attempt at humorous …and more »
Why You Want To Own Facebook Rather Than Google – Seeking Alpha
Why You Want To Own Facebook Rather Than GoogleSeeking AlphaGoogle once again reported higher sales and profits. And that is a good thing. But, once again, the price of Google's primary product declined. Revenues increased because volume gains exceeded the price decline, which indicates that the market for …and more »
How Google Could Give 2016 Hopefuls an Edge – Wall Street Journal (blog)
Wall Street Journal (blog)How Google Could Give 2016 Hopefuls an EdgeWall Street Journal (blog)In the midterms, the NextGen Climate Action Committee partnered with Bully Pulpit Interactive, President Barack Obama's digital marketing firm, to elevate the issue of climate change and try to defeat Republicans who were heavily financed by the oil …and more »
Meet The Disrupt NY 2015 Speakers And Judges – TechCrunch
Meet The Disrupt NY 2015 Speakers And JudgesTechCrunchJohn Borthwick is CEO and co-founder of betaworks, a company that builds and invests in companies across the social, data driven media Internet. Borthwick will judge the Startup Battlefield Finals on Wednesday May 6. Bob Bowman is the CEO at MLB …
It’s mobile-friendly or bust with Google searches – Chicago Tribune
Chicago TribuneIt's mobile-friendly or bust with Google searchesChicago TribuneIn fact, having a mobile-friendly site isn't a cure-all for poor rankings of a small business with a lackluster online presence, said Don Anderson, whose Mokena company, Top Quality Online Solutions, specializes in website design and Internet marketing.