Archive for the ‘Strategic Communications’ Category

Driving Valuable Backlinks Through Exceptional Contributed Content

Tuesday, June 21st, 2016

Keyboard - smallAs a strategic marketing company, we have promoted the importance of marketing for any business loudly and often. At the same time, we understand that small businesses are often operating on razor-thin margins (if they’re even in the black at all) and may not have substantial cash reserves on hand to fund an aggressive marketing campaign. Fortunately, a large war chest is by no means a necessity in successful marketing. (more…)

In Marketing—Of Any Kind—It Pays to Be Consistent!

Saturday, June 18th, 2016

BrandWhat do your Facebook page, your primary business website, your Twitter feed and your direct mailing materials have in common? Hopefully it’s a lot of things, and not just the fact that they are part of your content marketing and branding strategies. Although these are all different media, it’s important to make sure that your branding standards are both consistent across all social channels, and in alignment with your corporate website and overall branding guidelines. (more…)

Blending Old and New Media for Advertising Success

Tuesday, April 26th, 2016

Native advertisingNative ads—ads that reside seamlessly within content, giving the appearance of editorial material—have become increasingly prevalent as consumer adoption of mobile technology has skyrocketed. These ads can take many forms, and marketers are always in search of the next new thing that will enable them to cut through the clutter to deliver an experience that not only will be different, but also will resonate with their audiences and, ultimately, drive sales. At least that’s the goal. (more…)

Putting the “Strategic” Into Strategic Content Marketing

Thursday, April 14th, 2016

The Content Marketing Institute’s (CMI) 2015 reports on B2B and B2C (business-to-consumer) content marketing trends reveal some important disconnects among demand, effectiveness, and satisfaction with results. For instance, while 86% of B2B respondents indicate that they are using content marketing, only 38% say that their efforts are effective. While 83% say they have a content marketing strategy, only 35% have a documented strategy. That’s a problem. (more…)

Blogs: A Natural Starting Point for Content Marketing

Tuesday, March 8th, 2016

At Strategic Communications, blogging is a big part of what we do, both for ourselves and for our clients. A robust, well-managed blog is a key element of any content creation strategy. As we’ve discussed in the past, quality content is a must when driving traffic to your site. Blogs are a great vehicle for this.

Obviously, part of implementing an effective blogging strategy require developing quality content for the blog.  Assuming you’ve got quality content, your blog posts can serve as a great starting point for repurposing content across a variety of channels. Here are some of the things that we do to leverage the value of our, and our clients’ blog content: (more…)

Direct Mail Part I: The Big Benefits of Traditional Direct Mail Marketing

Tuesday, January 12th, 2016

In the age of social media, search engine optimization and email, it might sound crazy to suggest anyone think of including direct mail in their marketing strategy, but that’s just what we’re about to suggest. And, yes, by mail we mean paper mail delivered by a United States postal worker. (more…)

Leveraging User-Generated Content to Boost Your Brand

Thursday, January 7th, 2016

Past and existing customers are extraordinary marketing resources for any business. What better way to tout your product or service than to use the “don’t take it from me” approach by turning the microphone over to a satisfied customer with no personal interest in supporting your brand? (more…)

Evaluating and Choosing the Right Content Creator for Your Brand

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

Nobody would dispute that “content is king” in the 21st century. Marketers are scrambling to create, distribute, and repurpose content in ways that resonate with their audiences. Demand for original content has likely never been higher and continues to climb. That’s good news for the agencies and freelancers who are positioned to provide quality content; their numbers are growing exponentially.

That can be both a good and a bad thing for the companies that need unique, high-quality content to feed consumer demand and stand out from the competition. (more…)

Ideas for Choosing and Working Effectively With Freelancers

Thursday, December 10th, 2015

According to a recent article in Harvard Business Review,  freelancers represent 34 percent of the American workforce. This includes more than fourteen million so-called “moonlighters” who have full-time jobs but use freelancing to supplement their incomes. The good news about this data for freelancers is that there are a lot of opportunities for freelance work. The downside is that there is plenty of competition as well. (more…)