Loyal fans are loyal fans. The more loyal they are the more they feel a sense of ownership over the brands they’re loyal to. Just ask Harley motorcycle owners. Because of their loyalty and sense of ownership, they can often be quite put off when brands make changes they don’t like. Like changes to the brand names they’ve become accustomed to.
Case in point: Read the rest of this entry »
In my last blog I talked about what I’ve observed as a disconnect between how businesses often talk about their own products and services and how their prospects and customers talk about them. This disconnect can become a significant obstacle when it comes to SEO designed to get audiences to your website. If you’re not using the same words and phrases that your target audience uses when they’re looking for products and services like yours, they’re not likely to find you. Read the rest of this entry »
Content marketing is still something that a lot of companies, large and small, continue to invest in. The ultimate goal, of course, is sales. But, along the way to a sale, content marketers must first capture attention, drive traffic to a website (in most cases), and deliver on the promise that their copy promo or social media post suggested.
SEO, or search engine optimization, has been a big part of this process. And, while I certainly consider SEO when crafting content for myself or my clients, I’m not a slave to it. Here’s why.
As I’ve worked within organizations and, for the past 15+ years as an external consultant, I’ve come to admit that most employees, including many senior leaders, really don’t enjoy strategic planning. I think one of the biggest reasons for this is that they see it as a waste of time. Lots of hours spent by lots of people in closed door meetings that lead to a laundry list of activities and assignments that rarely seem to drive meaningful change.
I’d get tired of that too. But I happen to really love the strategic planning process—when it’s done well.
Here are some reasons that I think many strategic planning efforts fail to capture the interest of employees (even senior leaders!), or lead to meaningful results.
I’ve been a rabid marketing practitioner for decades. I understand and believe in the power of marketing for companies of all types and sizes, across all industries.
And, I’ll admit, there have even been times when I’ve been too eager to turn to marketing when a go-slow approach might have served me better. Read the rest of this entry »
I was writing a trends piece for a client recently and, as I often do, I posted a call for input on sites like SOS (formerly HERO), Connectively, Qwoted, and Help a B2B Writer. I received close to 200 responses! To help me sort through the input and get a sense for what the top trends were based on this expert input, I did a simple tally.
And I started to notice something interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
I was playing Solitaire on a flight recently and was struck by how much I like developing and following standardized processes, yet how likely I am to vary from a process when I think it’s appropriate.
The trouble is Read the rest of this entry »
When I talk to people about their greatest challenges with social media, what I most frequently hear is “fnding time to stay engaged.”
I can definitely relate.
Currently I’m attempting to maintain two Twitter accounts (business), two LinkedIn accounts (business) and one Facebook account (personal) for myself, along with a growing number of accounts for clients. And, I need to Read the rest of this entry »
First there was Profnet. Then HARO (Help A Reporter Out). Then other similar tools entered the space, clearly to combat a decline in the value of pitches these early channels were generating. Most recently, Peter Shankman, the guy who created HARO, has launched SOS (formerly, and quite briefly, HERO). It’s a welcome new tool that, at least for now, seems to be successfully thrwarting the fake profiles and bot/GenAI-generated pitches. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the years marketers have come to rely on many different types of technology to perform a wide range of tasks, from collecting customer data to communicating with customers, from creating and distributing content to identifying and nurturing leads, tracking campaign success, and much more.
Now, with the introduction of generative artificial intelligence technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, IBM’s WatsonX, and Salesforce’s Einstein GPT, the use of technology is exploding even more rapidly in the marketing realm, having a ripple effect. Read the rest of this entry »
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