Posts Tagged ‘digital marketing’

Content Marketing: A Deep Dive Into the Definition

Thursday, June 30th, 2016

Podcasting and other forms of content marketingContent marketing is, as the words suggest, using content to market yourself, your company, your products or your services. The key distinction between “content” and “content marketing” is the purpose behind the content. Content marketing is done with the ultimate goal of generating a positive marketing impact for an individual or organization.

It’s important to note, though, that while marketing is at the basis of these activities, effective content marketing does not take a heavy sales approach. On the contrary, content marketing is more subtle than a sales appeal—and far more valuable to its recipients. That was true when John Deere launched “The Furrow,” and it is still true today, 120 years later. (more…)

CTAs Don’t Belong On Social Media

Tuesday, June 7th, 2016

Social media isn’t about blatant promotion, it’s about subtle connections. Yet every once in a while we find ourselves working with a client who (in our opinion) steps over the promotional line. CTAs (calls to action) don’t belong on social media. Social is, or should be, more subtle. (more…)

Being (Appropriately) Social Online: The Etiquette of Social Media Engagement

Thursday, April 21st, 2016

As the name suggests, social media is often a very informal means of conveying information. It’s familiar, colloquial and often has a personal touch – it’s social. So, when you’re using social media to support your business’ marketing needs, how should you behave? What’s the appropriate etiquette? (more…)

In Search of Viral Content: Is It Worth the Effort?

Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

Online marketing is a crowded arena. Just check out Internet Live Stats to get an idea of the massive amounts of blog posts, websites, tweets, etc. It’s hard to stand out in the crowd, but every once in a while, some gem emerges that catches the attention of the masses and forms part of the collective consciousness. In other words, something goes viral. But how does that happen? (more…)

What South Park Can Teach Us About Transparency in Advertising

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016

As we’ve discussed so often, content is king when it comes to modern online advertising. One of the best ways to drive traffic to your site is to provide fresh, relevant content that is interesting and desirable to your target market. This isn’t advertising, because you’re not directly promoting your product or service. The goal is to entice audiences to visit your site and keep coming back because you provide a useful service. Hopefully they’ll look around your site a bit and start to develop a strong impression of your brand, whether it’s because they see you as an expert or because they feel that you represent the same values they do.

But there’s a line between content and advertising that is often crossed, and when that line is crossed, we end up with what is commonly referred to as native advertising. (more…)

Twitter: Beyond Self-Promotion

Thursday, March 17th, 2016

In our recent blog post about the best ways to use Twitter for small businesses, we mentioned several uses of Twitter beyond pure advertising:

• Research
• Content curation
• Sharing Information with key target audiences
• Keeping an ear to the ground

Harvard Business Review (HBR) recently published an article titled “50 Companies That Get Twitter — and 50 That Don’t.” The article looked at a use of Twitter that is an important element of the pure advertising we choose not to focus on, and yet has a much broader usefulness: (more…)

Direct Mail Part II: Tips and Tricks for Making Direct Mail Work for You

Thursday, January 28th, 2016

In a recent blog post we discussed the great potential inherent in the oft-overlooked marketing strategy of direct mail. We discussed how direct mail has a more personal feeling and how it can grab the recipient’s attention more effectively than an email, which may be ignored or filtered into junk mail or spam folders. Hopefully we converted some skeptics.

Now we’d like to take a deeper dive to look at specific tips and tricks for making direct mailing campaigns work for your organization, something covered in greater depth in our book “Direct Mail in the Digital Age.”  (more…)

Brand Building for Service Professionals: Some Practical Tips

Tuesday, January 26th, 2016

We recently received an inquiry from a physician regarding ways to develop and manage his online brand, and it seemed like a good time to take a look at brand building tips for online brands for professionals in general. Whether you’re a physician, an attorney, an accountant, a business consultant or any other type of service professional, your business’ brand is necessarily tied closely to your own personal brand. We wrote extensively on this topic as it relates to the legal profession in “Business Development and Marketing for Lawyers”; however, the concepts are applicable to any profession. (more…)

7 Digital Advertising Trends You Need to Know Now!

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014

Digital has taken the world by storm, upending the world of traditional advertising and requiring 21st marketers to become savvy about a broad range of digital advertising options that can include anything from SEO, to social media, to mobile and more.

There’s much to understand, much to keep track of and much to stay on top of. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that digital advertising, unlike traditional advertising, is far more trackable, allowing marketers to determine what is working for them and driving the results they desire and what may not be as effective. (more…)