Ideas, insights and inspirations.

1. Digital Content Marketing Strategy – We know that Google and other search engines want to deliver the best quality content to their users. Top manufacturers recognize the need to produce the content “goods.” But creating top notch content doesn’t just happen; it requires a strategy, and it takes time. Blogs, white papers, and infographics are great ways for manufacturing brands to provide informative content. But it also helps to expand your portfolio of digital assets when considering a content strategy. Think about the results pages you see when performing a search. Often they include images, instant answers, news and local information. Ensuring your company’s visual assets and business information are optimized for search engines helps your content reach users. Now, think about the reason you perform searches. Usually there is intent involved: the need to answer a question. For example, the first time I had to board my dog while I was traveling, I couldn’t figure out how to … Continue reading

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The widespread adoption of social media was a marketing game-changer. By 2014, social media users had surpassed two billion, by January of 2015, 42% of the world’s population had access to the Internet and, today, over half owns a smart phone.  The numbers are staggering. But despite predictions just a few years ago that social media would lead to the demise of email as a viable marketing platform, the email apocalypse never materialized. While it may lack the novelty of its younger digital marketing cousins like search, social and PPC, email is getting new love as an invaluable—and in many cases—superior marketing channel. Need proof beyond the number of times you check your own inbox a day? Email volume continues to grow exponentially, marketers are expected to invest $2.3 billion in email campaigns this year alone and email remains the number one activity on smart phones and other mobile devices. Future-minded marketers didn’t abandon their email outreach to chase social … Continue reading

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One of our clients, a small manufacturing company located in southwestern PA came to us with a problem of not getting enough calls for growing their business. Our initial response to their request was to help them with their website and grow their presence on search engines to gain more visibility. However, as algorithms changed, we suggested an updated strategy for the client, focusing on content and social media. The Updated Strategy Apart from the website, the client had no other content or social media channels. Our strategy focused on creating a content machine and gaining visibility on social networks through great stories and content. We created a blog along with supporting networks for social media on all major networks Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus. The Results The result was continual increases in rankings for optimized phrases, rise in organic traffic, and higher traffic from social networks. Here are some numbers to show the success of this campaign: Organic traffic increased … Continue reading

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With the holiday rush upon us and a new year quickly approaching, taking a moment to reflect on past victories and envisioning future endeavors is a welcome pause. Changing behavior, enacting new ideas and nurturing relationships should be at the forefront of all businesses this holiday season and into the new year. In fact, it is pretty much the story line for the redemption of infamous businessman Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. If you aren’t familiar with or need a refresher on the tale then here’s the lowdown. Scrooge was a shrewd businessman with a bad attitude who made his fortune managing a London accounting house. A full-fledged curmudgeon with quite a few nasty quirks like rudely hovering over stacks of coin, brow beating his sole employee Bob Cratchit, hoarding the office coal and frequently venturing on profanity laced tirades of “Bah!” and “Humbug!” To take it a a step further, he likened taking a vacation day … Continue reading

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Most people draw a clear line between conventional marketing of products and services, and social marketing, which broadly defined applies marketing principles to change human behavior in order to improve health or benefit society. But what happens when you bring a social issue forward that almost nobody knows even exists — one that goes to the very heart of an American ideal as old as the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. True in countless respects, but not when it comes to gauging a child’s future academic success. Some children simply are born “gifted” or “talented” — and that wealth of talent spreads equally across all segments of the American population, regardless of race, religion, geography or family income. Researchers count about 3.4 million academically gifted American school children in grades K-12 who happen also to be poor. Here is where the story gets interesting. Year after year, grade after … Continue reading

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You’ve probably watched enough “Law and Order” episodes to be familiar with the phrase, “follow the money.” Usually the prosecutor is telling the detectives or a forensic accountant to “follow the money.” The same is true for smart CMOs. Right now, we’re being bombarded daily with talk of “Big Data.” And, while it’s easy (and often more convenient) to look at myriad data points on impressions, circulation, visits, postcards dropped, day parts, opens and other metrics, they are only leading indicators of the real question. “How much money did we generate?” So, in the spirit of April. Don’t be fooled. Focus on ROI.

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Taken the dive into “Big Data” yet? If not, take heart. It’s not the amount of data that you accumulate that’s important. It’s more important to collect the right information. That takes thoughtful planning. Our tendency is to review performance data after we launch a campaign or blast an email broadcast out there. However, traffic metrics are a poor substitute for revenue analytics and conversion metrics. De facto data reporting isn’t a great long game though, if you’re trying to make a case for the next round of marketing investment. Most digital marketing agencies and in-house marketing teams know how much time they put into developing a major creative campaign. Do you know how much time you spend planning for ROI? Or is it merely an after-thought? Let’s be a bit more intentional and deliberate. Consider developing an ROI Strategy. And put your heart into it.

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Since New Years is a traditionally a time to take stock, here are five thought-provoking thoughts on marketing ROI from a few of my favorite experts on the subject (not ranked in any particular order).   1. “Choose no more than five key metrics. It’s hard to put organizational focus on more than that, so choose wisely.” Paul Albright, Chief Revenue Officer, Marketo 2. “The proper use of marketing ROI measurements is capable of comparing investment options as diverse as a direct marketing campaign, a dedicated sales force, a retail distribution channel and an Internet marketing campaign. Marketing ROI analysis can scale from the incremental value of a tagline on an envelope to the implementation of a multimillion-dollar enterprise CRM marketing initiative.” Jim Lenskold, President and Founder, Lenskold Group 3. “A new breed of “Super-Quant” will emerge in the near future having both the necessary statistical acumen and the required knowledge of interactive marketing. They will accelerate the ability of … Continue reading

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Digital (i.e. web+search+social+mobile) has changed everything in the world of marketing. Digital is doing to marketing what quantum mechanics did to newtonian mechanics. Let me share five indicators of a tectonic shift taking place right under our feet: 1. Communications models are now based on themes, not on THE BIG IDEA. The evidence of this is all around us. Think of your favorite brand and see how it is speaking differently to various audiences in different channels. Interestingly, a richer multi-dimensional argument has replaced cartesian coordinates stemming from a single point. Google, with its smart semantic and natural language processing capabilities, is able to understand themes and is creating winners by serving up theme leaders via Google search. 2. Iterative experimentation is replacing getting it right the first time. Analytics/testing are being used to narrow winning messages and weed out losers. Marketers are increasingly relying on A/B testing to guide message refinement. Intuit-Write-Measure-Adapt loops are replacing the traditionally linear research-write-measure … Continue reading

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Many people approach PPC and SEO as completely separate strategies. But if your PPC and SEO campaigns aren’t talking to each other, you’re wasting time and money. It’s important to share insights learned in each area to avoid duplicated efforts and missed opportunities. When used strategically, PPC can actually help your SEO strategy. Here are a couple of things to consider: When running PPC, you can see what specific search terms are getting clicks and driving leads. It’s important to factor this in when deciding which keywords are best to optimize for organically. You’ll dominate the search engine results page when you effectively optimize both efforts: PPC + SEO = 2/20 listings. Increasing the visibility of your brand is always beneficial. Dominating the paid and organic search results will prove that you’re an established presence in your market, and greatly increase traffic as a result. Here you can see where our client’s PPC ad is in the #1 PPC spot … Continue reading

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