By:
On:
In: Communicating to Win, content marketing, Corporate Communications, LinkedIn, marketing, marketing strategy, sales, small business, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , ,

  Influencer marketing is a big deal that’s about to get bigger. Influencer marketing focuses on utilizing authority figures in a given industry industry to increase a brand, product or service’s visibility and esteem. This can include anything from straight forward endorsements to an industry leader tweeting out a piece of content marketing. This type of marketing is underutilized, but we may well end up looking back on 2017 as the year that all changed. Brands Plan on Increasing Influencer Marketing Maybe the best piece of evidence that 2017 is the year of influencer marketing is that more brands plan on using it. In fact,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Communicating to Win, content marketing, marketing, marketing strategy, sales, Search engine marketing, SEO, small business, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , , ,
With: 0 Comments

Many people have bought into the notion that search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing are two separate things. Nope! Maybe that was true a few years ago, but no more. The two are so intertwined today that they really can’t be separated. A smart marketer now thinks about how he or she use these tools to complement each other. Let’s check out seven tips for ensuring your content and SEO play nice together: 1) Integrate keywords naturally (but with SEO in the back of your mind!) – Gone are the days of keyword stuffing your way to top rankings, but they still play a vitalRead More →

By:
On:
In: Corporate Communications, marketing, public relations, small business, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , , ,
With: 0 Comments

Trust. It’s is the Holy Grail of marketing, especially for small business. Developing a reputation as a company that your customers can trust implicitly must be your goal with every contact, interaction and or transaction with custo mers and/or potential customers. Here are three quick tips for building the kind of trust that will build your business: 1. Don’t Go Negative on Competitors It might seem like trying to making your competitors look bad would be a great thing, but doing so is almost always a huge mistake. It only males you look worse, and could actually drive your potential customers right into their arms. RatherRead More →

By:
On:
In: marketing, marketing strategy, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , ,
With: 0 Comments

Ah, those SEO blues. More and more people are complaining to me these days about SEO (search engine optimization) efforts gone bad. As Google has continued to refine and update the way its search engine works, more and more of the work of so-called SEO “experts” has proven to be essentially worthless. And the real shame is that a huge number – probably a majority – of these business customers don’t even know if the SEO work they have shelled out good money for is even working! Let me say here and now, I am not now nor have ever claimed to be an authorityRead More →

By:
On:
In: Communicating to Win, marketing strategy, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , , , , ,
With: 0 Comments

When I go to social media conferences and other similar events, one of the things I find amusing (and, okay, I’ll admit it, sometimes a bit frustrating) is how often the discussion focuses solely on social media tools. Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE proponent of using digital tools on the social web for marketing.  Any marketer who isn’t continuously exploring ways to put tools like blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube to work attracting customers is, well, just not very smart. But the tools are just that: tools.  And as any mechanic worth her or his salt can attest, tools are useless withoutRead More →

By:
On:
In: Corporate Communications, marketing strategy, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Content is king.” Open virtually any marketing book or peruse any marketing or sales oriented website and you will probably run across that phrase.  It has become something of a mantra in marketing and sales circles, and for good reason:  Marketing and selling — especially for services firms —  relies on building trust-based relationships, and the way to build trust is to provide up-front value.  And one of the best ways to do that is to provide customers and prospects with high-quality information – a.k.a content – that demonstrates the power of your analysis, ideas and approach. So, if content is king, and an importantRead More →

By:
On:
In: Communicating to Win, marketing strategy, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , ,
With: 0 Comments

Note: This post also appears in my column in the fifth edition of Social Media Marketing Magazine. The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin recently ignited a social tsunami when it kicked out a patron for violating its 14-year-old policy of zero tolerance for talking or texting during its screenings. The irate young woman left a profanity-laced voicemail message, excoriating the movie house for enforcing the very rule for which it is best known and best loved by its customers. The theater’s honchos responded with one of the best maneuvers in the history of brand marketing: they converted the rant into an in-theater PSA that they then showedRead More →

By:
On:
In: Communicating to Win, Communications Research, Corporate Communications, marketing, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , ,

(Note: This column also appears in my column in the fourth issue of Social Media Maketing Magazine.) The American Marketing Association and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business are out with the latest edition of the CMO Survey, their semiannual report of what’s on the minds of the country’s top marketers. It contains some good news and at least one huge note of concern. The CMOs express surprising optimism about the overall pace of economic recovery and the growth of their own budgets, especially in the area of social media spending. They predict that over the coming year, social media spending will almost double fromRead More →

By:
On:
In: Communicating to Win, marketing, social media marketing, Strategic Communications
Tagged: , , , , ,

(NOTE: This article first appeared in my column in Social Media Marketing Magazine) No multinational manufacturer “gets” social media marketing more than Ford Motor Company. The Dearborn dynamos have scored repeatedly in the last couple of years, executing some of the most powerful social media promotional campaigns ever. And while there is no question they have leveraged their substantial financial, technical and human resources to help speed their success, the basic components of their strategy will work for organizations of any size or scope. In early 2009, Ford launched the celebrated Fiesta Movement campaign, loaning out 100 Ford Fiestas, its successful European small car, a year beforeRead More →