Strategy, Research & Planning

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  Marketing Starts with Business Strategy

  Marketing, whether the digital marketing that we focus on or marketing more broadly, is about a whole lot more than sell sheets and social media. As Target Marketing Editor-in-Chief Thorin McGee put it recently, “Marketing starts [with] business strategy.” In other words, if you’ve isolated yourself in some marketing silo that only every once in…MORE >

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  Why Search on Your Website Matters

  On all but the smallest of sites, you need to have a good search experience teed up and ready to go. This has as much to do with the help it can give you as for the help it can give your site visitors. Making content easy to find for site visitors has obvious advantages:…MORE >

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  Digital Marketing Audits for Fun and Profit

  Well, mostly profit … My recent webinar with the fine folks at Biznology is now available as a recording. Mercifully, the video window of me and my bald head is on the small side and the slides are big and easy to read! Time spent auditing your digital marketing might seem like time better spent…MORE >

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  Digital Marketing Scorecard

  Auditing your digital marketing is a critical part of ensuring that your marketing remains effective over time. Even the most well researched, meticulously planned, and flawlessly executed digital marketing will fade over time if you don’t adapt it to changing market conditions, competitive landscape, and your own company’s growth. We’ve developed a scorecard that encourages…MORE >

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  Making Your Content Marketing More Efficient

  Process matters. Being more efficient isn’t just a convenience; it can be a big part of being more effective. Implement a Strong CRM The most important aspect of an efficient content marketing system is your CRM. If you don’t have a solid accounting of who you’re contacting, what contact you’ve had with them in the…MORE >

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  An Outside Perspective: Better Planning and Problem-Solving in your Digital Marketing

  Perspective is everything, and the ability to see issues from varied perspectives is a skill not to be underestimated. Put another way, never ask a barber if you need a haircut. Setting aside the economic motivation a barber might have for always saying you need a haircut, a barber, even if honest, is more likely…MORE >

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  Creating Content That Encourages Action, Part II

  Last week we walked through general ideas behind creating content that encourages action, since the goal of content marketing should always be to move prospects through their buying process toward a purchase decision. Encouraging prospects to take steps along that journey requires content that provides useful information as they evaluate their options – and provides evidence…MORE >

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  Creating Content That Encourages Action, Part I

  Every piece of content you create as a content marketer must pass through one key filter: what action am I hoping to encourage when a prospect consumes this content? The more precisely and specifically your answer to that question, the more likely your content is to succeed. If your answer is something like, “to raise…MORE >

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  Under the Content Marketing Hood: Helpful Hints for Planning and Organization

  We spend a lot of time talking about the product of all our hard work – the content we create and the activity it encourages – but much less time talking about the process. (AKA the hard work itself!) But process is an important part of the equation because the more efficient a process we can…MORE >

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  Do You Really Need a New Website? (Revisited)

  If you’re a fan of the old saying, “Never ask a barber if you need a haircut,” you may be skeptical about a web developer helping you decide whether you need a new website. You may be surprised at what you’ll find below. Of the six common complaints we hear about websites, only one is…MORE >