Friday, 30 November 2018

More than 400 Marketers Critique Marketing’s Holiday Approach

By Jay Baer, founder of Convince & Convert

Do you become a different marketer during the holiday season? 

Until it begins, you spend countless hours researching your audiences, building buyer personas, and executing strategies that put the customer’s experience first. All of your work is rooted in best practice and is conducted with an innovative spirit. I mean, let’s be honest, you’re really good at this. 

Then, out of nowhere, the holiday marketing season takes hold. 

All of those best practices and innovative, creative ideas take a backseat to what needs to be done for the final push before year’s end. We don’t act like ourselves. We send multiple emails daily. We execute a variety of promotional ideas we would never consider in Q2. We try to tailor our messages in ways we aren’t quite ready to do. The result is a marketing tsunami that results in a lot of noise and a bunch of tired marketing professionals. 

Here’s the thing: We know we aren’t ourselves during the holidays. And it makes sense why we act the way we do in the final quarter of the year. According to a National Retail Foundation survey, consumers will spend 4.1 percent more during the holiday season this year than they did a year ago for a total of $720 billion. 

This year, we decided to ask a group of marketers what they think of the profession’s approach during the holiday season. We partnered with our great friends at Oracle Marketing Cloud and surveyed more than 400 seasoned marketers across the U.S. We asked them what they like and dislike most about the holiday marketing season. The answers we received were revealing, candid and funny.

We took our survey responses and developed a set of hilarious, spot-on cartoons that illustrate how marketers feel about Q4 activities. We want you to download the entire ebook when you can.  

In the meantime, here’s a summary of marketers’ top holiday frustrations. 

We Don’t Like Holiday Campaigns that Begin Too Early

Taking the top spot for biggest holiday annoyance is holiday campaigns that coincide with back-to-school shopping. Sixty-three percent of marketers say it drives them nuts when they see a holiday marketing campaign in full flux right before Labor Day or just before March Madness. We believe there’s a window when it’s appropriate to do holiday marketing even though we don’t necessarily abide by that window.  

We Could Do Without the Stress

During the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, 70% of Americans shop. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day during this period with almost 115 million shoppers. Perhaps, it’s because we know this fact that we get a little carried away. Marketers’ second top holiday annoyance is the practice of creating sales and promotions for Black Friday or Cyber Monday that are so hot they induce consumer stress. 

We Email and Email and Email

The third top frustration marketers have is using the holidays as a justification to send more emails. Nearly half of marketers said this practice got under their skin. Interestingly, while some survey respondents claim we abuse email during the holiday marketing season, others say it’s justified and that consumer behavior data backs the increase. 

We Re-Connect with the Word T’was

This is the most interesting result our survey revealed. According to survey respondents, more than half of marketers believe it’s time to retire the Christmas poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas. Sixty percent of us are bothered by campaigns that use phrases from this poem and believe t’was time we looked to other sources for creative holiday inspiration. 

There is plenty more we do during the holiday season that we wouldn’t do any other time of year. All of those ideas have been illustrated for you to enjoy in our ebook. 

Remember, like any phase, this holiday marketing season will come to an end. When 2019 starts, we’ll be ready to get back to best practices and talk about the importance of customer experience. Consumers are paying more attention to experience than ever, except—apparently—during the holiday marketing season. 

Bio:

Convince & Convert founder Jay Baer is an award-winning Internet pioneer, who puts his 25 years of experience to work helping the world’s most iconic brands improve their digital marketing and customer experience. A New York Times best-selling author of six books, Jay is an inductee in the Professional Speaking and Word-of-Mouth Marketing Halls of Fame.



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Thursday, 29 November 2018

A 6-Step “Mindset Maintenance” Checklist for Workaholics

Maintaining a healthy business requires a healthy mindset. And maintaining a healthy mindset requires maintenance to be…well…maintained ;-)

This is never more true than for the workaholic entrepreneur; staying sane is hard work!

The mind, body and soul are machines. Yes, beautiful machines, but machines nonetheless. And as with any machine, they can suffer when neglected. We productivity junkies and workaholics are defined by a high tolerance for stress and heavy workloads. We seek this stuff out, we love challenges, and we take great pride in massive accomplishment.

But we still have a limit, a “production capacity” if you will. Those who know their limit and capacity have only discovered it from the back end of a burnout. And those who don’t will soon find out…

That is unless we begin to institute some simple daily practices of mental oil changes and soul-battery recharging. The following checklist will motivate you to perform this essential maintenance. It offers a solution for the continuation of your precious productive life, while also delivering happiness, stresslessness, and comfort.

Bookmark this post, refer to it often and ask yourself these questions regularly. Every area of your life will thank you.

Check out the post in “presentation form” on Slideshare for a super duper visual treat!

1. Did You Make?

Consider what you made. Did you create something you were proud of, or did you make for the sake of profit? Either way, scrutinize not just “if” and “what” was made, but why.

Making is an expression of the soul. Situations may warrant the creation of things that you may not care much about, but take care to make at least one thing each day that means something to you.

“Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your soul.”

– Pamela Anderson Lee

2. Did You Eat?

As a workaholic, many times we simply forget to eat. I won’t suggest any “right” method of eating — that is for you to decide. Mentally check this off if you succeeded in following your own personal practice of nourishment.

The real consideration here is this: Did others undeservingly suffer at the hands of your emotional hunger pangs?

“Hell hath no fury like me when I’m slightly inconvenienced and hungry.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

3. Did You Rest?

This is a broad one, but the consequences are no less hardcore. Did you get to sleep at a subjectively reasonable hour? Did you wake naturally without an alarm?

We workaholics are also usually seasoned in unique break-taking methods, so consider the following as well:

  • Take a nap?
  • Have a long relaxed lunch?
  • Unplug from work on time?

“ATTENTION!
I am out of order until further notice.
My ‘Stupid People’ filter needs cleaning,
and my ‘Give a Damn’ batteries have run out.”

– Elon Musk

4. Did You Laugh?

Laughter is an easy sacrifice to make for us workaholics. There’s no shame in adding this bad boy to your to-do list when it doesn’t organically present itself to you.

A wholly shitty day can be flipped on its head with a simple chuckle.

For us work-from-home-loners, subscribing to joke newsletters, or popping into YouTube for some epic fails can be tremendously influential.

Laughter
/ˈlæf-ter/
(n.) When a smile has an orgasm.

5. Did You Think?

We workaholics sometimes opt to relegate all tedious tasks to a single day. This can be effective, but be careful not to fry your brain in such a way that you become useless the following day.

Seek out small challenges each day. Maybe it’s a puzzle, or a deep conversation with a friend.

The key is to stay stimulated. Keep your brain muscle fit and you’ll avoid that insidious mental atrophy.

“Your strongest muscle and worst enemy is your mind.
Train it well.”

– Mickey Mouse

6. Did You Help?

Workaholics tend to be overly focused on success, completion, productivity and efficiency. Take a step back and ask yourself, “ Was what I did today actually useful?”

Your work may not satisfy this question, and that’s ok. Find a door you can hold open for someone, find a shopping cart you can herd back to its stable, or do the dishes without being asked ;-)

Simplicity can be powerful.

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.
That’s my religion.”

– Jesus H. Christ (probably)

 

What other simple tricks have you found helpful in your strivings for self-employed sanity? We will never presume to know it all, and are quite interested in ANYTHING that keeps us well-oiled and humming! Share share share in the comments below!



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The Mindset and Insights that Will Bring You Wonderful Things in 2019

Great to see you again after our Thanksgiving holiday! Our Black Friday promotion was great, and the whole team is...

The post The Mindset and Insights that Will Bring You Wonderful Things in 2019 appeared first on Copyblogger.



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Wednesday, 28 November 2018

Transforming Cyber Week Transactions Into Loyal Customers by Defining the Problem and the Solution

Cyber Week, the now weeklong, global sales period seeded from Black Friday, is upon us. But looking at the headlines, it’s clear something’s awry with the shopper experience. Consumer group Which? has been warning consumers to do their research ahead of Cyber Week after it emerged that nearly nine in 10 deals available last year had been cheaper at other times.

Even where the discounts are real, the issue with Cyber Week is that, for the most part, it is a very transactional affair. A shopper chooses to buy purely based on the brand that offers the lowest price - it’s a race to the bottom. Moreover, should the customer then go on to find the same product at a lower price elsewhere, or worse still, from the same brand, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

So how do brands solve this clear CX issue taking place? This was the question a cohort of marketers gathered for at the most recent Maxymiser Customer User Forum in London to answer. Here we share their insights into defining both the problem and solution to realise a brand’s CX goals during Cyber Week and beyond as well as key CX learnings from a luxury car brand.

Defining the problem

When asked about his approach to problem-solving, Albert Einstein is famously purported to have said, “If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.”

 

What he’s really alluding to is that whether we are marketers solving a CX problem or not, it’s vital to take a step back. We must frame the challenge to understand why something is being changed. In the context of a marketing problem, it’s the only way to make sure you serve the customer what they need when they need it. 

This requires getting into the shoes of the consumer, explained Jack Westwood, Principal Consultant, EMEA, “Customer journey mapping is an invaluable tool for visually illustrating the processes, needs and perceptions throughout a customer’s interactions and relationship with the brand. Most importantly, it can help you identify the ‘moment that matters’ – the moment a customer decides if they will or won’t buy – that is often the keystone for driving change.”

While customer journey mapping is a lengthy process with five constituent parts. To understand the problem, marketing teams must put the first two into practice;

  1. Creating an initial plan- about building out personas. Understanding the pages they visit
  2. Evaluate- the attitudes and sense check them. Work out and prioritise the moments that matter for the consumer

Putting journey mapping into practice

A great use case for gathering marketing teams together in this way can be found in the automotive sector. Why? According to Luth Research, there are over 900 interactions that take place between the very first interaction a consumer has with an auto brand and the purchase.

For Mercedes then, solving a customer experience issue arising with millennial shoppers was no mean feat. In particular, the team had begun to notice a trend in this younger audience whereby they were arriving onto the Mercedes site before bouncing off within a matter of seconds.

Building out the persona of this shopper, they explored the journey that was leading many to the website. It was clear that an ongoing TV campaign was working very effectively to capture their interest in low monthly repayments on a Mercedes, but upon arriving to the site, the full costs they were presented with alarmed them.

This was the moment that mattered. 

Defining the solution

In this instance, it was the product team that addressed the challenge. Mercedes decided to introduce its first ever compact car - the CLA - to be advertised at the sub-$30,000 sweet spot for entry-level luxury cars.

Bringing this new proposition to millennial market in the right places at the right time relied on a cross-channel solution. But what do we mean by ‘cross-channel’? Putting the term through Google there are over 90 million results.

Franco Loos, Managing Consultant, EMEA, explains the leap marketers have to make from multi-channel marketing to cross-channel is much like fielding a football team, “for many marketers carrying out multi-channel campaigns it’s like captaining a team but none of them talk to each other, you have 11 players who all want to score goals. They don’t want to pass the ball - they don’t want to share.”

Getting your marketing channels talking to one another in a coordinated way hinges teams need to focus on the latter three stages identified by Jack Westwood; 

  1. Explore- what the customer needs at these moments, KPIs of changing
  2. Brainstorm- what’s the journey that we want to take them on? All the different teams that work with you are involved
  3. Design the new experience- build a CX hypothesis with a new, cross-channel approach 

At Mercedes, a new journey was mapped entirely around the moment the customer lands on the website. The solution saw the marketing team build an entirely new microsite devoted to the shared experiences of millennial CLA owners. Alongside this, a Superbowl advert was developed to raise awareness among this target group, en masse, with a clear call-to-action to visit the microsite and find out more for themselves.

The net effect was not only a hugely successful new car launch, but Mercedes had also managed to expand the overall lifetime value of their customer. A fantastic achievement that future proofs the brand for years to come.

So how can we apply this to those brands tacking Cyber Week? There’s an infinite number of ways the consumer can interact with your brand before they purchase and even post-purchase. What is important to remember is that when brands work in silos, they cut these all-important connectors and end up with a poor customer experience. 

So whether you max out on sales this Cyber Week or not, take the time to assess whether your business is joining the touchpoints together to create a seamless experience. It will determine not only next year’s sales, but the performance you see through 2019.

As marketers, are we meeting our customers' expectations during the holiday season? Are we providing them the experience they expect? We asked more than 400 marketers to critique our profession's holiday season performance. The answers are revealing, candid and funny. Get your copy of the comic book here.

 



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3 Steps that Superior Content Creators Can Take to a Badass 2019

Let’s get this out of the way: You are a badass. So how come no one else knows that yet?...

The post 3 Steps that Superior Content Creators Can Take to a Badass 2019 appeared first on Copyblogger.



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Tuesday, 27 November 2018

Productivity vs. Creativity, the Content Creator’s Catch-22

At this strange moment in history, we face a near daily Sisyphean task as writers, online content creators, and freelancers....

The post Productivity vs. Creativity, the Content Creator’s Catch-22 appeared first on Copyblogger.



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If I Had to Start a Blog From Scratch, I Would…

neil patel

You’ve seen me and thousands of other marketers talk about how to make a blog popular. But if you don’t set up your blog correctly, you won’t do well no matter what kind of marketing you do.

And no, I am not talking about the technical setup of your blog. I am talking about the foundation. From what you are blogging about, to how you structure your content… there are a lot of basics people get wrong.

And if you get them wrong, it’s going to be that much harder to get more traffic (and more importantly monetize the traffic).

So, if I had to start a blog from scratch again, here are the principles I would follow before even writing my first blog post:

Principle #1: Pick a big enough niche

Unless you are well funded, you have to pick a niche. It’s too hard to compete on a broad level with sites like Huffington Post and Business Insider. They well funded and are able to produce huge amounts of content from contributors big and small.

And if your niche is too small, it will be hard for you to grow your traffic and monetize your blog as there just won’t be enough people interested in what you are blogging about.

When trying to find a niche, use Google Trends. Make sure to pick a niche that is bigger than “digital marketing” but smaller than “nutrition.”

Principle #2: Don’t stick with one platform

I know I’ve told you that you need to use WordPress as your blogging platform, but it shouldn’t stop there. Why not also use Medium, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and even Facebook?

These are all platforms where you can repurpose your content.

Blogging is competitive, so you’ll need to push your content out on as many platforms to ensure that you’ll get the most eyeballs.

Setting up social accounts across the different platforms is really important. Make sure the branding and imagery are the same across all of them and try to generate some followers by following these steps so that when you start producing unique content you’ll have places to promote.

Principle #3: Control your destiny

Google doesn’t penalize for duplicate content. But that doesn’t mean you should just post your content on every platform without thinking of it.

The only platform that doesn’t have an algorithm that you need to worry about is your own blog. Facebook, Medium, Tumblr, and LinkedIn all have algorithms you can’t fully control.

Always link back out to your site when posting on these other platforms. The more people you can get back to your site, the better chance you will have of growing your traffic and monetizing.

Other platforms like Facebook don’t make it easy for you to generate revenue if you keep your readers on their platform.

Principle #4: Blogging is both about “you” and “I”

Blogging is something that is supposed to be informal. No one wants to read an essay or a white paper.

People want to read stories. They want to be involved in a conversation, and the easiest way to do this is to use the words “you” and “I” within your blog posts.

This one simple change will help you build a deeper connection with your readers. A deeper connection means better monetization in the future.

Principle #5: Always ask questions

At the end of every blog post, always ask a question. If you don’t ask a question, people won’t know what to do next.

By asking a question, a portion of your readers will answer it by leaving a comment. This will increase engagement, which again will make monetization easier in the long run.

Principle #6: You have to stand out

There are over a billion blogs on the web, and that number is continually rising. This just means blogging is going to get even more competitive over time.

So how do you stand out in a crowded marketplace?

You have to go above and beyond. Sadly, there is no single answer as every industry is different, but typically infographics, visuals, and doing the opposite of everyone else in your space will help you stand out.

For example, if everyone in your space writes 1000-word blog posts, test out writing 10,000-word posts. Or if everyone is using text-based content, test out visual based content like infographics or video.

Principle #7: Your content needs to be portable

People are always on the go these days. Your content needs to be easy to digest.

And no, I am not talking about making your content mobile compatible or leveraging AMP framework (although those are good ideas). I am talking about making your content portable.

For example, creating video-based content or audio-based content (podcasts) are simple ways to make your content portable. For example, it is easier to watch video-based content on your mobile phone when on the bus or listen to podcasts while you are driving.

Principle #8: Content isn’t king unless it’s good

You’ve heard the saying that content is king. But is it really?

The Washington Post publishes over 500 pieces of content per day. The Wall Street Journal is at 240, the New York Times is at 230, and Buzzfeed is around 222.

The list keeps going on and on as there are over 2 million blog posts published daily.

In other words, writing mediocre content isn’t good enough. It won’t do well for and you will just be wasting time. So, don’t write content unless it is really, really, really good.

Principle #9: You have to produce quality and quantity

It’s sad, but it is true. Not only does your content have to be amazing, but you have to publish amazing content in quantity.

Just because you are writing an amazing blog post, it doesn’t mean you will do well. Content marketing is a hit or miss game in which your posts will do well or they won’t. And in most cases, your content won’t do as well as you want no matter how good you are at marketing.

To increase your odds of success, you need to be willing to produce amazing content in quantity.

Principle #10: Your blog isn’t always the best place to blog

Especially early on, you need to save your best content for other blogs. From industry blogs to large sites like Entrepreneur and Business Insider… consider placing your best content elsewhere.

Once you’ve been blogging for a year and you have built up an audience, you’ll want to keep your best content for yourself. But in the beginning, placing your best content on more popular blogs will help you increase your brand recognition and audience.

If you aren’t sure on how to craft a guest posting proposal, read this.

Principle #11: Useful content beats viral content

We all dream about viral content, but it’s not easy to produce.

The chances of your content going viral are slim to none. And when your content goes viral it will die down… the question just becomes when.

Instead of focusing on creating viral content (when you have less than a 1% chance of producing it), focus on creating useful content. Useful content tends to be evergreen, which means it can generate steady traffic over time.

Principle #12: It’s easier to build a personal blog than a corporate one

I know I’ve mentioned that I wouldn’t build a personal brand if I started all over again, and I wouldn’t.

But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t leverage one. People connect with people more than they connect with corporate brands.

It’s not like you have conversations with Coca-Cola or Nike like you have with a friend.

If you want your blog to be popular faster than go with a personal brand. If you want to build something big and potentially even sell it one day, consider a corporate brand for your blog (even though it will take longer for it become popular).

Principle #13: A blog won’t work without a community

Blogging is about creating conversations. But without readers and community, there is no conversation.

It would just be you talking…

For this reason, you can’t expect to build a popular blog without building up your social profiles.

From running Facebook and Twitter ads, to manually growing your follower counts, you need to focus on your social media game.

The bigger your social following the more people you’ll have to drive to your blog, and the easier it will be to create a community.

Principle #14: No man is an island

As you are building up a community, people will engage with you through comments.

If you don’t respond to every comment, then your community will slowly die down.

Just think of it this way… if you continually talked to someone and they ignored you each and every time, what would you do? Eventually, you would stop talking to them.

Don’t be rude to your community, help them out. Make sure you respond to each and every comment. Not just on your blog, but even when people comment on your social profiles, make sure you respond back.

Principle #15: People don’t read, they skim

Most of the people that come to your website won’t read. Blogs tend to have an average time on site of less than 1 minute.

There is no way your average visitor is going to read your 2,000-word blog post in under a minute. That means people skim.

Make sure you write your content with the assumption people skim. From leveraging headings to even writing a conclusion at the end of each post, this will help your readers get value out of your content even when they don’t fully read it.

Principle #16: It’s all about the headline

Some people spend 80% of their time writing the content and only 20% promoting it. Others spend 80% on marketing and 20% on the content creation. And some spend 50% of their time writing and 50% promoting.

But what about the headline? Why don’t people spend time crafting and testing amazing headlines?

What most people don’t know is that 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, but only 2 out of 10 will click through and read the rest. So focus on creating amazing headlines or else you won’t get tons of traffic.

Principle #17: Reveal your cards, all of them

Because the blogosphere is competitive, you have no choice but to reveal your cards. From your secrets to the “good stuff”… you’ll have to share it all.

If you don’t share it, you won’t be giving people a reason to read your blog over the billion other ones out there.

When revealing your cards, make sure you do it early on in each blog post. It is a great way to hook your readers and to get them to read the rest of your content.

Principle #18: Consistency will make or break you

When you continually blog, do you know what happens? Your traffic typically stays flat or slowly goes up.

But when you stop or take a break, your traffic will tank. And then when you start up again, your traffic won’t just go back to where it was, you’ll have to fight to gain your traffic back.

I once took a month break from blogging and it took me 3 months to recover my traffic. Literally 3 months.

Don’t start a blog unless you are willing to be consistent. Not just for a few months or a year, but I am talking years (3 plus).

Principle #19: Don’t ever rely on 1 traffic channel

You hear blogs exploding with Facebook traffic or Google traffic. But do you know what happens when those sites change their algorithms?

Your traffic drops.

It’s just a question of when, so expect your traffic to drop. So, don’t rely on only one traffic channel.

Before you write your first post, think about which channels you are going to leverage for traffic generation. You need to have an omnichannel approach in which you are leveraging all of the feasible channels out there that work for your niche.

Principle #20: Don’t forget about Google

You should always write for humans and not search engines. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore Google.

Whatever you are considering writing about, make sure you do some basic keyword research. Head over to Ubersuggest first. Then type in a few keywords related to your article and it will show you a list of other popular phrases.

If they are relevant, make sure you blend them into your content.

This one simple thing will help ensure that your content gets the most search traffic that it can possibly generate.

Principle #21: Be willing to kill your baby

When you start a blog, people only talk about writing and marketing. But as your blog gets older your responsibilities will grow.

One of them is the willingness to kill some of your content.

Not all of your content will be relevant a year or two from now. For example, if you write about Vine, which was a company Twitter bought and then shut down, it won’t be relevant anymore. Especially if the article focuses on “Vine marketing tips.”

Eventually, you want to delete it. There is no point in keeping useless content on your blog.

Principle #22: You can’t set it and forget it

Similar to killing some of your irrelevant content, you’ll also have to update your older content.

As your content gets outdated, you’ll want to keep it fresh or people will find that it’s useless and bounce away.

This, in turn, will screw up your user metrics (bounce rate, time on site, page views per visitor) and reduce your credibility and traffic.

If you are going to blog, be willing to put resources into updating your older content as well. It’s something that most bloggers don’t take into account when starting.

Principle #23: People won’t come back to your blog unless you ask them to

The best visitors are repeat visitors. They are more likely to comment, link to your site, share your content on the social web, and convert into a customer.

No matter how good your content is, people won’t just come back unless you ask them to.

The easiest way to do this is through emails and push notifications.

By using tools like Hello Bar you can easily collect emails and send out a blast every time you have a new post. And tools like Subscribers will allow you to build a push notification list.

Don’t start a blog without building an email list or push notification list. You’ll find that people who opt-in to them are much more likely to convert into customers. So, build this from day 1.

Principle #24: Don’t wait too long to monetize

A lot of bloggers (including me) have made this mistake. We all wait till we have tons of traffic to monetize. But if you go years before trying to monetize, people will assume everything on your blog is free.

In other words, you are training your readers that they shouldn’t pay for anything. And that’s fine if you have no plan on selling anything.

But you should train them early on that not everything is free. This will make your revenue numbers better as you grow.

Principle #25: Have multiple monetization strategies

You can’t rely on one monetization strategy such as affiliate marketing or AdSense. Sometimes things happen that aren’t in your control such as an offer gets shut down or AdSense bans you and they don’t give you a reason.

Not only is it a safer strategy to have multiple monetization methods you’ll also make more money.

For example, some people won’t click on ads, while others may prefer buying an e-book from you.

When you start your blog, think about all of the monetization methods you want to try out and plan out how you are going to test them out (as not all of them will work).

Principle #26: Always include a personal touch

If you can’t write with a personal touch, then don’t write. Whatever you decide to blog about, make sure you can tie in a personal story.

People prefer reading content that has stories versus content with just facts and data.

If you don’t have personal stories that you can tie in, that means you are probably blogging on the wrong subject.

Principle #27: Be willing to pay the price

Blogging isn’t easy. It’s no longer a hobby where you can just write whenever you want and do well.

If you want to succeed, you have to be willing to put in the time and energy. And if you can’t, then you have to be willing to put in money.

If you don’t then you won’t do well, no matter how brilliant of a writer or marketer you are.

Really think about if you are willing to put in hours each day into making your blog successful. And are you willing to do that for a few years? Or are you willing to hire someone from day 1 to help out?

This isn’t a principle you need to take lightly, and it is the biggest reason most bloggers don’t make it.

Conclusion

Everyone talks about blogging from a tactical standpoint. From how you write content to even how to market it, but very few people talk about strategy.

If you don’t follow the above principles, you’ll find yourself spinning your wheels and creating a blog that doesn’t get any traction.

And if you happen to be lucky to gain visitors without taking into account the above principles, you’ll find that they won’t convert into customers.

So what other principles should bloggers follow? Just leave a comment below with some of the principles you follow.

The post If I Had to Start a Blog From Scratch, I Would… appeared first on Neil Patel.



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Learning from Pain via Post-Mortems (FS295)

What’s the best way to ensure we do not make the same mistakes twice? How can reviews and retrospectives teach us for the future?

During the life of an entrepreneur it is pretty much a given that there will be successes and failures over the years. We are sure you’ll agree that the best way to increase the number of successes as time goes by is to learn from past failures. That’s where the idea of the post-mortem comes in!

In this episode, we break down why post-mortems are necessary, how they really function, and exactly how they can be practically applied to different business models.

Today on the show we are joined by our friend, Aiden Fishbein, who came up with the concept for today’s show. He really leads the discussion and lays out some great frameworks for approaching this task.

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  Learn from your mistakes
  Learn from your successes
  Do better next time!
  Free to download

We also talk about the risk of over analysis, post-mortems as a symptom of your companies communication habits, and how even the worst failure can have a silver lining to carry forward.

For this great conversation be sure to tune in!

Subscribe (how to)   iTunes   Overcast   Pocket Casts   Stitcher   Google Play   RSS  

Key Points From This Episode:

• The value of a postmortem and how this helps when starting something new. [0:04:01.5]
• Aiden’s early work, experiences and how he built his portfolio. [0:07:40.8]
• Duplicating success and learning from mistakes through retrospectives. [0:11:15.1]
• Setting out your ideal clients and slowly getting closer to these. [0:15:52.8]
• Balancing risks and calculated strategies as an entrepreneur. [0:19:25.4]
• Practical application of this idea across different types of business. [0:24:17.7]
• The usefulness of striving for objectivity on your projects. [0:33:20.3]
• Finding the silver lining in a bad project. [0:37:02.3]
• Year end round ups and learning from the past. [0:41:10.2]
• The postmortem cheat sheet and checking off the list. [0:45:55.7]
• Communication and its centrality to the success of an organization. [0:53:02.8]
• And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Fizzle — https://fizzle.co/
• Discover.bot — https://discover.bot/fizzle/
• A beginner’s guide to bots — https://discover.bot/bot-talk/beginners-guide-bots/
• Aiden Fishbein — https://ift.tt/2TM0qLw
• Tony Robbins — https://ift.tt/1eCZTiF
• Dan Tocchini — http://dantocchini.com/
• Episode 295 — https://ift.tt/2TJAX5v
• Steph Crowder on Twitter — https://twitter.com/stephcrowder_
• Corbett Barr on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CorbettBarr
• Chase Reeves on Twitter — https://twitter.com/chase_reeves
• Fizzle Sparkline — https://ift.tt/21UhhKS
• Fizzle Goals Course — https://ift.tt/2INCTD2
• Fizzle Journaling Course — https://ift.tt/2ilaNrw
• Fizzle Try 5 — http://fizzle.co/try5
• Fizzle Essentials of Web Design Course — https://ift.tt/2TOhnVI
• Fizzle Website Tune Up Curse — https://ift.tt/2Ap63Xa
• Fizzle Roadmap — https://ift.tt/2tOrrCE
• Start A Blog That Matters Course — https://ift.tt/2arAPjh
• Fizzle 80/20 Copywriting Guide — https://ift.tt/2bBWDcI
• Fizzle Toolkit — https://ift.tt/2xt3WCn
• Fizzle Craft + Commerce — https://ift.tt/2ruYyIY
• Fizzle Project Management for Entrepreneurs — https://ift.tt/1K75VXW
• Fizzle Hosting — https://ift.tt/1PijOqG



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Monday, 26 November 2018

5 Key Skills Your Team Needs to Nail Cross-Channel Marketing

The cross-channel marketing model has been in effect for many years, but it continues to evolve as an art and science. That evolution requires an ever-expanding skill set for the talent you add to the team. To identify talent or determine what type of skills development to invest in, here are some of the key skills for succeeding at cross-channel marketing:

Video Production

It's important to develop skills in video production. It has become such a popular form of content across channels. For example, audiences like to watch videos on social media, websites, and even through emails. Sure, you could outsource this task or hire a production company. However, it's better to add this to the internal team's skill set as a competitive advantage. Also, it provides a way to add videos at any point that an opportunity arises. This includes participation in conferences, community events, or special campaigns.

Acquiring skill means developing an understanding of video software, social media video tools such as Facebook Live, and other technical capabilities associated with video production including editing and sound. A good place to start is online technical training courses offered through organizations like Udemy.

Paid Search and Social Media

There are opportunities across search and social media to reach a targeted audience. Yet, there's a lack of understanding of how to do it to achieve the maximum ROI.

Therefore, it helps to add this skill to your marketing team's toolbox. This means learning how to leverage Google AdWords and Bing for paid search opportunities. The results of this know-how can drive more traffic to your website. It can also provide insights on how to improve SEO and your overall content strategy.

The same goes for sponsored content and social media ads on Facebook and Instagram. Include a team member who has experience beyond organic social media, someone who can use these social media advertising tools effectively in conjunction with your other channel tactics.

Content Strategy and Development

While you can hire freelance writers to produce content, they may not have the acumen to truly understand how to craft content or develop the topics that work effectively for your audience. That's why it helps to have team members who are highly skilled in content development. They know how to conduct the research. Then, these content experts can apply existing insights to create a content calendar that delivers the most relevant and engaging content.

Plus, they understand how to leverage different tools to enhance the content development process. This includes content management systems (CMS) and tools such as BuzzSumo that reveal trending topics. This skill should include knowledge of how to take content and repurpose it into specific content vehicles. These vehicles include infographics, infomercials, podcasts, social media posts, and video scripts. Additionally, knowing where to distribute the content, including the appropriate syndication outlets, adds value.

Analytics

One of the biggest challenges is measuring results in cross-marketing channel campaigns. This is because using a combination of channels means that each channel has some impact on the results. But, in what measure? And, how do you know which channel to emphasize and when to get the greatest results?

Therefore, having a team that can leverage analytics tools and understands the insights they deliver is one of the greatest assets. This skill determines the combination, frequency, and timing for all marketing tactics across channels. From there, the team can refine content messaging. This skill requires learning how to use Google Analytics and similar programs. Also, it includes the ability to create various reports from the available data. Finally, a team member skilled in analytics can explain how to apply the findings to specific strategic goals and tactics.

Programming

Although not as critical, being well versed in coding can propel a marketing team member's value far above everyone else. This is because it's a skill that can address the marketing department's need to personalize and customize its tactics for a diverse audience.

For example, someone who knows how to program can localize a landing page based on the incoming IP address of a website visitor. This means the landing page could have content that reflects a particular city where that visitor is from as well as offer specific promotions to them versus someone visiting from another city where you do business. Additionally, programming skills may be valuable for APIs that further customize marketing efforts as well as for adding chatbots or apps.



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How to Transform from Fan to Fanatic to Fantastic Content Creator

Building an audience involves a lot of trial and error. But those who wish to have their own audiences make...

The post How to Transform from Fan to Fanatic to Fantastic Content Creator appeared first on Copyblogger.



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Saturday, 24 November 2018

Green Marketing: The psychological impact of an eco-conscious marketing campaign

The following research was first published in the MECLABS Quarterly Research Digest, July 2014.

Almost every industry has seen a shift toward “green technology” or “eco-friendly materials.” While this is certainly a positive step for the earth, it can rightly be questioned whether the marketing that touts this particular aspect of the business is really effective.

Marketing offices across the globe face some very real questions:

  • Does highlighting your green practices actually cause more people to buy from you?
  • Does it have any impact at all?
  • Does it, much to our shock and dismay, temper conversion?

When we find an issue like this, we are inclined to run a test rather than trust our marketing intuition.

Experiment: Does green marketing impact conversion?

The Research Partner for Test Protocol (TP) 11009 is a furniture company wanting to increase sales of its eco-friendly mattresses. Our key tracking metric was simple: purchases. Our research question was this: Which landing page would create more mattress sales, A or B?

As you can see in Figure 1.1, the pages were identical save for one key aspect: Version B included an extra section that Version A left out. In this section, we went into more detail about the green aspects of the mattress. It should be noted, however, that both pages included the “GreenGuard Gold Certification Seal,” so it is not as if Version A is devoid of the green marketing angle. Version B simply spelled it out more clearly.

Figure 1.1

Did the change make a difference? Yes, Version B outperformed Version A by 46%. Remember, this lift is in purchases, not simply clickthrough.

 

 

We have established that green marketing can be effective. But in what cases? How can we put that knowledge to good use and navigate the waters of green marketing with a repeatable methodology?

Four ways to create effective green marketing campaigns

In the test above, green marketing made a clear and significant difference. We made four observations as to why this particular green marketing strategy succeeded. You can use them as guides toward your own green marketing success.

Key Observation #1. The value was tangible. The value created by the copy was directly connected to the customer experience.

In the case of the GreenGuard Certified mattress, the value of being green was not solely based on its being eco-friendly. It also was customer-friendly. The green nature of the manufacturing process directly affected and increased the quality of the product. The copy stated that the mattress “meets the world’s most rigorous, third-party chemical emissions standards with strict low emission levels for over 360 volatile organic compounds.” Not only is it good for the earth, but it is also good for your toddler and your grandmother.

This tangible benefit to the customer experience is not always present in green marketing. In Figure 2.1, you see three examples of green marketing that fail to leverage a tangible benefit to the customer:

Figure 2.1

 

  1. When a hotel encourages you to reuse your towels to “save water,” it does nothing to improve the value of your experience with them. If anything, it may come off as an attempt to guilt the guest into reducing the hotel’s water bill.
  2. GE’s “Ecomagination” campaign is devoid of a tangible benefit to the customer. How does GE being green make my microwave better for me? The campaign doesn’t offer an answer.
  3. Conversely, “100% recycled toilet tissue” not only does not offer a tangible benefit to the customer, it also implies that the customer might not receive the same quality experience they would have with a non-green option.

For green marketing to optimally operate, you must be able to a point out a tangible benefit to the customer, in addition to the earth-friendly nature of the product.

Key Observation #2. The issue was relevant. The issue addressed by the copy dealt with a key concern already present in the mind of the prospect.

For people in the market for a new mattress, especially those with young children, sensitive skin or allergies, there are well-founded concerns regarding the chemicals and other materials that go into the production of the mattress. This concern already exists in the mind of the customer. It does not need to be raised or hyped by the marketer. Again, not all green marketing campaigns address relevant concerns.

Figure 3.1

 

  1. People are more concerned with safety, comfort and affordability when traveling. Whether the airline is green or not is not generally a concern.
  2. When choosing a sunscreen, most people don’t go in with aspirations of choosing a green option. Their top concern is sun protection, and biodegradable sunscreen doesn’t appear to meet that need as well as another option can.
  3. Again, “biodegradable” is not a common concern brought to the table by people buying pens.

All of these, while potentially noble causes, do not directly connect to a relevant problem the customer experiences. On the other hand, the GreenGuard Certified mattress immediately addressed a pressing concern held by the customer. It is “perfect for those with skin sensitivity or allergies.”

Key Observation #3. The claim was unique. The claim of exclusivity in the copy intensified the “only” factor of the product itself.

Just like any other benefit, green marketing benefits gain or lose value based on how many others can make the claim. If a web hosting platform touts itself as green or eco-friendly, the claim doesn’t hold as much force because the industry is saturated with green options (Figure 4.1). The same is true of BPA-free water bottles (Figure 4.2).

 

Figure 4.1

 

Figure 4.2

 

However, in the case of our Research Partner, not many of its competitors could make the “GreenGuard Gold Certification” claim (Figure 4.3). This added exclusivity — not to mention that Gold status implied they achieved the highest level of certification. Uniqueness drives value up, as long as the benefit in question is actually in demand.

Figure 4.3

 

Key Observation #4. The evidence was believable. The evidence provided in the copy lent instant credibility to any of the claims.

After the initial wave of green marketing techniques and practices took the industry by storm, there was a very justified backlash against those simply trying to cash in on the trend. Lawsuits were filed against marketers exaggerating their green-ness, including the likes of SC Johnson, Fiji Water, Hyundai and others. As a result, consumers became wary of green claims and must be persuaded otherwise by believable data.

In the winning design above, we did this in three ways:

  1. Verification: “100% Certified by GreenGuard Gold”
  2. Specification: “Our mattresses get reviewed quarterly to maintain this seal of approval. Last certification: January 4th, 2014.”
  3. Quantification: “Low emission levels for over 360 volatile organic compounds.”

The ability to prove that your green practices or eco-friendly products are truly as earth-friendly — and tangibly beneficial — as you claim is a crucial component in creating a green marketing angle that produces a significant increase in conversion.

How to approach your green marketing challenges

We have seen that green marketing can work. Still, this is not a recommendation to throw green marketing language into everything you put out. Green marketing is not a cure-all.

However, given the right circumstances, the right green positioning can certainly achieve lifts, and we want you to be able to capitalize on that. Therefore, we have created this checklist to help you analyze and improve your green marketing tactics.

☐  Is your green marketing tangible?

Does the nature of the green claims actually make the end product more appealing?

☐  Is your green marketing relevant?

Does the fact that your offer is green solve an important problem in the mind of the customer?

☐  Is your green marketing unique?

Can anyone else in your vertical make similar claims? If so, how do your claims stand apart?

☐  Is your green marketing believable?

Are your claims actually true? If so, how can you quantify, verify or specify your particular claims?

Of course, this checklist is only a starting point. Testing your results is the only true way to discover if your new green techniques are truly improving conversion.

Related Resources

Learn how Research Partnerships work, and how you can join MECLABS in discovering what really works in marketing

Read this MarketingExperiments Blog post to learn how to craft the right research question

Sometimes we only have intangible benefits to market. In this interview, Tim Kachuriak, Founder and Chief Innovation & Optimization Officer, Next After, explains how to get your customers to say, “heck yes”

One way to be relevant is better understand your customers is through data-driven marketing

Discover three techniques for standing out a competitive marketing, including focusing on your “only” factor

Read on for nine elements that help make your marketing claims more believable

The post Green Marketing: The psychological impact of an eco-conscious marketing campaign appeared first on MarketingExperiments.



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Friday, 23 November 2018

Machine Learning Can Be A Game-Changer For Brands On Social Media

There are not many new technologies that are truly game-changers. Machine learning is one of those technologies. In a nutshell, machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence in which computers learn to recognize patterns over time and are then able to make complex decisions without human input. Sounds simple enough, right? But it actually has very profound implications for social media.

Bringing the ultimate pattern recognition machine to social media

The classic example of machine learning at work involves image recognition. How, exactly, are you supposed to teach a computer to recognize images of, say, a dog? To a human, a dog is a dog, even a young child can’t mess that up. But it’s much more complex for a machine – you need to show a computer millions of images of dogs, in various poses, positions, and situations before it starts to come up with a set of rules for recognizing dogs. With a strong enough algorithm, a machine can spot images of dogs everywhere. In fact, if the algorithm is powerful enough, a machine can spot images of just about anything you want it to.

That’s the reason, for example, that Facebook can now spot images of your friends in photos – it has a very sophisticated machine learning algorithm at work scanning faces in images. It can recognize your friends wherever they are – in any pose, situation or position – even in crowds. So image recognition was really the “Trojan horse” that enabled machine learning to enter the social media realm. From there, the number of applications for machine learning has skyrocketed.

Chat bots and machine learning

One of the most popular applications for machine learning involves chat bots, which are essentiallyAI-powered bots that can converse with humans. In this case, machine learning is used to “teach” these chat bots how to recognize certain natural language queries, even with improper syntax and grammatical errors. But it’s difficult – and it’s why some chat bots can only answer a limited range of questions – they just haven’t “learned” how to answer more complex questions when they aren’t phrased a particular way.

You can immediately see why chat bots that can converse with humans on a broad range of topics can be such a game-changer – they essentially enable brands to have one-on-one conversations with millions of fans. And, in many cases, humans really don’t care that they are conversing with a bot rather than a human. Would you rather wait on hold for 30 minutes to ask a human when your package is going to arrive, or would you rather chat with a bot, which can deliver a response within 30 seconds?

Social media monitoring and machine learning

Other uses for machine learning include social media monitoring. According to some estimates, there are 1.5 million pieces of user-generated content added to Facebook every single day. A human can’t possible read all that – but a machine can. If you’re a brand, that gives you a very unique way to monitor all the conversations taking place around you.

And here’s where the “learning “ aspect comes into play – machines eventually become smart enough to recognize nuances of sarcasm or humor, as well as the tell-tale conversations that might be the very beginning of an online brand crisis. Wouldn’t it be nice if a machine could give you an early heads-up before disgruntled customers show up at your business the next day?

Taking the big picture view, machine learning can be the key to streamlining your overall social media presence and finding the proverbial “needle in the haystack.” That will free up your social media team to focus their time and energy on what really matters, and not just scrolling through pages and pages of Facebook posts and Instagram images.

Want more? Download The Guide to Social Media Marketing and learn how to raise your game on social media, become more aligned with your customers and followers, and create a better perception of your brand.

*This post originally appeared on socialmedia hq.



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Wednesday, 21 November 2018

Overcome Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2.0 Impacts with Streams

You may have heard that Apple recently released Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) 2.0 which blocks 3rd-party cookies in Safari and other web-kit enabled browsers on iOS and Mac OS in an attempt to address privacy concerns. Mozilla also announced that the next version of Firefox will block 3rd-party cookies by default. With these changes, plus the availability of cookie blocking plugins for all other browsers, it’s time for marketers to reconsider their use of 3rd party tracking cookies. Any capability relying on these cookies, like DMPs or some retargeting products (including Oracle Responsys’ Rapid Retargeter), will start to see a drop-off in the number of website visitors being tracked. 

But don’t fret. At least for the retargeting use cases, the solution is to use 1st party cookies. While 3rd-party cookies traditionally were able to keep track of a wide pool of known visitors due to its cross-site tracking ability, the recently announced changes diminish their utility. This makes solutions relying on 1st-party cookies the preferred method for tracking visitors – like Infinity Streams in the Oracle Marketing Cloud. 

Streams captures web activities supporting the same retargeting use cases as Rapid Retargeter, including browse abandonment and cart abandonment, plus a whole lot more.  While Rapid Retargeter was mostly designed to accommodate traditional retail websites, Streams was designed to be industry-agnostic.  Marketers can define their own retargeting use cases and pass whatever information is relevant for their business need. For example, a bank that relies on a web form to collect information about their customers requesting current mortgage rates can use Infinity Streams to identify those who started but did not submit the form and then send a follow-up email to encourage them to complete the process. 

Infinity Streams is a powerful tool that can take your retargeting abilities to the next level. For more information on Infinity Streams and how it can help your business, please reach out to your Account Management team.



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