Do’s and Don’ts of Top-of-Funnel Marketing
Top-of-funnel marketing is all about engaging prospects with thought leadership and content marketing-not beating them over the head with hard-sell tactics.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Do you have a different strategy for reaching prospects at different stages in the buying cycle? If not, here’s some information as to why it’s important.
This article makes some key points about top-of-the-funnel (or “V1”) prospects, including the most important fact about this group: they don’t even know they need your product or service. Therefore, the focus has to be on education…
Read Original Article
#Being13: Teens and Social Media
More than 200 eighth graders from across the country allowed their social media feeds to be studied by child development experts who partnered with CNN. This is the first large scale study to analyze what kids actually say to each other on social media and why it matters so deeply to them.
“I think they’re addicted to the peer connection and affirmation they’re able to get via social media, ” said child clinical psychologist Marion Underwood, the study’s co-author. “To know what each other are doing, where they stand, to know how many people like what they posted, to know how many people followed them today and unfollowed them … that I think is highly addictive.”
Sales Renewal’s insight:
CNN found that some teens do not see a distinction between their lives in the real world versus the online world. Yet they’ll still post online what they admit they’d never say in person. Also:
- 61% of teens said they wanted to see if their online posts are getting likes and comments.
- 36% of teens said they wanted to see if their friends are doing things without them.
- 21% of teens said they wanted to make sure no one was saying mean things about them.
Read Original Article
It’s Showtime
One of the most effective uses of your competitive intelligence skills, whether basic or advanced, is to “work” a tradeshow or conference.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Some practical advice on how to use trade shows and conferences as a way to gather useful competitive intelligence.
Read Original Article
Internal Linking for SEO: Examples and Best Practices
Internal linking is a key SEO tactic for publishers. In this post I’ll look at what it is, why it’s important, and provide some key tips for an effective internal linking strategy.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Internal linking – or linking from one page or blog post to another – is one of the easiest SEO tactics to incorporate into your SOP. Yet it is quite often one of the most overlooked. Whether you write your own blog posts and website pages or work with writers and contributors to generate content, don’t let any piece or page go live until it includes at least one internal link.
Read more about the importance of this tactic in this article.
Read Original Article
6 Design Trends Taking over the Web
6 design trends dominating websites in 2015 and beyond.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
While it’s always worth paying attention to design trends, always remember that “trend” can often be a synonym for “fad” – unless something significantly improves your customer’s experience, it’s usually best to wait before jumping on every design bandwagon.
Read Original Article
How Much Time Does SEO Really Take?
Getting started [with seo] is relatively easy, but in order to be successful in an especially competitive environment, you need to dedicate yourself to the strategy. You’ll have to acquire new skills…
The common solution for this is to simply hire an in-house SEO expert who can handle all these tasks. If you can’t, it’s on you to handle them all yourself. Either way, the cost can be prohibitive, especially if you’re an emerging small business. Likewise, spending all those hours doing it yourself can tie you up, preventing you from pursuing more productive activities that can’t be outsourced.
Before you make a decision, you need to know one thing: how much time does SEO actually take?
Sales Renewal’s insight:
How do you look at SEO? Does it seem like a daunting process? A set-and-forget item to check off your list?
Many small business owners believe they can “do” SEO themselves. But before you make that decision, please read this article. You might just gain a new appreciation for those who do SEO full time.
Consider the (what may appear to be) straight-forward process setting up on-page optimization (10-40 hours) and monitoring and troubleshooting on an ongoing basis (3-12 hours/week). Then there is content development, which could be something you can get away with spending a couple hours a week. Or, it could turn into a nearly full-time job (3-50 hours/week).
Off-page optimization opens up an entirely new realm of responsibilities and processes, from dabbling in looking for linkbuilding opportunities to following a well-thought-out relationship building program (5-25 hours/week).
Then there’s the additional work related to SEO for local businesses, like customer reviews (up to 15 hours/week), and then measuring and analyzing all you do to be sure it’s effective (1-2 hours/week).
Putting it all together, the author’s bottom line is sobering:
“Even for the small range of organizations I examined here (small to mid-sized businesses), you can see the vast range of potential time spent on an SEO campaign. Added up, it amounts to anywhere between 12 and 104 hours per week. If you put in 12 hours a week, don’t expect to climb to a top position anytime soon. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want the best results as fast as possible, you may need to hire employees, contractors, or an agency.”
Given this cost (in time and opportunity), we believe that the most cost-effective way to “do” SEO is to work with a specialist. That’s why, whether you’re a JointSourcing or Marketing Essentials client, we will work with our SEO partners to be sure your business receives the SEO attention it deserves.
Learn more about Sales Renewal’s Search Engine Optimization services.
Read Original Article
Brand New: New Logo for Google done In-house
Brand New: Opinions on corporate and brand identity work. A division of UnderConsideration.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Rebranding one of the most visible companies in the world is a delicate process, and not one to be approached haphazardly. Most importantly, there’s no way to please everyone. This is a great in-depth look at the process and results of Google’s new logo and accompanying brand elements.
Read Original Article
15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Generation Z
While many marketers still struggle to figure out the Millennials, a new generation-Generation Z-is growing up behind the scenes.
Members of Gen Z, born after 1995, are quite different than their Millennial counterparts, with their own set of expectations when interacting with companies.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
You might not realize it but more than 25% of Americans belong to Gen Z, and with 361, 00 babies born in the U.S. every day the segment is growing fast.
All of their 15 stats are interesting but we found these 2 to be the most intriguing … and scary:
- Millennials use 3 screens on average, Gen Zers use 5 (smartphone, TV, laptop, desktop, iPod/iPad)
- The average Gen Zer has the attention span of about 8 seconds.
Read Original Article
New Survey Shows Engineers Most Likely to Look Online for Information
Analysis of TREW Marketing and ENGINEERING.com new survey on how engineers find information online. Engineers love online information over others.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Marketing to engineers? Be sure you pay attention to online and digital marketing, as online is a valuable source of information for engineers.
More survey results:
- The way engineers most often interact with e-newsletters is scanning subject lines.
- Engineers most often consume work-related content on their desktop computer throughout the workday; mobile devices are used most often when they’re on the go and commuting.
- In viewing webcasts, features engineers prefer most are real-world examples and images and diagrams.
- Online resources such as websites and search engines are the most valuable source of information versus offline sources such as conferences or publications.
- Engineers have the highest trust in content written by an engineering expert at a vendor company, followed by industry analysts and editorial pieces in an industry print or online publication.
- Most engineers use social media in their personal life where they may stumble upon work-related articles, but nearly a third say they use social media for work.
Read Original Article
Why Keywords Can Still Drive Architecture and Content
These observations highlight the value of keywords in SEO. Use these strategic insights to effectively implement targetable phrases that impact consumers’search results.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Keywords may not be used the way they used to be, but keywords are still, well, key, to your online marketing efforts.
Read Original Article