We’ve already discussed how brands with stories tend to be more engaging for customers (Apple, Nike, etc.), but it may be helpful to discuss how to communicate your brand’s story. Especially since you have to think in terms of your customers’ wants and needs (always) and you don’t want to sound too promotional or preachy. Telling your brand story isn’t that much different than figuring out a marketing plan, but it does require a very human voice. Stories are engaging for people because they put a human face to a company (which can often seem like a large, faceless, uncaring glass building). [Read more...]
Jun
30
2011
Choosing Your Marketing Help in 2011: 5 Things You Should Stop Looking At
Inconsistent messaging. A sales and marketing team that barely speak to each other. A website optimized for everyone but visitors. A corporate Facebook page with unanswered comments from 6 months prior. A blog that claims 36 visitors…per month.
Welcome to the marketing cleanup job. Grab your latex gloves and mop, and let’s shine this company up!
We’ve run into a lot of these cleanup jobs lately, projects that require a good deal of tearing down before we can even attempt to build back up. It begs the question: Who created this mess in the first place? – Choosing Your Marketing Help in 2011: 5 Things You Should Stop Looking At
Jun
29
2011
12 Reasons You Absolutely Need To Be On Twitter
Twitter doesn’t do a very good job telling you what it does, or why you’d want it.
As a result, Twitter is a very misunderstood social network and tool by the vast majority of people.
We try to convince people to use Twitter and they say, “I don’t want to know when you’re brushing your teeth.”
This was Twitter’s past. We’re here to tell you about Twitter’s future, and why you absolutely need to be on it to stay relevant in today’s world. – 12 Reasons You Absolutely Need To Be On Twitter
Jun
28
2011
Trust is the Only Currency You Have with Customers
Why does someone purchase a product or service from you? Because they trust that they will get what they pay for. They trust that it will do whatever it is that you’ve claimed. Similarly, people build relationships with people they trust, online and off. If you want people to follow you online and interact with you, you need to build trust and you need to uphold the trust you’ve created. [Read more...]
Jun
28
2011
How to Check Your Website’s SEO Health
There’s no reason, really, why ecommerce merchants cannot improve the search engine visibility of their websites. That’s because there are many free tools to gauge the search-engine-optimization health of those sites, and suggest SEO corrections to them. In this screencast below, I’ll review many tools — most are free, a few are not — that merchants can use. – How to Check Your Website’s SEO Health
Jun
27
2011
How to Use SEO Wisely for Long-term Profits
By now, we have all read about the basics of search engine optimization. But despite knowing all the best practices, only a very few of us practice them. I know this because shamefully, it was only recently I realized that most of my content isn’t search engine optimized.
This doesn’t make sense: you work hard using social media to get the word out about your glorious new post and are dying to see your Twitter stream blow up with your content. That’s great and all, but why not optimize your work for the search engines and receive consistent, targeted traffic every day? – How to Use SEO Wisely for Long-term Profits
Jun
25
2011
Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Week of June 25, 2011
Here are the top Internet strategy, marketing and technology links for the week of June 25, 2011…
Jun
24
2011
Digging in the Cache – Ask a Ninja
Digging in the Cache is a series where we go back in time to look at fun tidbits of Internet and computer history. While Ask a Ninja is still producing episodes, it did start way back in November of 2005 by Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, a couple of LA-based improvisational comedians. Ask a Ninja started as a video show where the Ninja answers questions from “viewers”. The show is very campy, yet often hilarious and has a pretty loyal following. It goes to show just how little planning (sometimes) needs to go into Internet video (and there isn’t any “secret sauce” to being successful online other than creating content that people want). Ask a Ninja has had a regular video podcast, almost stopped producing content entirely in 2009, and is back to now producing daily videos. [Read more...]
Jun
24
2011
7 Tips for Better Twitter Chats
Twitter chats are an increasingly common way for people to discuss a topic or passion online. Basically, a group will organize around a specific hashtag so people can follow a single thread of conversation on Twitter. There are now hundreds, if not thousands of regular Twitter chats going on, and for good reason. It’s an easy, low-commitment way to get involved in a conversation with other people in your industry. It’s also a great way to network and get new ideas. – 7 Tips for Better Twitter Chats
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