As we near the end of another year, the season of reflection and resolutions is upon us. And while it’s true that we should be analyzing and adjusting our strategy all throughout the year, we all know how quickly time passes and how easy it is to let certain things fall through the cracks.
Picture it. You’re at your desk, your phone is ringing nonstop, and you have dozens of unanswered emails waiting for a response. Your boss just called a last minute meeting with you and the board in 20 minutes to discuss your firm’s marketing goals and to develop an action plan for next year. He has asked you to speak to the board, to boot. This afternoon you’re meeting with managers from three different high profile companies who are looking to partner with an agency like yours. At some point today, you’re supposed to meet with your content team to review next months editorial calendar and then you’re headed straight to your graphics team to provide feedback on an end of month campaign that launches next week. You hope you can squeeze in lunch sometime today, too.
One of the most critical moments in our relationship with a new client is when we sit them down for “the talk.” It’s not what you’re thinking! But for a business looking to grow up, it’s just as critical.
Thanks to technology, marketing has changed and still is changing, but in order to benefit from the changes, companies have to make a philosophical transition that is often terrifying to think about. They have to transition from outbound to inbound marketing, from interruption to permission. And it’s scary!
Remember You've Got Mail? Joe Fox (F-O-X), as you recall, held to the popular stance, "It's not personal, it's business."
You have a solid mission statement. Your online presence is broad. You’re producing stellar content. You’re tweeting, posting, blogging, pinning, etc. So where are all your leads?
It could be a very simple answer—you’re marketing to the wrong audience. Once you have established what your purpose is, you need to narrow down whom you want to reach. Developing your buyer personas is the #1 step many folks miss when creating a marketing strategy.
Yes, it has finally happened and marketers everywhere are rejoicing! In another bit of social media news, Pinterest just announced that they will begin experimenting with promoted pins. Although Pinterest ads are not available to purchase by businesses yet, depending on the feedback Pinterest receives, promoted pins should become available soon.
Marketing data is often presented as a cold and lifeless tool for the analytical mind. An all too common phobia of numbers and using them has skewed our view of these helpful digits. Data appears too abstract. We ask, how can data show us real engagement with real people? Data, if used creatively, gives us specific and detailed information. Data is not an hindrance to authentic communication; it is knowledge. We cannot make an honest appraisal of ourselves or have real relationships without knowledge. This is where data can help us.
The latest in social media news is Facebook has made changes to their Promotions Guidelines to make it "easier for businesses of all sizes to create and administer promotions on Facebook." These guidelines set Facebook's terms and conditions for running a promotion on your business page.
If I'm going to leave my company and my family for a four day conference, it better be worth it.
Culture. It’s become something of a buzzword. I hesitate to write about it on that score alone. But every company’s got one, and not surprisingly, successful companies tend to sport an enviable and compelling company culture. Think Zappos, Google, or Facebook.
