Why Local Businesses Should Pay Extra Attention to Google Maps

July 29, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

It appears mobile and local are still the most talked about subjects in the multicolored Googleplex campuses across the world. These topics were the most talked about during this year’s Google Performance Summit.

Citation builder companies remain hugely valuable as they provide the necessary listing juice to establish the validity of a company, including name, address and phone number, to some verified directories. Citations are still a local company’s best friend, and a seemingly forgotten asset. Citations are the missing key to land your local business on the coveted “Google Maps 3-pack.”

Check out these ridiculously insightful mobile stats released by Google.

Dictated by this data, people’s online and offline lives have become synonymous, and a large part of mobile searches happen when someone is searching for something in real time (“now”) and location specific (“here”). Google recognizes this trend and has released its next generation of local search ads. Below are the three most prominent changes from my research:

1. New local search ads

New local search ads across Google.com and Google Maps make it easier for business owners to highlight their store locations and offices with branded pins.

Why Google Maps? Google Maps is used almost as much as Google search now, thanks to mobile and location based searches. Google claims Maps has more than a billion users, with another couple of billion location-based searches.

2. Responsive display ads

In the next few months, you’ll be able to send Google a URL, image and metadata, and Google will create responsive display ads on behalf of you and your company. Pretty cool. Currently, you have to create ads for different formats, which can be very time-consuming. To support local businesses and compliment the trending data, Google is going to handle responsive display ad creation for you.

3. Changes to device bidding

Currently, device bidding is an inefficient process. A bidder does not have the ability to set tablet bids, as they’re grouped together with desktop, and mobile is simply a multiplier of the base bid. This is all about to change. With these new changes, a bidder will be able to set individual bids for desktop, tablet and mobile. This gives the bidder much more flexibility and creates a more mobile-centric environment for the evolving search landscape.

What does all of this mean for local business owners?

The key takeaways for local businesses and business owners are:

Mobile-centric is necessary. Ensure your site is mobile responsive.
Google Maps is more important than ever, and Google is providing more resources for your disposal. Take advantage of all that Google is offering, and latch onto the mobile/local trends.
Google must remain an integral part of your digital strategy. Whether it’s pay-per click, local SEO, citation building for Google Maps or any combination thereof, Google remains vital.

Even though its corporate motto “Don’t Be Evil” dictates otherwise, Google continues to position itself as a necessary evil for all local companies, mobile searches and local listings.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2awBS49

5 Critical Marketing Metrics to Follow

July 28, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

Metrics are the foundation for any successful marketing strategy, but most companies fail to use many of these important metrics to calculate success or failure. Too often, companies focus heavily on the number of new leads generated, which ignores many of the complex formulas that can determine the true success of any marketing strategy.

Marketers are in a revolving cycle of constant change and flux. With the increasing number of marketing options and strategies, companies and marketers need to stay ahead of their competition. To help formulate an effective strategy, it is imperative that you understand these critical metrics and their formulas.

1. ROI (Return on Investment).

ROI is the most common formula and probably the easiest to understand. ROI is a measurement tool used to calculate the effectiveness and value of an investment. It shows the gain and/or loss of an investment by comparing and measuring the amount of return on an investment with the investment costs.

ROI is popularly used with other methods to help develop crucial business plans based on the metrics received. However, ROI calculations can be adjusted and manipulated for different uses. One company may use it to evaluate a return on a stock, while another may use it to make vital decisions on whether the new PPC or SEO strategy is effective.

For example, a company makes an investment of $5,000 into Google AdWords and generates $10,000 in net profit. This would be a 100 percent ROI. The formula would look like this: ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100. Divide the return of an investment by the cost of the investment, and the result is a percentage. In this case, ROI = ($10,000/$5,000) X 100.

2. CPA (Cost Per Action).

CPA is referred to as Cost Per Acquisition, Pay Per Action or Cost Per Action. It is a formula that measures the amount a business has paid to attain a conversion. CPA is also used to define a marketing strategy that allows advertisers to pay for a specified action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form from potential consumers. CPA campaigns are relatively low-risk, as costs are only accumulated once the desired action has occurred.

Most companies define CPA as Cost per Acquisition. For example, a company invests $1,000 in a SEO campaign. They received 100 new customers specifically from SEO. Their CPA is $10/customer. The formula is CPA = (Cost/ Conversions). Divide the cost of the ad campaign by the conversions.

3. ROAS (Return On Advertising Spend).

Simply put, ROAS is a tool used to measure the profit made from advertising. It’s the most useful metric to evaluate the performance of marketing campaigns, as it measures how much revenue you get back on each dollar spent on advertising. While ROI can give you an overall view, using ROAS formulas allows you to gain specific performance measurements based on every marketing network executed. For example, you can apply ROAS to specific campaigns and ad groups to receive a better perspective on the best direction for optimizing unprofitable advertising.

ROAS calculations will also tell you, at the most fundamental level, if your marketing channel is performing at a high enough level, which will allow it to be profitable. For example, a company spends $20,000 on Google Ads and received $60,000 in revenue. Their ROAS is $2 – ($60,000 – $20,000) / $20,000.

The formula: ROAS = (Ad revenue/ Cost of ad source). Divide revenue received from advertisement by the cost of the advertisement.

4. CLV (Customer Lifetime Value).

The Customer Lifetime Value metric is used to determine the economic value a customer brings to your business, not only for the time being, but for the entire time they’re a customer. The metric considers everything from their first interaction to their final purchase with your company. This is essential to determine whether there is more value in long-term marketing channels.

In other words, if your CLV value is high from a specific marketing channel, you will want to invest more into retaining customers — assuming you have a positive ROI. This metric also allows you to evaluate your company’s success based on the long-term results of your marketing strategies.

For example, if you fill 600 orders gaining revenue of $40,000, your average order value would be $66.67. Then, you can determine the purchase frequency (PF) by dividing the number of orders by the unique customers. In this case, if you had 400 unique customers, the PF would be 1.5. To calculate your Customer Value (CV), you multiply these numbers. In this case, it would be 66.67 (AOV) x 1.5 (PF) = $100 (CV).

Now, to determine the Customer Lifetime Value, you take the CV and multiply it by the customer’s duration with your company. Generally, choosing a number between one and five provides accurate results, so let’s assume each order also comes with a contract. Let’s assume a 3-year contract is your minimum.

Your formula would look like this: 100 (CV) x 3 (Years) = $300. Your customer’s lifetime value is $300 over a course of three years.

The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) formula:
AOV = (Number of Orders X Revenue)
PF = (Average Order Value / Number of Unique Customers)
CV = (Average Order Value X PF)
CLV = Customer Value X Customer’s Duration with the Company

5. Customer Retention Rate.

Customer Retention Rate is a metric used to calculate how loyal your customers are. Acquiring new customers costs more than retaining current ones. Determining how dedicated a customer is to your company allows you to improve your business strategies. If you can encourage loyal customers to stay with your business longer, you’ll maximize your revenue.

For example, if you start a quarter with 25 customers (CS) and gain 10 new customers (CN), but lose seven in that quarter, the customers at the end of the period (CE) would be 28. Using the following formula, you can then determine what your Customer Retention Rate is, which in this case would be 72 percent.

The formula to use for Customer Retention Rates = (Customer’s End Period – New Customers for this Period) / Customers at Start of the Period x 100. Subtract the new customers from the number of customers at the period’s end, and divide that by the customers at the start of the period, and then multiply by 100 to get the percentage of Customer Retention.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2ar6bL3

For Maximum Benefit Marketers Must Combine Email and Social Media

July 28, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

It has often been said that the rise of social media would lead to the demise of email marketing, yet this simply has not been the case — nor will it likely ever be.

While both channels compete for consumers’ screen time, the competitive dynamic ends there. In reality, marketers have the greatest opportunity to reach consumers when they view social media and email marketing as partners with a common goal, rather than rely entirely on one over the other.

1. The benefits of both.

Email marketing still possesses the key to a highly effective marketing strategy — personalization. Email allows marketers to segment and target different audiences, as well as deliver highly relevant and customized messages to specific contacts. In contrast, the same content is delivered to social media followers regardless of demographic, location or interests.

Additionally, when using email, marketers are in complete control of who receives messages and when. However, unless using an additional tool or sponsorship, brands have very little control of when their content is displayed or to whom it is shown on social media, as algorithms mandate those factors.

However, social media certainly boasts its own inherent advantages. First, there is essentially no cost to brands to simply have a presence on social media; Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. are all free platforms. Thus, if brands are seeing a profit from customers’ social media engagement, the ROI is already significant.

In addition, the sharing capabilities and immediacy of social media enable brands to rapidly capitalize on timely events — from weather phenomena to viral sensations (think the blue/gold dress frenzy).

2. Lessons learned from social.

Fortunately, marketers can apply lessons from social media to improve their email campaigns.

First, email marketers should be more proactive about leveraging timely events such as trending topics, sports spectacles or pop culture phenomena in their messages. Using subject lines pegged to timely topics may cause recipients to stop and click on a message that they otherwise would have sent straight to the trash.

Additionally, tuning into consumer content preferences has become extremely important for marketers, and information captured from social media-based email subscriptions can help to craft the most effective email content for new contacts. For instance, if a contact signs up via Instagram, marketers should ensure that emails delivered to that person are rich with images. If she signs up through Twitter, her email messages may be best received when concise and to the point.

3. Partnership best practices.

When leveraged correctly, social media and email marketing can have a synergistic relationship for brands, with social media driving email subscriptions and emails bringing more followers to social.

It’s essential that email marketers include links to social pages at the bottom of every email, regardless if it’s a welcome email, a promotional email or any other type of message. The more often email recipients see a brand’s social links, the more likely they are to visit those social pages directly from the email and keep the brand’s social presence top of mind.

In turn, social media posts should encourage followers to subscribe to email messages. However, it’s important to note that such posts should not link back to the brand’s home page. Though such links can lead to a short-term web traffic boost, they can easily distract the new lead before he has the chance to subscribe, preventing him from seeing multiple messages from your brand over time.

Rather, social posts should link back to squeeze pages — landing pages specifically meant to capture email opt-ins. These squeeze pages should have very simple content with a clear call to action: Sign up to receive emails.

Overall, social and email must work hand-in-hand to increase brand awareness and ultimately drive conversions. For effective outreach, marketing and social media departments must align to learn lessons from each other. Not only should they coordinate on campaigns and the timing and content of posts and emails, but also work together to ensure congruent messages are being sent from the brand.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2aeT2pU

7 Tasks Online Marketers Wish Weren’t Such a Pain in the Ass

July 28, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

Online marketing is a lot of fun. You get to flex your creative muscles by coming up with new campaign ideas, testing them and measuring the results. You get to be on the forefront of developing technologies, learning new systems and playing with new apps.

And you get to enjoy the “thrill of the hunt” when it comes to attracting more leads and finding just the right combination of elements that maximizes your conversion rates.

But it isn’t all glorious. Any marketer will tell you that while some tasks come naturally, others are a total pain in the ass. They’re difficult — because they’re time-consuming, they’re not straightforward or they just aren’t user friendly. And we all wish those tasks were a lot easier:

1. Market research

You can’t launch any type of online marketing strategy unless you’ve done your market research first. But the term “market research” is misleadingly simplistic. There are dozens of variables to consider about your audience.

Who are those people? What do they like? What do they need? What’s their buying cycle like? And not all of the answers can be found from resources like the Census Bureau. There are unlimited potential questions to ask, and because of that, you’re just as likely to dig too deep than dig too shallow. The balance is tough to strike, and be forewarned, it’s not a fun process.

2. Topic selection

Most online marketers have a content marketing campaign as one of their foundational branding pillars; but for content marketing to be successful, you need a running stream of new content topics, and all of them have to be both valuable and original.

Coming up with valuable, original topics is hard enough as it is. Keyword targets, a necessary component from SEO, makes the problem more complicated. Add in the fact that you have to come up with them on an ongoing basis, and it’s no wonder that most content creators are pulling their hair out only a few months into their new content generation.

3. Creative brainstorming

I mentioned the creative process as one of the most fun parts of online marketing, and I still mean that — but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Coming up with new, clever, original ideas is hard work, especially if you have a small team to work with.

Even something simple, like a funny one-liner, can cause a massive roadblock in the marketing department if the ideas aren’t flowing that day. The problem is, you can’t force creativity, so there’s definitely a bit of luck involved when it comes to inspiration.

4. UX testing

Some forms of testing are pretty simple; AB tests, for example, reduce a test down to a simple variable, and usually have one or two metrics that plainly spell out whether that test was successful.

UX testing, on the other hand, is far more complex. You’re dealing with much more qualitative, subjective data, like heat maps and time spent on various pages, and it’s not always easy to find quality volunteers to walk through the process. Still, UX testing is something that needs to be done.

5. Staying up to date

Things are changing all the time in the online marketing world. Sometimes, it’s a new technology that enters the scene and completely changes the way that your users interact with online elements. Other times, it’s a competitor that gets the upper hand on you with a new content campaign.

It’s hard to tell exactly what the day or the week is going to throw at you, but if you want your campaign and brand’s success to continue, you need to be ready for anything. It takes a lot of time and willingness to adapt to succeed here (hint: see 10 Marketing Blogs All CMOs Should Read).

6. Data analysis

There’s a renaissance going on in the world of data; we now have so much technology capable of pulling so much data, it’s a marketer’s dream. You can get pieces of data on practically any kind of user behavior or action, but there’s a problem: What do you do with it when you have it?

For starters, we may feel overwhelmed by the data glut. How do you know what questions to ask? Which pieces of data are most significant? There is also a plethora of mistakes you can make, from oversimplifying a problem to falling victim to confirmation bias. Data analysis, at least the thorough, objective kind, is hard.

7. Repositioning

Sometimes, you have to completely reposition your brand. This might be because your old strategy isn’t working; and part of the difficulty here can be the resulting blow to your ego. You have to pick up the pieces of the strategy you thought would work and start all over again.

The other part of the difficulty is that you’re starting from scratch; and that fact forces you to begin again, from the ground up. Still, there’s a certain excitement there: a blue ocean of opportunity waiting; and you’ll probably have all the tools you’ll need to go explore it.

These tasks aren’t impossible; in fact, most of them can be completed with sheer determination (and a good attitude to keep you sane). Still, they represent some of the more challenging aspects of online marketing.

If you’re new to the game, watch out for these hurdles, so you’re ready for them when they arrive. And if you’re already acquainted with them: Well, at least you know you’re not alone.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2asZ82T

7 Content Marketing Tips for New Entrepreneurs

July 27, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

Welcome to the digital age, where content marketing is a must for anyone starting a new venture. The idea of content marketing can be overwhelming for some, especially for those who have little or no experience with it. My advice has always been to read as much as you can before jumping into the field; however, that would take decades based on all the information available online.

In order to cut through some of the clutter, I reached out to people in the industry in hopes of compiling some quick tips for new entrepreneurs learning content marketing.

I received advice from more than 250 marketing professionals, influencers and business owners. The information is everything they wish they knew when starting out as new entrepreneurs. Here are the seven most useful tips.

1. Create a company blog.

Marketing Professor Kim Saxton from the IU Kelley School of Business says that having a company blog is a great way to ensure you have a steady stream of content.

“One way to more easily have a constant stream of content is to develop a company blog. HubSpot suggests that you really need to be publishing a blogpost nearly every weekday (that is, four days per week or 16+ times per month). That means you need to think creatively about what can be a blog post,” Saxton said.

2. Use the right tools from the start.

“Ultimately it’s not about the number of tools but rather the selection of the right tools suited for your agency,” Mattan Danio, Founder & CEO of WEBITMD, says. “It makes sense to be frugal during the startup phase but making a point to allocate a budget toward the proper management tools is better for clients, employees and ultimately your bottom line. I see most marketing agencies make the mistake of using a slew of low cost tools and software as service platforms to accomplish every little component of their offerings. Those tools have seemingly no end, and new ones are always popping up. I believe a custom CRM solution, marketing automation suite and internal task management app is necessary for any agency to run smoothly.”

3. Quality content leads to better engagement.

Storytelling marketing is one of the best techniques you can use to keep people’s attention. It also helps with the overall quality of your articles, and it leads to more shares and engagement.

“Do not write content just for sake of writing,” Anastasia Sidko, Content Manager at SEMrush, said. “Always provide value to the user. Share your own experiences – hacks you’ve discovered, tricks you’ve used and even failures you’ve had. If you don’t have enough knowledge yet, you can also use experience of the industry influencers. Choose the most engaging topics and successful content, and make it even more valuable by using Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique.”

4. When you can’t create, repurpose.

“It can be hard to come up with new content all the time,” Emily Sidley from Three Girls Media, said. “So re-use what you create in multiple places. After you’ve written a few posts, you can easily combine them into a white paper that you offer your readers, or if you have some statistic-heavy blog posts, consider using the data to create an infographic. For every piece of content you create, think about ways you can re-use what you’ve already developed in a new way to make your content creation efforts easier in the future.”

5. Find the right platform and influencers.

Where you post your content is important. It is also important who interacts with your content. These are things that people research before they do business with you. People want to know who trusts you, who endorses you and who is willing to promote you. Do your research to find the right platforms and influencers you want on your side. Then you have the daunting task of reaching out.

“Take the time to engage with the blog or influencer,” Julia Anghel of WallSt.io, said. “Get on their mailing list. Understand their writing style and what topics they like. Then write to see if they are really a good fit for you and the new audience you seek. Engage with them and their content. Share their stuff across your social networks, and engage with their’s. Leave meaningful comments on their blog posts, and begin to facilitate a relationship with the blog or influencer you are seeking out.”

6. Start everything with cornerstone content.

Cornerstone content is a single piece of content that you can build all future content from. It can consist of a landing page, white paper or anything similar. It can also help keep you from becoming overwhelmed Michael Passanante, senior director of marketing for BESLER Consulting, says.

“To keep from being overwhelmed by the demands of content creation, focus on developing one or two pieces of cornerstone content, such as a white paper or ebook that will be the go-to resources for the topics you are exploring. Ideally, these assets should be comprehensive, and explore the core themes that align with your content strategy,” Passanante said.

7. Use rich images and videos in your content.

Images and videos can help hold readers’ attention and help convey your message.

“Engaging your readers is an important part of content marketing,” Eitan Zimerman, CIO at Act Bold Media Group, said. “There are many benefits to increasing your average time on site. A great way to do this is to add as much informative, supplemental and high quality media to all your content. Use high resolution product images, or embed a beneficial video for users to view. Any type of multimedia addition to your content will help users stay interested and increase your overall content quality.”

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2aafah4

Can There Be Plagiarism In Marketing?

July 27, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

There’s been a lot of talk about plagiarism lately…enough said.

As a one-time student, as a professor, as an industry professional, as a writer and as a conscientious human being I am, of course, against all forms of plagiarism.

While it seems like there are some hard and fast rules about plagiarism in general and some software to help detect/prevent it, there actually is a fairly fine line (if not invisible line) when it comes to plagiarism in marketing.

Exactly what does it mean to copy another brand’s marketing work? Where’s the line between being inspired by another brand’s work and actually straight up plagiarizing it?

Let’s explore this topical topic.

I’m a big believer that marketing is a spectator sport. We can all learn so much when we watch what brands are doing in the market place, both from their successes, their failures and even just their normal day-to-day activity.

Marketing is a spectator sport, and the more we pay attention the better we hone our own marketing skills.

But there’s something implied in that statement that could cross the line into plagiarism. Perhaps.

When we learn from each other’s marketing activities, we will inherently and strategically want to apply that learning to our own business and brand. We will of course want to leverage the successes and not repeat the failures of other brand campaigns as well as in their everyday marketing interactions.

“Search and reapply,” as I’ve heard many marketers say.

In theory and in reality, there’s nothing wrong with that re-application.

To a point.

We see copy cat marketing all the time. It’s inevitable. You can’t necessarily patent or protect a creative idea, at least not in every possible way.

But what I’d like to say to our industry is that we should make every effort to make every idea our own. While it’s getting more and more impossible to come up with a truly unique new idea, it is infinitely possible to put your own brand’s spin on it.

It’s ok to be inspired by what you see out there, just don’t plagiarize it. Reapply it with what you know will work for your business and your customers.

Make it your own.

When you make it your own then it is your own to use, not anyone else can lay claim to it. That’s the essence and the beauty and the creativity of marketing, no two brands or campaigns or programs should be alike even if they were inspired by each other.

Each brand should apply its own brand essence, emotional benefits, and voice to every idea…whether that idea is brand new or inspired by something in the marketplace.

That will keep you on the clear side of plagiarism.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2a9Gooq

Keep It 100 Percent Real, and You Can Have It All

July 26, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

I’m sick of reading the same, dull, boring shit online. Do you know of the 1 percent rule? It states that 1 percent of people online are those who create content vs. the other 99 percent who either copy or share that content.

There are just a few individuals and platforms that I enjoy reading. I have love for The Hustle and enjoy getting Ryan Holiday’s monthly book list. My dude Noah Kagan keeps it real. I like texting him random questions and reading his blog posts because of his unique perspective.

So, how do you stand out in a world that doesn’t shut up? That’s the question I’m always asking myself when working on my personal branding.

For my personal brand’s success and growth, I’ve learned how to stand out. I must keep it 100 percent real (or authentic for you non-slang speakers). Transparency and authenticity have empowered my professional success and granted me contributor roles with high-level media outlets (Entrepreneur, Inc., etc.), high-level press (TIME, Fox, HuffPo, etc.), personal branding opportunities, paid speaking offers and a loyal following.

Here’s what I mean:

Authentic personal brand

My boy Everette Taylor and I have a similar mantra that reads, “Do not sacrifice who you are for anyone.” It’s a luxury that most people can’t afford. A lot of people put on a professional facade, a dual identity, that pigeonholes them into being that alter ego for the lifetime of their careers.

Most of the time that alter ego is not really who they are, and they have to live a dual life. That’s exhausting. I’d rather just be open with all that happens, all that I experience and all that I am. People are either going to like it or not. At the end of the day, I don’t care.

Differentiation

I write about my unique experiences consistently. Here are some examples:

We all have unique life experiences, perspectives and personas. We’re all different. However, people love the herd mentality. People are afraid to take risks and care too much about public opinion. Figure out how to portray your voice online.

Paid speaking gigs

I recently was found online through written content I contributed to Entrepreneur. I was offered a paid speaking gig, a week in paradise with a paid flight to Barcelona, Spain, free lodging, food and added promotional horsepower for my brand. This opportunity came from me speaking my mind online and keeping it one hundo (haha … more slang).

Content contributions

Entrepreneur gave me a shot at contributing content because of my unique pitches and personal experiences. The content resonated so much with the community I went from once every two months to weekly to bi-weekly writing. Additionally, I’m now leveraging my contributions with Entrepreneur to obtain additional roles with other high-level outlets. I’ve recently become a contributor with Inc.

High-level press

TIME picked up this article: 6 Life Hacks Learned in Prison That Will Maximize Your Productivity

There aren’t many people writing about productivity life hacks they learned in prison. First and foremost, 90 percent of people that went to prison wouldn’t think about broadcasting it over the internet. Secondly, few people have even slightly similar personal and professional experiences that would enable them to write something like this.

So I was awarded some fresh press opportunity thanks to sharing my experiences and unique insights.

Thought leadership

Thought leadership (assuming you have some merit) is the result of all of the above activities. My buddy Patrick Eckstein and I were talking about this exact thing the other day at lunch. We both agreed that even though it can take longer, it’s totally worth it. His company William Painter lives by this same ethos.

Each activity provides a new level of credibility, which takes you to a higher standard of value that helps you get more press, better paid speaking gigs, new contributor roles and a larger engaged community. The cycle compounds and continues.

You can have your cake and it eat too (that’s if you’re a cake eater) — an impressive online presence, paid speaking gigs, established thought leadership and a loyal following. All you have to do is be yourself.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2a2xqHV

Daymond John’s 5 Best Tactics for Marketing a New Product

July 26, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

So you’ve identified a gap in the market, figured out how to fill it, and have created a product you think people will love. Now what?

Daymond John — prolific investor, business owner and star of the hit TV series Shark Tank — recently sat down with Shopify’s TGIM podcast to share his best tips and strategies for marketing your brand new product. Here’s what he had to say:

1. Find your competitive edge.

Your product needs an angle, an edge or a competitive difference. What is it? What’s your product’s unique selling proposition? John posed a few questions for business owners about what separates their product from the competition — “Is it a price […], is it the quality, is it the scarcity, is it just the fact that a certain demographic wears it? […] You have to go out there and promote [your selling point].”

For example, if you sell hand-crafted apparel or accessories, you could focus on their superior craftsmanship compared to mass-produced alternatives. Or, if you’ve produced a more affordable version of something that’s normally expensive, you could focus on cost.

Make your competitive edge the center of attention in your marketing initiatives. Use it to your advantage and speak to consumers who are interested in the benefit it provides.

2. Seek out consignment deals.

If there are physical stores in your area that sell products related to yours, or at least in the same niche, John suggests approaching them with an offer for a consignment deal. In essence, a consignment deal means that rather than buying your product at lower prices in order to sell for a profit, store owners will offer shelf space and only pay you once the items sell.

According to John, “it also puts your stuff probably in the front end of the store and you get to see if you have a real concept.” This will be a lot easier for you to accomplish with independent retailers and specialty shops, as large chains work with their own buyers to secure product for all stores.

Since there’s virtually no risk for store owners to stock your products, try hunting a few down in your area and approaching them with an offer to sell your products on consignment. It just might be a great, free way to validate your business idea and earn some extra sales.

3. Build an online following.

John advises business owners to create a following around themselves and their brand. But in order to do that, they’ll need to provide some sort of value. “You could be a mompreneur talking about raising kids,” he said. “You can be talking about how to care for animals, how to construct furniture, or even make clothes.”

This strategy is used by cosmetics companies who do make-up application tutorials, musicians who provide insight into the songwriting process, and even food and beverage companies providing recipe ideas.

Try to get potential customers hooked on your brand and to create content related to your product. Not only will you earn yourself a following, but over time, you’ll start to become known as a trusted expert in your niche.

4. Connect with influencers.

If you don’t have legions of loyal followers, you can always borrow someone else’s. John is a big proponent of influencer marketing because “they’re lending you their demographic; they’re lending you their markets.”

John offered a great example to help illustrate his point. “There may be a female out there that is really great with working out and she has all of the best ab exercises in the world, and you happen to have something that is an energy drink or something that helps you shred weight or whatever the case is. If you get her to promote your product, it could be [via] affiliate marketing or you give her a small percentage of things that are sold, or maybe you are somebody who gives back to battered women shelters and she believes in the product, she’ll go and be an influencer and wave the flag [as] an ambassador.”

Seek out influencers in your niche and approach them with an offer to work together on promoting your product. They could be producing videos, writing blogs or running a popular Facebook group– anything that gets the in front of your target demographic. Create a unique coupon code for their followers to make an even more enticing offer.

5. Split test your ads.

If you’re going to shell out for paid ads, John suggests being tactical and strategic by employing the principles of A/B testing. He walked us through an example scenario in which the average store owner could test and optimize their Facebook ads. “Every single ad has different copy, a different couple of words, and you notice that seven people responded to ad number one; nine people responded to ad number two; three to ad number three; and 100 to ad number four, then you go out and you replicate [ad four] in various different papers.”

It’s a simple scenario, but it’s one that seriously works. A/B testing ad copy can have a profound impact on the success on your marketing campaigns, so if you’re going to spend money, it would be wise to get acquainted with the practice.

With these five tactics in mind, new business owners should have a much easier start gaining traction for the new, big idea.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2ae3UiL

Instagram’s Business Features Could Annoy Loyal Users

July 25, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

It finally happened. Instagram announced that it will offer business tools, which include business profiles, analytics and promoted posts. Instagram has firmly positioned itself as a social media marketing network. After all, there is arguably no better place to target millennials and other hip crowds.

“After hundreds of interviews with businesses, three key needs became clear — stand out, get insights and find new customers,” the release on official Instagram blog says. So, to allow businesses to stand out, the platform will offer free business profiles that enable managers to choose a preferred way of getting in touch with them — call, text or email with a tap of the contact button. Analytics and ads will also be available to business profiles.

The analytics, which are called Insights, will provide information about the most engaging posts, best times to publish, follower base growth, all among other cool statistics right in the app. This is the first time marketers will get this information from the first source, instead of third-party apps.

Finally, the ability to promote will be similar to the current option of boosting posts on Facebook — by simply clicking a button, you can promote your select posts. One thing worth mentioning is the capability to choose targeting yourself or let Instagram suggest an audience for a post, which is unique to the platform. The big brother Facebook doesn’t have this “auto-suggest” feature (yet).

According to the post, the new features will be first rolled out to users in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The social network is planning to make new tools available to all users by the end of the year.

These new features were long in order for marketers and small business owners. The relatively small number of reliable third-party analytics apps was frustrating them for a while. So, the latest update will definitely help people who are on Instagram to get exposure, reach new audiences and find new clients.

However, it also puts more pressure on marketers. Recent Instagram strategy definitely reminds Facebook moves circa 2013, when business accounts were hit with significantly lower organic reach rates. First, Instagram retires its chronological feed in favor of an algorithm-based order. Next, it changes its logo (which was beloved by so many) in favor of a trendy flat design. Now, the business accounts and tools will definitely separate commercial accounts from non-commercial accounts.

Instagram is running a very thin line here if their next move will be to suppress organic reach of posts from business pages. After all, this is a primary reason why Instagram became one of the most popular marketing platforms — the power to reach as many people as you possibly can, without any limits on the number of people, or the times they see a specific post.

While arguably handy features, like algorithms, filter out noise, people still prefer to be in control of their media consumption. Although it seems that the latest course of action primarily affects business accounts, users who love Instagram for its simple photo-sharing abilities might find new updates annoying — and well, too similar to Facebook’s decision to curate content.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/2adYjwk

9 Resources That Marketing and Sales Teams Are Using in 2016

July 20, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Join us for a free, live webinar and learn how to drive revenue with content marketing. Tune in 8/4 at 10:30 a.m. PT. Register Now »

Whether yours is a small business or enterprise-level organization, digital marketing and sales strategies are the most important tasks you can do to pave the way to growth.

While there are many different strategies and opportunities here, a huge marketplace has opened up for sales and marketing tools. Thousands of businesses in fact have created proprietary tools to help their customers streamline and simplify the process of marketing and selling their own products.

Unfortunately, the result is a watered-down marketplace where businesses like yours are forced to vet any tool before deciding to adopt it. But the following list of some the top sales and marketing tools worth considering in 2016 may help.

1. Unomy

Are you tired of piecing together fragmented sales tools in order to accomplish certain tasks? With Unomy, this is no longer necessary. This sales intelligence platform helps sales teams in B2B companies sell smarter, faster and more effectively. Unomy can be used to identify new prospects, build targeted prospect lists, prioritize leads and opportunities and glean insights about potential partner companies.

2. Mention

In our age of social media, when millions of messages are being sent out into cyberspace each day, it’s more important than ever that businesses have a proper method in place for listening to what people are saying about them. Mention is that method. With Mention, you can track key phrases and brand names in real time so you’re always on top of what people are saying. Thus, you know how to have meaningful conversations with sales prospects and leads.

3. GrowthList

If you’re a B2B business that relies on having a consistent stream of sales prospects at your fingertips, you may find GrowthList helpful. Billed as a sales tool for startups, GrowthList is actually helpful for small and mid-level businesses, as well. It features a comprehensive database of more than 5,000 B2B tech companies that are currently in growth mode, along with pertinent details about them. Plug them into your sales funnel, and get started.

4. BuzzSumo

You don’t need anyone to tell you how massive the content marketing industry has become. The vast majority of businesses are increasing their budgets each and every year, yet few are doing what it takes to improve the quality and relevancy of their content. With BuzzSumo, you can do that. This powerful research platform lets you identify quickly the topics, keywords and ideas that matter.

5. Socedo

Twitter is a powerful social media platform that’s underutilized by most businesses. In addition to using it as a marketing and branding tool, you should also be using it as a resource for finding and reaching out to sales prospects. With Socedo, you can qualify leads on Twitter by entering things like hashtags and keywords into the search bar. The tool returns a customized prospect list and helps you to follow up.

6. Reply

The Reply tagline says it all: “Send cold emails that feel warm.” From inbound to outbound emails, Reply helps businesses automate their communications with prospects who are early in the sales funnel without making things feel impersonal or irrelevant. Whether you’re sending a sequence of emails or looking for in-depth analytics, Reply is a versatile tool that adds a ton of value to any sales team.

7. DeepCrawl

When was the last time you paid attention to your website? While social media, content marketing and landing-page development often take up a lot of a digital marketer’s time, you can’t forget about onsite SEO. With DeepCrawl, you can quickly analyze your website’s architecture to understand and fix a variety of technical issues affecting your SEO performance — and thereby eating away at conversions.

8. Google Analytics

If you haven’t started using Google Analytics by now, then you’re missing out on a major opportunity to understand who your audience is and how to connect with its members. From measuring website performance and tracking conversion goals to learning about your target market’s demographics, Google Analytics is the powerful free tool that does it all.

9. Salesflare

Few things are worse than missing out on a follow-up opportunity with a qualified prospect. The Salesflare platform integrates with Outlook, Gmail, and mobile devices to ensure that this never happens. From inputting data to following up, this tool covers everything.

Put the right tools to work for your biz.

As a businessperson with aspirations for your company’s growth, you can’t afford to waste your time messing around with tools and resources that don’t propel your business forward. That’s why it’s important that you select the right ones from the beginning, and implement them strategically in ways that aid your current processes and workflows.

Start with the tools mentioned in this list, and see where they take you.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/29MrkiT