Secure Your Industry Leader Spot with Useful Content Content marketing is defined as a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content that attracts and retains target audiences. It should not be a sales pitch, but it should provide content that truly helps solve issues your prospects and customers are experiencing. The goal of content marketing is to drive profitable customer action that will impact your business’ bottom line. Where to Start Most likely your company has produced content already. However, is it the right type of......
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White Papers – Still an Effective Marketing Tool With all the marketing buzz about topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots, micro influences and mobile video, you may be wondering why I am writing about white papers. It is not one of 2019’s hottest trends, but it is an effective marketing tool that should not be overlooked when you are developing your strategic marketing plan. In fact, according to a recent survey, it was ranked as the second most valuable type of content for moving prospects through the sales funnel. Of the......
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Defining the Buyer’s Journey According to HubSpot, the buyer’s journey is the active process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. This process is basically the same whether a person is making a personal purchase or buying a product or service on behalf of a business. Depending upon the industry, this process can range anywhere from less than a month to a year. The buyer’s journey has been defined in various ways with versions having few as three stages or as many as fifteen stages.......
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Time to Evolve to Opti-Channel Marketing The world of marketing is changing constantly. Historically, CMOs focused on areas such as creative strategy and branding, but as the landscape continues to shift these executives require more agility with technology and data, and the ability to provide a better ROI (return on investment). To achieve this ROI, savvy marketers have changed their marketing strategy over time from a multi-channel approach to an omni-channel methodology and now to opti-channel marketing. Below is more information about how opti-channel marketing can benefit your company. Three Marketing Approaches......
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Time to Retool the Marketing Mix One of the key learnings from an introduction to marketing class is the four P’s – product, place, price and promotion. Marketing professor and author, E. Jerome McCarthy, first introduced the four P’s marketing mix in his 1960 book, Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. These elements are still key to any marketing strategy today, but they are especially relevant for the marketing of consumer goods. However, according to thought leaders, Richard Ettenson, Eduardo Conrado and Jonathan Knowles, the four P’s can restrict B2B marketers; therefore, they reinterpreted......
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Five Reasons Why Rebranding can be Good Rebranding your business, product or service can be one of the most important yet scary decisions you will make. A rebranding exercise requires a tremendous amount of time and effort. As you will see from the two examples below, it is critical that rebranding is managed properly. Some brands, such as Old Spice, have rebranded very successfully. Old Spice changed from being a 70-year old brand with products only used by your grandfather to a line of body washes, sprays and deodorants that have experienced......
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Exploring the Pros and Cons of Outsourcing vs. In-House Marketing Every business needs marketing. Without it, growth is evasive. However, exactly how you fulfill that need varies. With the unemployment rate reaching historically low levels, hiring new talented marketing personnel may not be so easy. Recently, a potential client told us that he plans to hire a marketing manager who is going to be responsible for their website, content creation, graphics, social media management, strategic direction, events, and the list continued. My colleague told him “Let me know when you find that......
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Why You Should Start Planning for 2018 Today 2018 is less than three months away. That means it is now the time to be thinking about your marketing strategy for the new year. When done well, a marketing plan serves as a great road map to increase sales and overall company success. Here are a few points to consider as you create your 2018 marketing plan: Set Clear Goals Establishing clear goals will allow you to track and measure the success of your marketing plan. Goals should be tied to a defined......
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