Marketing Strategy and Business
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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
November 14, 2012 9:21 AM
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The No Hype Guide To Video Marketing on YouTube

The No Hype Guide To Video Marketing on YouTube | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Big businesses are savvy now and they’re throwing more money into production. If you want to be competitive, you’ve got to have some skills.

In order to create videos that are going to be worth your audience’s time, you (or a team) are going to need to have a solid handle on at least these 5 areas:

 

1) Storytelling/Writing

Without a basic understanding of how to tell a story, there is no way you’re going to make a video that’s worth watching.

Being a good writer is not as essential to being a good storyteller, which is why some unscripted talking to the webcam videos can work, but it is certainly essential if your story isn’t compelling enough on it’s own.

Good storytelling is the foundational element that separates the competent videos from everything else.

 

2) Editing

One thing I can say with the utmost sincerity is good video is more about what’s taken out than what’s left in.

Editing is the most frustrating, most time consuming, most rewarding experience.

It happens in two phases:

- Pre-Production...

- Post-production...

 

3) Composition

The Rule of Thirds is the basic building block for video composition and is an even older component in that visual language we were talking about earlier.

If your video involves complex movement and editing, you need to storyboard to organize your thoughts.


4) Networking

But in my experience, I’ve found that the best networking for showing off your videos happens in person.


5) A Basic Understanding of SEO

Basic SEO deals with the findability of your content, but I put this component last because assumptions are too often made that if your video is findable, then it’s going to convert.

This couldn’t be any further than the truth. If your video is good, it’s going to convert. If it’s findable, that’s just icing on the cake.

So what do we do to make it more findable?

- Keyword Research
- Title Tag Optimization
- Description Optimization
- Video Transcript..."

 

Each area is analyzed with more information and resources. Read full article here:

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/video-marketing/the-no-hype-guide-to-video-marketing-on-youtube/

 

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 30, 2012 2:18 AM
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Why You (Yes, You) Need to Create More Landing Pages | HubSpot

Why You (Yes, You) Need to Create More Landing Pages | HubSpot | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Are you creating enough landing pages to really scale your lead generation efforts? For many of you, probably not. Let's find out why -- at least in the case of landing pages -- more is better.

 

Here are four good explanations why the more landing pages, the better your leads number.

 

1) More Landing Pages Means More Conversion Opportunities:

Quite simply, the more landing pages you have on your website, the more opportunities you have to convert site visitors into leads. There's also a huge SEO benefit to having more landing pages, which can have an impact even before visitors land on your website. Think about it: The more landing pages you have, the more landing pages will be indexed in search.

 

2) More Landing Pages Means More Variety:

Creating more landing pages means you'll have a wider variety of offers for your visitors to convert on and for you to promote, which leads us to reason number three...

 

3) More Landing Pages Means More Marketing Collateral:

The more landing pages you have, the more offers you'll have to fuel the rest of your inbound marketing efforts. Remember, content is the heart and soul of any successful inbound marketing strategy. Without it, you'd have nothing to email your contacts, nothing to share with your social media fans and followers, nothing to promote through your website calls-to-action, nothing by which to get found and rank for your keywords in search.

 

4) More Landing Pages Means More Targeting Opportunities:

When you identify various different buyer personas and segments within your audience, you have the opportunity to better appeal to those different audiences' interests and needs with more targeted and relevant offers. And to leverage this savvy thinking, face it: You need more landing pages.

 

How to Increase the Number of Landing Pages on Your Site

1) Invest in a Landing Page Creation Tool (And Control Over Your Website)...

2) Create More Offers...

3) Tweak the Offers You Already Have to Cater to Individual Personas...

4) Repurpose Content You Already Have..."

 

Each tip is analyzed with more information and examples. Read full article here:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33756/Why-You-Yes-You-Need-to-Create-More-Landing-Pages.aspx

 

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 25, 2012 5:45 AM
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35 Great Resources to Blogger Outreach and Guest Blogging | KISSmetrics

35 Great Resources to Blogger Outreach and Guest Blogging | KISSmetrics | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article intro by Kristi Hines on KISSmetrics:

"If you want to increase exposure for your business (beyond optimizing your website for search and growing your social media audience), then guest blogging and blogger outreach are avenues you may wish to explore. When you connect with bloggers in your industry, you are given platforms for communicating with your potential customers like never before.

 

The following are 35 resources to help your guest blogging and blogger outreach — including networks specifically created to help you connect with bloggers, guides for guest blogging and blogger outreach, and guest post opportunities for marketers..."

 

The author proposes the 35 resources in the following four main sections:

1) Guest Blogging and Blogger Outreach Networks;

2) Guest Blogging Guides;

3) Blogger Outreach Guides;

4) Great Guest Blogging Opportunities for Marketers;

 

Read full great article here:

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-blogger-outreach/

Laurence Roelants's comment, October 25, 2012 5:46 AM
Great article, Giuseppe! Thanks!
Giuseppe Mauriello's comment, October 25, 2012 5:53 AM
Hi Laurence,
Thank you for appreciation about my curated article!
Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 25, 2012 2:55 AM
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10 Tips To Optimize Conversions On Your Mobile Landing Pages

10 Tips To Optimize Conversions On Your Mobile Landing Pages | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"There’s a big difference between websites that are mobile-friendly and websites that are specifically developed for mobiles, the ones that use special features like pinching and zooming and take notice of the fact that limited screen size poses constraints of a different kind.

 

If your business is serious about mobile device usage, what it needs to do is to invest in making sure your website and landing pages have versions that are made exclusively with mobiles in mind. Since limited screen size on mobiles and their on-the-go usage pose special constraints, simply retouching your existing website to make it “mobile-friendly” will not suffice.

Following are some of the things you need to take care of if you want to maximize your sales and conversions on mobiles:

 

1. Users should be able to read the page without zooming.

2. Place your content in a way so as to focus on all important elements.

3. Minimize the content; make it simple, consistent and easily navigable.

4. Make navigation easy and simple.

5. Scalability issues across screen sizes should not be neglected.

6. Make sure your page scales to both landscape and portrait views.

7. Fonts and appearances do matter.

8. Make it load faster for the reduced attention span of your user.

9. Use the geo-location of the visitor to personalize your website.

10. A/B test what works best on mobiles!..."

 

Each tip is analyzed with more information and details. Read full original article here:

http://searchengineland.com/ten-tips-to-optimize-for-conversions-sales-on-your-mobile-landing-pages-137101

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 21, 2012 5:21 AM
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10 Dead Simple Tips to Take Advantage of Google+ for SEO

10 Dead Simple Tips to Take Advantage of Google+ for SEO | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article on SEOmoz:

"It's no secret. When engineers built Google+, they constructed an SEO juggernaut to dominate search results above all other social platforms.

There are several ways to take advantage of this SEO domination for your own benefit.

 

1. Follow your profile links:

Google+ not only allows you to link to your other profiles across the web, but you can embed followed links directly into your bio with the anchor text of your choice.

 

2. Embed post links:

Like profile links, Google+ also allows you to insert followed links directly into your posts – as many as you want. Simply insert the full URL and Google will automatically format it as a link.

The value of these links increases the number of times the post is shared, linked to and +1’ed.

 

3. Optimize your G+ title tags:

The first sentence of your Google+ post becomes part of the title tag, which is highly correlated with rankings and greatly influences click-through rates. Choose your keywords carefully and consider that the first sentence will be the first thing most people see.

 

4. Unlimited editing power:

Google+ is just like your own mini personal blogging platform. This means you can fully edit any of your posts at any time. Not so with Facebook or Twitter.

 

5. Index new content lightning fast:

If you share new content on Google+, chances are that Google will index the page very quickly.

Rumor has it that new URLs are crawled almost instantly. This makes complete sense as part of the purpose of Google+ was to replace Twitter when creating Google's Realtime Search.

 

6. Stalk Connect with influencers:

Google+ lists 17 different notification triggers that can help you connect with influencers in your industry.

Depending on the individual's account settings, these notifications can take the form of an email, phone SMS, or the omnipresent red Google notification bar.

 

7. Optimize your author pic for more traffic:

If you successfully implement the author tag and have an eye-catching pic you can often grab free traffic away from even your competitor's #1 ranking.

 

8. Test drive a G+ social media dashboard:

Adam Singer created an awesome social media dashboard that you can use for free. At one glance you can view all your essential metrics from Google+ traffic and all other social networks including:

- On Site Social Actions, i.e. Google +1's;
- Revenue per Visit by Social Network;
- Overall Traffic Stats by Social Source.
Bonus: Install this dashboard for free in your Google Analytics account by clicking here: 

http://www.google.com/analytics/web/permalink?uid=erNMqvwYQIWKDiA7dkHbJQ

 

9. Check your CircleRank:

My favorite new tool is CircleCount. Try it now by pasting in your Google+ URL to chart your daily follower growth, the virality of your posts, and even see your "CircleRank" score compared against all other Google+ profiles.

 

10. Be an awesome (Late) early adopter:

Even with it's explosive growth, only 1 in 4 people use Google+ once a month. The rest log in even less, although this number is growing fast..."

 

Read full interesting article here:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tips-to-use-google-for-seo

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 17, 2012 10:52 AM
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8 Ways SEO Should Influence Your Marketing Copywriting

8 Ways SEO Should Influence Your Marketing Copywriting | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

In the world of inbound marketing, your content is your business and your calling card. Your effectiveness as an inbound marketer relies on the quality of your content, and your content is what helps you get found online, build trust with your readers, educate and inform them, build a pathway to conversions, and sustain ongoing and profitable relationships with loyal customers for years to come.

 

But for content to truly be successful, marketers must think like SEO professionals to ensure that content gets found online by the proper audience.

To help ensure you’re ranking for the right words -- not just any and all words -- it's important to ensure that your content is consistent.

Here are some critical SEO considerations to include so your marketing copywriting is both compelling and search engine-friendly!

 

1) Well-Defined Target Audience and Tone:

In SEO -- and all of inbound marketing for that matter -- content is king. However, your attempt to optimize that content for search engines will be worth nothing if your content serves no purpose. Don't just create content for the sake of creating content. Start by defining your target audience and the appropriate tone for your different types of content.

 

2) Keyword Research:

Clearly identify which specific topics and keywords your writers should focus on. Conduct keyword research to confirm your intuition about their topics of interest. To help you conduct this research, you can use tools like Google's Keyword Tool or even HubSpot's Keyword tool.

 

3) Proper Spelling and Grammar:

Make sure to always use proper spelling and grammar. A proper written style guide should outline common keyword variations in addition to which version your company has decided to use.

 

4) Branding Nuances:

You should always be striving to maintain a well-defined and consistent brand -- and your SEO efforts should reflect that. Establish how to approach words specific to your particular brand such as your company name, names of product lines, services, and individual products.

 

5) Content Formatting:

Spelling out best practices for content formatting is a smart idea.

Make sure you provide your copywriters with all the resources they need to succeed with SEO. It’s absolutely worth taking the time to spell all this out.

 

6) Copy Editors

Every marketing team should designate a copy editor (or a few) to review the content the team creates.

 

7) Content Calendar

The one thing that is arguably more important than how frequently you publish is how consistently you publish. You already know that consistency of language is important; the same holds true for the timing of when you publish. Studies show that early morning publishing times, Monday through Thursday, work best.

 

8) Conversions

If you plan on increasing your ROI through your content creation and SEO efforts, then you’ll need to create some calls-to-action (CTAs).

CTAs lead your traffic to highly optimized landing pages which offer them something in exchange for their contact information

 

 

4 Don'ts of SEO Copywriting

- Creating Content for the Sake of SEO...
- Don’t Obsess About Keyword Density...
- Don’t Optimize Content for Misspelled Words...
- Don’t Create a New Page for Every Single Possible Keyword Variation..."

 

Read full original article here: 

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33695/8-Ways-SEO-Should-Influence-Your-Marketing-Copywriting.aspx

 

 

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 10, 2012 3:56 AM
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5 Facebook Marketing Resources You Didn't Know About | SEOmoz

5 Facebook Marketing Resources You Didn't Know About | SEOmoz | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Here are five pages and resources worth exploring if you are looking to drive traffic and sales through Facebook.

 

1) Facebook Marketing Page:

They often post about webinars they are holding for marketers, answer specific questions posted to their wall, and spotlight valuable statistics.

 

2) Facebook Advertising Page:

In this section, they outline how things work, show off some success stories, and answer top questions. You can also find some contact information for those nagging questions you can’t quite figure out.

 

3) Facebook Business Page:

This might be one of the least known resources that Facebook has put together. The page covers the basics like building a page and conversation etiquette, but it also gives tips on how to engage your audience and influence friends.

 

4) Facebook Studio:

Here you will find a gallery of creative Facebook campaigns, explore award-winning campaigns, a directory agencies experience in Facebook marketing campaigns, and more.

 

5) Facebook Studio Edge:

This is a brand new resource for those looking to take Facebook campaign creation in house. Recently released, Facebook Studio Edge is an online course that walks a user through critical knowledge pieces like measurement, research, resources, and tools to help with Facebook marketing. You can request beta entry and get started today..."

 

Read full article here:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/5-facebook-marketing-resources-you-didnt-know-about

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
September 30, 2012 10:50 AM
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4 Tips To Get More Traffic To Your Blog From Pinterest

4 Tips To Get More Traffic To Your Blog From Pinterest | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Getting lots of pins from your blog posts can increase engagement and drive traffic.

It can also help boost your performance on search engines because pins to your post are ‘do-follow’ links.

Here are 4 tips:

 

#1: Share a Lot of Content:

One of the best ways to promote your blog is to pin a lot of images onto your boards.

You need to share both your own content and content from other people.

Aim to create content-rich boards where people come searching for articles on your particular topic.

 

#2: Create Taller Images:

Think of ways in which images can be elongated, either when you combine several images or stretch images wherever possible.

 

#3: Add Images to Every Post:

A blog post can be pinned onto a board on Pinterest only if it has at least one image on it. This image should also be a minimum size of 110 x 100 pixels.

If there are no images on your blog post or if the images aren’t big enough, you won’t be able to pin the post. So try to add at least one image to every post.

 

#4: Add Default Images to the Entire Blog:

Another option would be to add default images to your blog that will be visible on every page and post.

This way if your post doesn’t have an image or if you forget to add the image, you can always be sure that one image on your posts can always be pinned. This image could be on your blog sidebar, header or footer..."

 

Read original article here:

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinterest-traffic-to-your-blog/

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
September 24, 2012 10:27 AM
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46 Ways to Kill It With Content | Search Engine Watch

46 Ways to Kill It With Content | Search Engine Watch | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die.”Fredrich Neitzsche.
While I certainly don’t agree with everything Nietzsche shared, his famous quote above captures nicely where digital marketing is right now.

 

As an industry, change is something we live with day in day out, but we're in a period of unprecedented shift. Google is moving to a model of rewarding relevance and value based on the semantic web while rendering manipulative techniques of old redundant.

 

It’s time to do #RCS or Real Company Stuff (the polite version). And content investment leads that charge, which means you’ll need to know how to make the most of creating it.

 

What follows are a few killer tips to help with that transition and help everyone “cast off” that skin, starting with this quick-fire list of actions you should be considering taking as you grow your content investment..."

 

The author of the article analyzes 46 ways in these sections below:

- Idea Creation;

- Creating Structure;

- Content Strategy;

- Content Execution;

- Measure Effectiveness.

 

Read full article here:

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2207432/46-Ways-to-Kill-It-With-Content

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
September 17, 2012 2:28 AM
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How To Build A Trustworthy Website | KISSmetrics

How To Build A Trustworthy Website | KISSmetrics | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

Every online business wants to increase sales. In an effort to do so, companies will offer promotions, create social media contests, and advertise their brand. All of these campaigns are good, but there’s one less common way that not many people think about that can help reach this goal: building a trustworthy website that consists of two components: reputation and security.

 

Reputation means providing visitors with assurance that your business is a reputable brand, that your customers will get their orders on time, and that you stand behind your products.

 

Security means providing users with a guarantee that your website is secure. We’ll go through some techniques that you can implement to ensure visitor security.

 

REPUTATION:

While discussing reputation, we’ll go through different features that make up a brand’s reputation. As we focus on each one, ask yourself these questions: Could this be a selling point for my brand? Will my customers be impressed by this?

- Customers Served...

- Mentions in Press...

- Testimonials...

- Years of Experience...

- Awards...

- Good Practice Seals...

- STELLAService...

- Social Media Following...

- Free Trials...

- Professional Website...

- Privacy Policy...

- Correct Spelling...

- Detailed Transaction Reporting...

 

 

SECURITY:

The other key to building a trustworthy website is about letting visitors know that your website is secure. If you’re curious as to where you should put your security message, the answer is that it varies from business to business. Some popular ecommerce sites (such as Amazon) don’t need to have a security message on their homepage because they already have a great reputation. SaaS companies may need to mention their security on the homepage due to the nature of their business.

 

If you want a seal for your website, you’ll need to get an SSL certificate. We’ll get into the various certificate providers below.

Once you get a certificate, it will appear in your visitor’s browser..."

 

Each element is analyzed with more information and examples. It's very interesting. Read full and long article here:

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/build-a-trustworthy-website/

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
August 31, 2012 9:03 AM
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29 Content Marketing Secrets from #cmworld Speakers [Free eBook] | Content Marketing Institute

29 Content Marketing Secrets from #cmworld Speakers [Free eBook] | Content Marketing Institute | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Top Rank Online Marketing and Content Marketing World share their content marketing secrets with the masses.

You’ll be tempted to destroy this dossier of highly valued intelligence before your competitors get to it, but resist you must.

You’ll hear from:

- Lee Odden: TopRank Online Marketing;
- Joe Pulizzi: Content Marketing Institute;

- Ann Handley: MarketingProfs;

- Michael Stelzner: Social Media Examiner;

- Jason Falls: Social Media Explorer;

....and many others!

 

Read original article and download free eBook here:

http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/08/content-marketing-secrets/

Ken Morrison's comment, September 15, 2012 6:58 AM
Hello.
Thank you for the rescoop. Good luck on your new scoop.it site. My absolute top advice is to create a strategic tagging system at the beginning and tag everything. It will help you and your followers find your old posts quickly. Scoop.it will also reward you with a high score...this will help others find you based on your score. Good luck!
Ken
Ken Morrison's comment, September 15, 2012 9:10 PM
Hello Olsen Jay,
I appreciate the rescoop.
Ken
Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
August 26, 2012 3:24 AM
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12 Simple Ways Marketers Can Humanize Their Brand | HubSpot

12 Simple Ways Marketers Can Humanize Their Brand | HubSpot | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:
"In an inbound marketing age where businesses are expected to get to know their target audience, develop personas, maintain an active social media presence, and be genuinely helpful to their leads and customers, it seems like there's room to develop a relationship between companies and consumers beyond just the transactional.

 

People do business with people they like and trust, and it's really, really hard to trust a company.

If your company comes off as cold, corporate, or faceless, it might be time to find a way to humanize your brand a little more. Here's how.

 

1) Write an 'About Us' page that's actually good.

2) Kill the business babble.

3) Inject a sense of humor into your content.

4) Publish photos of your team being themselves.

5) Introduce your community manager.

6) Sign your social updates.

7) Have conversations with fans, followers, and commenters.

8) Encourage employees to be social on behalf of your company.

9) Admit your mistakes.

10) Poke fun at yourself.

11) Sign your emails with your name. Like, your name.

12) Take off your marketer hat once in a while."

 

Each way is analyzed with detailed information. Read full interesting article here:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33525/12-Simple-Ways-Marketers-Can-Humanize-Their-Brand.aspx

 

 

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
August 21, 2012 8:03 AM
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How to Identify Leads' Needs So You Can Segment Emails Like a Pro | HubSpot

How to Identify Leads' Needs So You Can Segment Emails Like a Pro | HubSpot | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Depending on your product or service and your marketing objectives, you can segment your leads based on demographic and geographic information or behavior-based information such as the type of content your leads have previously engaged with and which point they're at in your funnel. These are obvious and practical ways to segment, target, and nurture your leads.

 

List segmentation, however, doesn’t stop at this two axis matrix. There’s another, less obvious way to segment and nurture leads -- their needs!

 

Knowing what your prospects want, you can easily and quickly position your product or service in a way that makes you -- not your competitors -- the clear and obvious solution. And there is a way marketers can do this more advanced type of nurturing. In fact, it's critical if they really want to take their lead nurturing to the next level!

Just follow these four easy steps to a better lead nurturing approach.

 

1) Determine Your Leads’ Problems & Needs:

You can do this by surveying a representative sample of your leads, or simply by adding a new field to your landing page forms. As a side note, this is a great tactic to gather information about your database.

Remember that some of your leads may not even think they have an issue or problem that your product can solve. Make sure you use a broad label that covers a general industry instead of a niche one.

Also, think about how you phrase “problem” or “need.” Most of your leads won’t want to admit -- or even realize -- they have an issue, so we use the term “challenge” instead.

 

2) Analyze Major Themes in Your Data, and Select a Handful of Key Issues:

In order to analyze the data, you’ll need to export your form data from your marketing software or CRM.

Once you’ve exported your data, let the analytical fun begin! Unfortunately, this is a somewhat manual process since you’re collecting data on an open form field.

A quick way to get a snapshot of this is to generate a word cloud. Try uploading all the responses to Wordle, and it will spit out a visual representation of the words and phrases that are most commonly mentioned in your leads' responses.

When you're reviewing the responses, pick out 10-15 major themes you notice. Next, you’ll want to read through the list of responses and categorize them as best you can by those themes. Once you have all your responses categorized by theme, count the number of responses that fit into each category. As you do this, there should be a few that rise to the top of your list.

 

3) Create & Add the Drop-Down Field to Your Landing Page Forms:

Once your analysis is done and you've identified your top themes, it’s time to create your drop-down form field and pop it into your forms. Like any drop-down that you use in a form, you’ll want to make sure the number of options does not hinder your conversion rates.

 

4) Segment & Nurture Leads by Need

Once this is in place, you can start to segment your leads by need. In addition, you may want to also segment by other variables such as persona or demographic in addition to “needs” information.

With all this detailed information, you can create specific lists to nurture based on a combination of need, persona, and position in the funnel. Simply pull this information from your CRM or marketing software to generate lists that fit various criteria, and import that list into your email tool..."

 

Read full article here:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33497/How-to-Identify-Leads-Needs-So-You-Can-Segment-Emails-Like-a-Pro.aspx

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Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
November 3, 2012 11:08 AM
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21 Business Blogging Tips From the Pros | Social Media Examiner

21 Business Blogging Tips From the Pros | Social Media Examiner | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Business bloggers, follow these hot blogging tips from top experts to craft a strong content strategy and create the right customer experience around your blog.

 

Here are 21 tips (only the list):

#1: Treat Each of Your Articles as a Product;

#2: Crowdsource Unconventionally;

#3: Produce Your Own Media Content;

#4: Publish Only Your BEST Content;

#5: Give Your Whole Story;

#6: Target Your Market With Useful Content;

#7: Do Interviews/Webinars;

#8: Invite Guest Bloggers;

#9: Guest Post Often;

#10: Use Information Architecture;

#11: Focus on People First;

#12: Skip the Promotion on Business Blogs;

#13: Stop Talking Only About Yourself;

#14: Answer Consumer Questions;

#15: Brand Journalism;

#16: Be Yourself;

#17: Show Your Personality;

#18: Deal With Negativity in a Positive Way;

#19: Own Your Own Domain Name;

#20: Immediately Claim Authorship of Your Articles;

#21: Stop Calling Your Blog a Blog;

 

Each tip is analyzed with great information. Read full interesting article here: 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/blogging-tips-from-the-pros/

 

Rhonda White's curator insight, March 20, 2013 3:55 PM

21 Business blogging tips worth bookmarking for a monthly review!

Scooped by Giuseppe Mauriello
October 25, 2012 10:43 AM
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The SEO Path to Becoming a Great Funnel Owner | SEOmoz

The SEO Path to Becoming a Great Funnel Owner | SEOmoz | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"If SEO consultants want to own more of the funnel, their title will need to change to support a more expansive role that includes multiple channels, rather than changing what the term "SEO" itself means.

The author of article is going to focus on two key areas of SEO:

1) Beyond keywords;
2) Content that works;

 

1. Beyond keywords

What good SEOs already do:

- Model search behavior across the funnel

Good SEO’s are already skilled in the art of modeling user search behavior across a search buying cycle. They look to identify what language prospects are using relevant to their business.

 

Good SEO’s will:

1. Use PPC data...

2. Measure head vs long tail...

3. Track top of funnel keywords...

4. Create keyword funnels...

5. Create content maps...

 

I want more of that funnel

What great funnel owners do:

- Model the whole customer

Persona modeling is nothing new, and smart marketers have been using them to help with brand marketing, website design, and UI for years.

Well constructed personas help develop many different tactics, including:

- Content that resonates
- Community that engages
- Display/retargeting ads that get clicked
- Emails that get opened.

 

 

2. Content that works

What good SEOs already do:

- Audit sites to make the engines (and user’s) happier

Good SEOs are a technical bunch and know how to ensure your site is ready to take on the search engines and win. Better yet, since good on-site optimizations follow good UI principles, the people visiting your site will be just as happy.

 

Good SEO’s will:

1. Make accessibility and indexability a must for your site...

2. Check all key areas of your site in order to...

3. Conduct a competitor analysis...

 

I want more of that funnel

What great funnel owners do:

- Audit content to build a strategy to amaze prospects

There are three key tasks to complete to help you create the right content strategy for your business:

1. Determine your "sweet spot"...

2. Conduct a TOFU content audit...

3. Conduct a MOFU content audit...

 

 

A well-planned content strategy helps open up many new doors for funnel owners, including:

- Thought leadership in your market
- Free visits, links, and shares
- Reduced bounce rate
- Increased engagement metrics
- Improved CRO results
- More money!

 

Each point is analyzed with more information and examples. Read full interesting article here:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-seo-path-to-becoming-a-great-funnel-owner

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October 23, 2012 12:47 AM
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How to Get More Customers With the Same Amount of Traffic by Using Customer Funnels

How to Get More Customers With the Same Amount of Traffic by Using Customer Funnels | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article on KISSmetrics:

"Getting quality traffic on the interwebs is one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do. We can spam Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn all day. We’ll get a ton of traffic. But that won’t get us anywhere. We might go from 100 visits to 10,000 visits and still have only 2 customers.

Luckily, we have another option…

 

Get more customers with the traffic we already have:

The key to making this work is the marketing funnel.

Remember, funnels measure the number of people who move through a series of steps in order to become a customer.

...

Funnels help you find the bottleneck in your customer acquisition.

 

Once you know where people drop off in large batches, you’ll know which part of your business needs the most improvement. And once you fix the problem, you’ll get more customers with the same amount of traffic. That’s the beauty of tracking funnels.

 

5 Best Practices for Building Funnels

1. Fewer Steps is Better than More Steps:

One of the easiest ways to increase the percentage of people who get through your funnel is to eliminate a step. Yup, just hack it out completely. Even if you have an amazing design, world-class copy, and a perfect product, you’ll still lose people at each step.

I want you to be RUTHLESS with your funnels. Hack and slash every unnecessary click, field, button, and page you can. Have no mercy.

 

2. Start With a Benchmark:

This applies to ALL your metrics, not just your funnels.

Based on your industry, business model, target market, and the alignment of the stars, you’ll find a huge difference in metrics from one site to the next.

 

3. Look for Bottlenecks

I already alluded to the best way to prioritize your funnel improvements.

When you’re looking at your entire funnel and trying to decide which step gets your attention first, start with the bottlenecks. In most funnels, there are one or two steps that aren’t really steps. They’re brick walls.

Your mission? Find your bottlenecks and patch them asap.

 

4. When A/B Testing, Track the Impact on the Entire Funnel

Once you find your bottlenecks, you’ll want to start launching improvements to see if you can fix them. The best way to do this is with an A/B test.

A/B tests typically track only the next step.

As soon as you start testing improvements in your funnel, test your changes on the ENTIRE funnel instead of just the next step. This way, you won’t slow your customer growth by accident. And yes, I’ve seen this happen.

 

5. Track People

There’s a myth that most marketers automatically believe. As soon as you start to track your funnel, you’ll assume that customers move orderly through it.

This is false.

People bounce around in funnels.

So how do we get around this? Use customer analytics so you can track people. Then you’ll know how many people moved through each step, even if they’re bouncing around beforehand..."

 

The article is analyzed with more information, examples, and some tools. Read full article here:

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/use-conversion-funnels/

 

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October 21, 2012 12:57 PM
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Facebook Launches Global Pages to Simplify Brands' International Facebook Presence

Facebook Launches Global Pages to Simplify Brands' International Facebook Presence | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Facebook announced the launch of Global Pages, a new structure to business pages for global brands aimed to provide a better, localized experience for international brands' prospects and customers.

 

The new structure consolidates a business' global Facebook presence into one place while still providing a localized experience.

 

The idea is, rather than a global brand maintaining one general, broadly targeted Facebook page -- or juggling multiple Facebook Pages set up for each different international market -- that brand can instead maintain and promote one centralized Facebook Page URL.

 

Visitors to that page will then get routed to the most appropriate version of a page based on their home country, where they will see a localized version of the page, which the administrator can customize to include different cover photos, profile photos, applications, milestones, 'About' information, and news feed stories.

 

The global marketer can set up their Global Pages structure to create localized pages for the specific markets (i.e. single or multicountry regions) they're targeting. They can also set up a default page that all other users outside of these specific markets get directed to.

 

3 Key Benefits of Global Pages:

1) A Centralized Facebook Presence...
2) A Single URL...
3) A Centralized Global Insights Dashboard..."

 

Read full original article here:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33733/Facebook-Launches-Global-Pages-to-Simplify-Brands-International-Facebook-Presence.aspx

 

Silvia Cubas's comment, October 30, 2012 10:32 PM
Interesting post.
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October 18, 2012 3:25 PM
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10 Content Marketing Must-Do's for Brands

10 Content Marketing Must-Do's for Brands | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"It’s not enough to simply be creating content—to be publishing blogs and newsletters, and producing webinars and podcasts. Instead, brands have to be consistently creating and sharing really great stuff—not just stuff that’s merely good enough.

In content marketing these days, either you rock or you suck. This new era isn’t about storytelling; it’s about telling a true story well.

 

Such content creators will convey your company’s true story in a compelling way by uncovering the stories about your brand and how your customers are using your products and services; narrating them in a human, accessible way; and sparking conversation about your company, customers, or employees.

In other words, brand journalists bring a reporter’s sensibility to your content. They bring an editorial approach to building a brand.

 

Companies can’t adopt the “everyone is a publisher” mantra without a broader awareness of what it means to use content to build an audience, and they can’t cherry-pick the most “fun” parts of being a publisher and discard time-honored editorial processes. Here are some guidelines:

 

1. Tell the truth...

2. Use data...

3. Cite sources...

4. Seek out the best sources...

5. Check your spelling...

6. Root out opposing viewpoints...

7. Be aware of hidden agendas...

8. Edit...

9. Keep things simple...

10. Think visually...

 

The best content has a human element to it. Why? Because your readers are people, which means they will relate better to your story if you relate it to them on their level. Even if you sell something inherently boring like technology or toasters, focus on how your products or services touch people’s lives...."

 

Read full original article here:

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/10-content-marketing-must-dos-for-brands/

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October 10, 2012 9:54 AM
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4 Google Analytics Features You Probably Haven’t Used

4 Google Analytics Features You Probably Haven’t Used | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"Hidden in the nest of menus are 4 powerful features you might have overlooked.

1) Page Speed:

Google Analytics now allows you to see the average loading speed of individual pages on your site in the Page Timings report, which you can find on the Content menu.

The report shows you the average page load time, in seconds, which allows you to quickly pinpoint the offending pages that are getting a decent number of page views

 

2) In-Page Analytics:

Google is sunsetting their standalone Browser Size tool in favor of the In-Page Analytics report built into GA, which you can find in the Content section.

Click on the Browser Size button, next to Show color and under the metrics. You can navigate your site like you would normally do in a browser and the data will refresh.

 

3) The Network Report (aka Reverse IP Lookup):

They also record the Network of the visit, which you can find in the Audience section.

Most of the networks listed will be Internet service providers (ISPs), but you will also see company names for offices large enough.

 

4) Visualize with Motion Charts:

Consider the amount of traffic you receive from various channels, which you can see in the Traffic Sources report.

One powerful way to see which channels are driving visitors and their content consumption is the Motion Chart option, which you can activate by clicking on the bubble icon above the data..."

 

Read full article: 

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2215889/4-Google-Analytics-Features-You-Probably-Havent-Used

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October 1, 2012 9:26 AM
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5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Exposure

5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Exposure | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Facebook Edgerank: What you need to know to improve your Facebook marketing. Discover how to calculate your reach and grow your audience.

 

Excerpted from article:

"If you already have a decent fan base, it makes more sense to first focus on reaching your fans before you shift your focus to growing your audience.

 

Here are some tips:

#1: Calculate Your Reach:

You need to know how well you’re doing at reaching your fan base.

How do you find out what percentage of your Facebook page’s fans you’re reaching? Go to your Facebook Insights and average your reach for the last 30 days, then divide that number by your fan count.

Facebook has claimed that Facebook pages reach 16-17% of their fans on average. And typically, the more fans you have, the lower the percentage you’ll reach.

 

#2: Always Post Photos:

Choose the right type of content to share on Facebook.

Of all the types of content you can share, photos give the best results. Photos are most engaged with and reach the most people.

 

#3: Stimulate Engagement:

Try one of these four kinds of posts to generate engagement:

- Caption contest;
- Multiple choice;
Fill in the blank;
Inspirational quotes;

 

#4: Create Viral Exposure:

Ask users to upload their photos in a specific category. They are consciously (or subconsciously) participating in an ego contest. Often on Facebook it seems like we succeed most when we take advantage of the momentum of our fans’ self-interest.

 

#5: Build Fans Virally and Drive Revenue With Sweepstakes and Coupons:

Sweepstakes can build fans more affordably than ads, they’re engaging and they’re fun. Lots of pages do them.

Here are five tips for successful fan-building sweepstakes.

1) Be creative, but keep it simple.
2) Make sure the prize is related to the brand.
3) Give folks an incentive to share.
4) Look for strategic partners to co-brand with.
5) Keep the entry form short. Less is more..."

 

Each tip is analyzed with more information and some examples.

Read full interesting article here:

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/master-facebook-edgerank/

 

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September 26, 2012 3:21 PM
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7 Tips to Optimize Your Social Media Content Strategy for a Global Audience

7 Tips to Optimize Your Social Media Content Strategy for a Global Audience | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"If you're challenged with targeting an audience across multiple countries or languages, you probably have a lot of questions about how to create a successful global social media content strategy.

 

Here are 7 important tips to keep in mind as you're building your global social media content strategy.

 

1) Segment Your Audience Smartly

First, determine how you want to segment your social media audience by deciding which countries and languages you want to target, and set some social media goals for each of these audiences.

Next, decide if you can use the localization features of the most popular social networks to segment your audience rather than creating a brand new page or profile for each one.

 

2) Provide Native Translations

Don’t simply take a blog post from your English blog and copy/paste it into Google Translate for your Spanish blog, or vice-versa. Same goes for tweets and Facebook status updates.

Here are just some of the translation service providers you can choose from:

- Milengo
- Translations.com
- Lingo24
- Verbatim Solutions

 

3) Solicit Content From Local Contributors

From each region you're targeting, recruit guest bloggers who can provide local insights you can’t provide yourself. This is especially important if you decide to set up a separate blog for each language or region that you're targeting. This will keep the content on your blog fresh and varied, as well as relevant to your local audience. In addition, along with guest bloggers comes inbound links from global domain extensions, giving your global blogs an SEO boost.

 

4) Post Relevant Content

Make sure you're either on top of the hot topics and sensitive issues in each of your target markets, or you hire someone to specialize in each market. In addition, make sure you’re only posting content that's relevant for each specific audience.

 

5) Use High-Quality Images Wherever Possible

Remember: An image doesn’t need a translation. Visuals are much easier for international audiences to understand, especially if you’re not creating separate profiles for each region or language. They also happen to drive engagement.

 

6) Understand Color Connotations

Figure out what certain colors mean in different countries before designing your blog and social media profiles.

 

7) Link All Your Social Channels Together

Your ultimate goal of participating in social media is likely to drive traffic back to your website so you can convert those visitors into leads. If that's the case, you'll want to make it as easy as possible to direct your social media fans and followers back to your website where those conversions can take place. Therefore, make sure you link to the appropriate blog/website within each social media account's About Us or URL sections..."

 

Read full original article here:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33616/7-Tips-to-Optimize-Your-Social-Media-Content-Strategy-for-a-Global-Audience.aspx

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September 22, 2012 10:09 AM
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17 Sources of Quick Marketing Content That Are Right Under Your Nose

17 Sources of Quick Marketing Content That Are Right Under Your Nose | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"That's coming from someone whose entire job is to create content. But if you're a multi-tasking marketer -- creating email campaigns, building landing pages, managing a staff, tweaking your PPC budget, designing calls-to-action -- content creation has likely been elevated from a royal pain to a practical impossibility. I mean, maybe you'll get a blog post written in a couple weeks. If you're lucky, a new lead generation offer could get pumped out once a quarter.

 

If you identify with that overburdened inbound marketer description and are constantly frustrated at your inability to create as much content as you'd like, this is the post for you.

Here are 17 sources of quick content that can help you out in a pinch so you can keep feeding that hungry inbound marketing machine of yours.

 

1) Tap your sales and services teams.

2) Pull from your company collaboration tool.

3) Interview an internal expert.

4) Interview an external expert.

5) Pull excerpts from lead generation content.

6) Bundle your blog content into lead generation offers.

7) Turn written content into visual content.

8) Wax poetic on camera.

9) Screen capture how-to content as you're teaching it.

10) Write out the steps of your how-to videos.

11) Solicit content from guest contributors.

12) Turn presentation slides into SlideShares.

13) Record presentations.

14) Compile compelling data.

15) Turn everyday tools into downloadable templates.

16) Update offers to align with personas.

17) Set contribution requirements.

 

Each source is analyzed with more information and examples. Read full original article here:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33615/17-Brilliant-Sources-of-Content-Hiding-Right-Under-Your-Nose.aspx

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September 16, 2012 12:24 PM
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21 Insider Tips to Make Your Next Event a Smash Hit

21 Insider Tips to Make Your Next Event a Smash Hit | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article:

"If you're in the corporate events industry, you've got a tough job on your hands. There are thousands of events every year, and they're all competing for one goal: to be the most talked about event in their industry.

 

Here are some tips to help all of us plan corporate events that nobody will be able to stop gushing about!

 

1) Make a good impression from the second your attendees check in.

2) Keep check-in and registration organized.

3) Start things off with a bang.

4) Offer variety in your schedule.

5) Have a lot of caffeine available.

6) Create a mobile app for the event.

7) Ensure your sponsors are a good fit for your attendees.

8) Place ushers in your largest rooms.

9) Provide networking opportunities.

10) Include case studies in your breakout sessions or workshops.

11) Surprise your attendees throughout the conference.

12) Have a mix of celebrity speakers, and just plain awesome speakers.

13) Consider the flow of your schedule.

14) Station friendly faces around the venue.

15) Take every opportunity to make your event green.

16) Pepper small common areas throughout the venue.

17) Make your staff identifiable.

18) Give out useful SWAG.

19) Have engaging visuals, graphics, and music throughout the venue.

20) Draw connections between sessions and other activities.

21) Have information available about your next event.

 

Each tip is analyzed with more information. Read full original article here:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33578/21-Tips-for-Pulling-Off-a-Spectacular-Live-Event.aspx

John Moreno's curator insight, August 30, 2013 8:33 AM

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression.  As business gets more competetive we have to do all we can to make every decision count.  

Call John with any questions you may have. 864-326-5257

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August 27, 2012 5:29 AM
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New Free Tool That Shows Fans Reached On Facebook Page Posts: Minilytics By PageLever

New Free Tool That Shows Fans Reached On Facebook Page Posts: Minilytics By PageLever | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from review article on TechCrunch:

 

"Pagelever, a popular Facebook analytics company, released a new, free tool called Minilytics today. The company claims it is the first tool that lets users measure how many fans see their posts on Facebook pages.

 

Two weeks ago Facebook released a new metric in the API that counts fan’s post-views.

Once the new metric was released, Pagelever co-founder Jeff Widman and his team built the free tool measuring how many fans see a Facebook post, as well as answering other questions for users, like when are the best times to post, best types of posts and “who are my fans.”

 

Widman says the tool lets users see which page views are from fans who have already “liked” the page, rather than combining fan views with those that come from viewers who land on the page but aren’t fans.

 

He notes that this data is particularly important for pages that are growing quickly or that have large numbers of targeted ads..."

 

Read full article here:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/24/pagelever-releases-minilytics-a-free-tool-that-shows-fans-reached-on-facebook-page-posts/

 

Read more and try out it here:
http://minilytics.pagelever.com

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August 23, 2012 7:30 AM
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9 Facebook Marketing Tips From Top Experts

9 Facebook Marketing Tips From Top Experts | Marketing Strategy and Business | Scoop.it

Excerpted from article on Social Media Examiner:

"Find out the hottest facebook marketing tips for your business and use these marketing tactics to take you to the next level.

 

#1: Leverage videos more effectively on Facebook with Open Graph;

#2: Experiment with posting outside business hours;

#3: Find creative ways to add more photos;

#4: Use Sponsored Posts;

#5: Involve your fans in product decisions;

#6: Utilize the new scheduling tool;

#7: Use contests to get more fans;

#8: Get active on your personal profile;

#9: Allocate the resources needed..."

 

Each tip is analyzed with detailed information. Read full interesting article here: 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-facebook-marketing-tips-from-top-experts/

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