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Do you know where your customers come from? Many small business owners have a gut answer, but few have actually tracked and know where their customers come from
Via Robert Caruso
Twitter has a huge user growth problem and left unresolved it could be troublesome. Because Twitter is not growing its user base, it affects their revenue and
Via Robert Caruso
If you run an online business, you are probably aware that building a strong personal brand is one of the most powerful tools in your entrepreneurial arsenal.
While most entrepreneurs understand the power behind effective branding, very few understand how to effectively execute and build a reputable personal brand.
Via Pantelis Chiotellis
A great idea doesn't mean a whole lot in the world of business with hard work, patience and open-mindedness. .... Let me share a story with you that my friend and mentor Joe Polish, shared with me when I was first getting started out. Joe started out in the carpet cleaning business and it was failing miserably. He was dead broke and living off his credit cards and then something happened that changed the course of his future. One of his friends from high school invited him on a boating trip where his dad, a multimillionaire real estate investor would be coming along. Joe thought he might be able to pick his friend’s dad’s brain. So he asked him, "What business would you suggest I go into where I could make a lot of money and turn my situation around?" So the real estate investor responded and asked, "Are there people in your industry making money?" Joe replied, “Yes” and the real estate investor responded by saying, “Then there is nothing wrong with your business. There is something wrong with you.” After that conversation Joe buckled down and turned around his business, went on to make millions in the carpet cleaning industry and started one of the highest level masterminds in the world for direct marketers, called Genius Network. Read more: click image or title. FREE Business Plan Template here: http://bit.ly/1aKy7km
Via Sandra Brevett, Marc Kneepkens
A content-first strategy is putting the cart before the horse. Without the right marketing message, content is meaningless.
With online and mobile media set to transform primary and secondary education, professional development won’t be far behind. That’s the bet Inc. magazine is making with the launch of a new online education program, bringing in experts and top execs from across the business world to teach courses -- and, yes, assign and grade homework (but no tests!).
The new online education program is kicking off with a five-week course on entrepreneurship, called “The Inc. Startup Accelerator,” which according to Inc. president and editor-in-chief Eric Schurenberg, will “help you with everything you need to know about creating a business -- starting it, protecting it, and marketing it.”
Schurenberg will host the course; individual classes will be taught by a series of guest lecturers, including Eric Ryan, the founder and CEO of Method, Susan Lyne, CEO of BBG Ventures, Sabrina Parsons, the CEO of Palo Alto Software, and Ben Huh, founder of I Can Has Cheezburger, among others....
Via Jeff Domansky
Beacons are going to answer two important questions for any companies that successfully use them: "Who are you really?" and "What do you care about, both outside this store and right here, right now?"
The beacons themselves are dumb little pieces of hardware that do nothing more than sense when you’re near them. However, in combination with their custom application on your phone, companies can opt to systematically use beacons torment you with "coupons" and alerts, or they can use your loyalty data to provide you a more streamlined, contextual, and personal customer experience.
RWE HAVEN’T SEEN MUCH USE OF BEACON TECHNOLOGY—YET.
Paypal was the first to team beacons and virtual transactions, but we haven’t seen much use of beacon techonology—yet. Apps are required to trip beacons as you walk through store. Most companies haven’t had enough of their apps in market to trip a worthwhile amount of beacons in their stores. Companies need customers with their app on the phone, location services turned on, and Bluetooth turned on.
This means companies like Bloomingdales desperately need all customers and potential customers to download their app. That’s not as easy as it sounds without providing value in exchange for downloads....
Via Jeff Domansky
We tapped the Economist Intelligence Unit to survey almost 500 high-level marketing executives from around the world to get a real sense of what’s on all of your minds.
The results are insightful, encouraging, and exciting. Why? Because when you step back and look at the overall big picture, it tells me that, more than ever, marketing is in charge and the future is really, really bright for marketers everywhere. We are at the center of business and if we make the right investments we are going to find ourselves setting strategy, driving revenue, and shaping the future of our own organizations. A real “Marketing First” world.
I would strongly recommend you read the report in its entirety. There is a ton of insight in here. But let me give you a few of my highlights....
Via Jeff Domansky
The most overlooked truth in marketing is that problems are the origin of Once one adopts the perspective that problems are the foundation of consumer choice, it becomes clear that studying problems is the best way to anticipate purchases.
...Essentially, if consumers’ entry into the marketplace begins with problem recognition, then knowing the problems consumers want to solve can help predict consumption based on actual consumer needs. Moreover, knowing the nature of consumers’ problems can help marketers and brand managers better target consumers while they are contemplating solutions and seeking information for future purchases....
Via Jeff Domansky
Making promises about SEO results too often leads to broken dreams and shredded contracts. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand shows us how to set expectations that lead to excitement but help prevent costly misunderstandings.
Via Pantelis Chiotellis
In this day and age, it is not enough to organize an event and wait for people to find you. If you want to draw the crowds, you have to reach out to them first. It's about marketing in a smart way.
If you've ever tried searching for free stock photos on the Internet, you probably know what a ridiculous hassle it can be.
As a general rule, free stock photos are extremely difficult to find. A huge portion of the stock photo market is owned by professional companies like Shutterstock and 123RF, who charge $20 or more for a single photo. Even when you can find free stock photos, most are low resolution, watermarked, blurry and, at best, uninspired.
Lucky for you, there are a few ways to access high-quality stock photos without any hassle or significant cost.
Here's a lovingly curated list of the world's best free stock photo websites for designers, business owners and anyone else...
Via Jeff Domansky
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How do you make the most of your social influencers? Columnist Blaise Lucey explains how to craft a successful influencer marketing strategy and increase sales.
Via Pantelis Chiotellis
You might think the internet is a lawless frontier, but in reality it's completely the opposite. And it can be a very expensive lesson to learn!
Via Pantelis Chiotellis
Twitter is hoping the allure of exclusive content might help brands better engage with consumers and drive conversation. The company is unveiling an "Instant Unlock Card" that encourages people to tweet about a brand in order to earn rewards such as a movie trailer or an exclusive Q&A.
Via Pantelis Chiotellis
The e-retailer, which has had trouble getting some apparel manufacturers to sell to it wholesale, is now selling apparel for women, men and kids under its own brands. Here’s a close look at these Amazon brands and their prospects.
Amazon.com Inc. over the last eight months rolled out a series of Amazon-owned private-label apparel brands. The lines follow through on plans previously hinted at by Amazon executives, and represent a way for Amazon to become a bigger force in apparel, a segment where it’s been limited by the reluctance of some higher-end fashion brands to sell to Amazon.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Edward Yruma identified the brands in a research note released earlier this week based on his research. Amazon has not commented or confirmed the brands directly, but Internet Retailer located trademark applications filed by Amazon Technologies Inc. for six of the seven brands dating to March 2015. Amazon did not respond to inquiries....
Via Jeff Domansky
So when marketers talk about how much they work with numbers now that we’ve entered the sci-fi1 age of Internet data collection, I cringe. Let’s just say I’m glad I’m covering marketing for a living rather than actually doing it.
But just because numbers may be marketers’s new best friend, that doesn’t mean they’re all good. Some, in fact, are a bit terrifying.
And because I’m a sick bastard who wants you all to feel my mathematical pain, I’ve gathered 13 stats that should send chills down any marketer’s spine. Just to be clear, all of these statistics have pros and cons, and some stats may not have an impact on your marketing strategy. But hopefully at least one of them will get you to jump. Enjoy....
Via Jeff Domansky
Social media has not just made the world smaller. It has also opened the door to bigger opportunities for B2B marketers. But with it, comes more competition, pressure to deliver, and overall confusion.
According to a recent research by Simply Measured, marketers mostly struggle to fit social media into the business equation.
There are four major challenges at play.
HBR: What kind of customer preferences did you focus on?
In one experiment we asked managers to develop a new car model and choose the features customers wanted. In another we had them decide on a new ad campaign for Rolex. In a third they were asked to set the price for a sandwich at a café. In every case, predictions about what customers wanted matched the managers’ personal preferences more closely when the managers had been primed to be more empathetic.
They were projecting?
Yes, even when the customers were totally different from themselves. In the sandwich experiment, for instance, the customers were students. Completely different people, but the managers still projected their own preferences onto them....
Via Jeff Domansky
Above: some young people in a car, yesterday.
No wonder we're the most narcissistic, self-entitled generation ever: people just won't stop talking about #millennials.
Here's the latest new heap of s*** that pokes and prods at the hapless, buried-in-sane #GenY #millennials who are so diverse, yet so easy to speak for—a new study from perpetually hip MTV, now the Voice Of Two Generations, saying that #millennials love driving and cars and "see car ownership as a way to craft their unique adult identity," which was an actual sentence spoken by an actual sentient human being with actual free will who makes more actual money than any #millennial ever will.
"The study said 82 percent of #millennials find buying or leasing a new car 'exciting,'" in the same way they find paying for coffee with a Vine of a Macklemore concert exciting. It goes on. "The study found 87 percent of #millennials said they enjoyed customizing things to make them unique.
The study found 72 percent would rather give up texting for a week than surrender their cars. The study found 72 percent of #millennials enjoy the smell of their own farts. The study found 102 percent of #millennials think Edward Snowden is a slang word for a new type of ecstasy. The study found 369 percent of #millennials would rather give up the use of their testicles than give up the chance to use #hashtags to search for #CocaColaLife coupons on #Ello."...
Via Jeff Domansky
Rand Fishkin's presentation on some of the big changes from the search engines and how SEO and marketing tactics must respond to keep up.
Via Pantelis Chiotellis
It doesn’t just work for a few types of brands, either.
Brands that saw success with the #MakesMeHappy hashtag ranged from Applebees (almost 1,000% bump in retweets) to Orbitz (557% bump in retweets) to the TV show Portlandia (who saw a 200%+ bump in retweets).
In my research, I’ve found a wide opportunity for success across almost every vertical and business model out there.
I’m seeing this same pattern of success not only for daily trending topics, but also big events like the Super Bowl and the Golden Globes. And for planned events like the iPhone Launch announcement and (yes) National Cat Day....
Via Jeff Domansky
Every year since 2009, HubSpot has released its State of Inbound Marketing report with survey results from thousands of sales and marketing executives.
Every year since 2009, HubSpot has released its State of Inbound Marketing report with survey results from thousands of sales and marketing executives. This year, the report spans the globe, with more than 3500 respondents and topics ranging from planning and budgeting for inbound marketing to execution and analysis. Challenges and priorities for this group have changed significantly over the past five years, but one thing remains constant: Those who practice inbound are still passionate about growing their businesses through the inbound methodology.
Where are we now? We’re moving in some new directions to leverage data and merge disciplines. Let’s take a look at some of these trends....
Via Jeff Domansky
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