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- 24 Mar
9 Email Marketing Habits It Pays to Break
by Ellie Burke
Before you break any email marketing habits or best practices, it’s important to first understand why they work. And then, once you’ve mastered basic email content creation, you’ll be in a better position to experiment and test certain components of your strategy.You Need to Know What Works, and What Doesn’t
In today’s ultra-competitive email landscape, you need to perform tests. You need to be able to find out what drives your specific recipients to open, read, and click. We all recognize the right content and design are necessary components for email success. But running tests will help you understand how to stand out in your readers’ inboxes. And to understand what to test, it’s helpful to revisit your current strategies and consider which email habits might be appropriate to mix up, or break altogether.
There are a number of commonly overlooked email habits you should start breaking and experimenting with to find the best strategy for your company. To learn what they are, how they work and how to break them, read the full article at HubSpot.com
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- 23 Mar
Marketing Budget Trends: 5 Key Points and Takeaways
from Marketing Charts
CMOs in the US estimate that their marketing budgets have grown on average by 7.1% over the past year. And they expect that budgets will grow by another 8.9% in the coming 12 months.That is according to the latest biannual CMO Survey [download pdf]. The report found that services companies had hiked their budgets the most in the past year. While, at the same time, product companies are the most bullish about the year to come.
Where Does Your Marketing Budget Stand?
To see the 5 budget-related takeaways from the report and to download a copy of the original report, read the full article at MarketingCharts.com.
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- 22 Mar
Do You Still Believe These Three Urban Myths of Email Marketing?
by Jen Ribble
We’ve all heard them before. Some stories are classic and seem to have been around for generations. And most serve as familiar examples of urban myths.
The scary thing? Many people believe these urban myths are actually true.
There are even some of the email axioms we believe to be true just aren’t. At least not anymore. Then again, some of the things we believe about email marketing are no less scary. With a channel as mature as email, there’s been plenty of time for “conventional wisdom” to be passed down over the years.
Now that is great for young professionals learning the ropes. But it can also lead to outdated beliefs and outright misinformation. So, here are just three of the many “urban myths of email” we’ve heard, along with the real story at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop-up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 21 Mar
Facebook Management Tips for Small Businesses: Everything You Need to Know
rom DrumUp
Over 50 million small businesses use Facebook pages for marketing. But 96% of the people who discuss brands online, don’t follow the Facebook pages of those brands.“Hello! Earth to Major Thom . . .”
Now, that’s a massive disconnect between small businesses and their target audience. A massive disconnect that many Facebook management agencies tend to discredit. And, it’s no wonder that such agencies and small businesses, who simply rely on posting “creative content” on Facebook, never see an ROI.
To reach and influence target groups, you need the right Facebook marketing strategy. And, additionally, you will need a good social media management tool that can help you execute it. So, to give you a little help, here are 21 Facebook management tips for small businesses and social media agencies on the DrumUp Blog
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- 20 Mar
Everyone Uses the Internet, Right? Wrong.
from MarketingCharts.com
As surprising as it may seem, not everyone uses the internet. It seems that a declining yet substantial proportion of the US adult population still does not use the internet. This is according to new data from the Pew Research Center.So, Who is Not Online?
In fact, 11% of US adults do not go online. That figure is down from 15% in a previous analysis released 5 years ago. However, this newest report shows that the same patterns of internet usage remain. It shows that internet usage is still strongly correlated to demographics.
To see all of the data, for a opportunity to access the Pew original report and to gain more insights, read the full article at MarketingCharts.com
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- 19 Mar
Are You Ready for the Changing B2B Customer?
Marketers today are dealing with a much different B2B customer than in the past. According to a study of Millennial buyers by Merit, 73 percent of 20- to 35-year-olds are involved in making purchasing decisions at their companies. In fact, one-third say that in their department, they are the sole decision maker.There is a New Generation of B2B Buyers in Town Now
This new generation of B2B customers are digital natives. And that means marketers must adjust their strategies. For one thing, today, you must have a strong online presence to connect with your B2B buyers. That is, if you have any hope to be able to influence their purchasing decisions.
To learn how B2B marketer and sales reps can do better, read the full article on ChiefMarketer.com
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- 17 Mar
The Secret to Account-Based Marketing Success
by Judy Wilks
Marketers spend huge sums on technology. All, simply to make marketing more engaging and accountable. But are they getting value for their money? However, most marketers indicate that technology is not quite the panacea it’s promised to be. But what if the answer lies not in some clever new tool, but in a completely revamped approach to marketing itself?
Many Find Their Answer to this question in Account Based Marketing
ABM is a way of influencing and building relationships with highly targeted organizations and individuals. It treats them as “markets of one” rather than the unwilling recipients of untargeted, untailored “broadcast” marketing. It is a process that does take time and effort. But the results can be extremely rewarding. After all, some 84% of marketers using ABM say it delivers higher ROI than any other marketing approach. And yet only half of organizations had an ABM strategy in place in 2016.
So, if you’re considering launching Account Based Marketing, here is our five-stage process for unlocking its benefits at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop-up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 16 Mar
What You Need to Know About the Looming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
by David Gee
The countdown is on. Only two months are left for companies to ensure they are in compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And, with the new regulation set to be implemented on May 25, most US companies are still not prepared.Ready of Not . . . Here it Comes
As it now stands, GDRP will not only apply to EU based businesses. It will also apply to any and all businesses that hold and process personal data collected in the EU. This, regardless of those businesses’ industry or location.
So, what are the regulations? And how can you prepare?
US companies need to understand the huge impact it will have on their business. There are seven core questions you need to be asking to ensure compliance. And to make sure you avoid fines and penalties. To learn more, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop-up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 15 Mar
Three Reasons Social Selling is Good for Business and Four Steps to Get You Started
Remember the days when cold calls? And when door-to-door sales were the best way to find clients? Thankfully, those days are long past. Now there is a better tool that. And it has the capacity to do even more with less effort.Welcome to The Age of Social Selling
Simply put, social selling is the practice of using social media as a means to target prospects, build connections, and establish rapport and trust. That means that today, social media isn’t just for collecting likes and follows. It can actually help you increase sales. Especially when it’s used right.
But, the question remains, is social selling right for your business? And, how exactly does social selling do all of that? To learn the more, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop-up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 14 Mar
Website Marketing How-To: The Secret to Building a Successful B2B Website
What if I told you that there really is one secret — a silver bullet — that all but guarantees your B2B website marketing will be successful? And by successful, I mean it will generate a positive ROI, differentiate your products, and move your target audience to act.Is There Really a Silver Bullet to Build a Successful B2B Website?
Not only does this silver bullet exist, I can sum the secret up in one word: Listen. You need to not only listen to your clients, you need to listen to everyone. You need to listen to your prospects, your sales team and especially to your customer services reps.
Sounds easy, but as I’m sure you already know, it takes some doing. Now, to see how, read the full article on TargetMarketing.com
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- 13 Mar
Social Media Use in 2018: Platform, Age, and Visit Trends
by Ayaz Nanji
Congratulation. You have finally decided that you need to market your business on social media. And, it was probably a difficult decision.But now, which social media platform should you focus on?
After all, there are eight major social media platforms and a gig-a-load of minor ones. So, how to figure out what is probably going to work for you and your business?
One way is to use what I call the Serengeti Theory of audience marketing
That theory says that I need to focus my “hunt” where my target audience prefers to frequent. And that means, if I want to have success in reaching my target audience through social media, I need to know where they prefer to “hang out”.
A good place to start would be with the current numbers on the “who, what and where” of social media. And, fortunately for us, the Pew Research Center has recently released their annual social media usage report. So, that means, if you want to see where your best prospects are socializing, then you need to read this report. To read a summary of the report, read this article at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop-up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 12 Mar
Mobile Page Speed Benchmarks, by Vertical, in 2018
from MarketingCharts.com
Seconds do matter. In fact, the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing from a page more than doubles when the page load time goes from 1 second to 10 seconds. This is according to Google’s updated look at mobile page speeds.There is Good News and There is Bad News
The good news is that average page load speeds have improved from last year. However, the bad news is that they’re still not fast enough. Indeed, 70% of the landing pages analyzed took more than 5 seconds to display the visual content above the fold. And it took more than 7 seconds on average to fully load all of the visual content both above and below the fold.
Now, these numbers may not seem to bad. But, in the world of “Short-Attention-Span Theater” they can make of break your digital success. To see the full list of what they found, and for an opportunity to see the original Google report and data, read the full article at MaketingChats.com
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- 10 Mar
The Right and Wrong Times to Post on Social Media
from DrumUp
Social Media has revolutionized the way companies do business. From small local stores to big corporate houses, all types of businesses have recognized the importance of social media in marketing. In fact, social media marketing has become such an integral part of a company’s marketing activity that businesses just cannot seem to do without it.Great. So Post it and They Will Come Then?
The success of social media marketing depends on a bunch of factors. Among those are content quality and relevance and time of posting. Yes, even the time of day you post will impact your social media success. The time you choose to post content on social media can well decide how many of your followers see the content. And even hot they engage with it and even if they convert.
To learn when the best times are to post and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram, read the full article at DrumUp
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- 09 Mar
US Youth Exodus From Facebook Accelerates
from eMarketer.com
It seems that the story just keeps getting worse for Facebook. First came the whole “fake news” controversy. Then the “Russian Bots” and the 2017 election. Now even the youth are starting to leave the much vaunted platform.When eMarketer Speaks, the Markets Listen
According to eMarketer’s latest forecast on social network usage, Facebook is losing younger users at an even faster pace than previously expected. And while the social media platform in the past was able to count on Instagram to retain that younger audience, the forecast shows that Snapchat may now be siphoning more users away. This year, for the first time, less than half of US internet users ages 12 to 17 will use Facebook.
For the full story and see more data and insights, read the full article at eMarketer.com
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- 08 Mar
How to Boost Customer Retention With Web Push Notifications
by Megha Rajeev
Currently, only 8.5% of decision-makers in marketing consider customer retention as their top priority. Yet, returning customers not only bring in twice as much revenue as new customers but are also more likely to recommend you to others.They Cost Less and Yield Higher
They also spend more time on your website and give a higher conversion rate. It is old news that marketers who work on retention marketing see an ROI of up to 15x. This is compared to the 4 to 6x ROI for new customer acquisition campaigns.
So how do you up your retention game without investing too many resources in setting up a new channel? This is where Web Push Notifications come in. And to learn how you can make them work for you, read the full article on Jeffbullas’s Blog.
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- 07 Mar
Here’s How Marketers Fared in 2017 in the Metrics That Impact Email Deliverability
from MarketingCharts.com
Close to one-quarter of US marketing emails fail to reach the inbox. This is according to an analysis released last year by Return Path. With deliverability having such an impact on email marketing success, Return Path has once again delved into its data [download page].The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The report does show both good and bad trends in some industries. Positive indicators include metrics such as read and forwarded messages, along with messages replied to and those marked as “not spam”. Such actions act as indicators of subscriber engagement, with these tracked by several mailbox providers. Negative indicators include messages marked as spam along with messages deleted before reading.
To see the data and insights, and for the opportunity to download the original report, read the full article at MarketingCharts.com
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- 06 Mar
Are Webinars Dead? How to Make a Webinar that Works in 2018
It’s 2018, and the way our prospects and customers find and consume content has certainly changed. While it would be great to say that there’s one new, highly optimal content format that all marketers should use for lead generation instead of older formats, it just can’t be said. It’s a little more complicated than that. No, webinars aren’t dead, and neither is the PDF ebook.The Bar Has Been Set Pretty Low
However, what has changed is a saturation of mediocre PDF ebooks, webinars, and other forms of gated content available online. So while webinars aren’t dead. Now that doesn’t mean marketers should continue running the same, tired playbook.
To see the new Play Book, and learn how to use it, read the full article at HubSpot.com
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- 05 Mar
How to Do A/B Testing: A Checklist You’ll Want to Bookmark
When creating landing pages, write email copy, or designing call-to-action buttons, it can be tempting to use intuition. Sometimes it’s just a “feeling” that is used to predict what will make people click and convert. But basing marketing decisions off of a “feeling” can be pretty detrimental to results.The Magic 8-Ball: “My Sources Say Yes”
Rather than relying on guesses or assumptions to make these decisions, you’re much better off running conversion rate optimization (CRO) tests — sometimes called A/B tests. CRO testing can be very valuable. That’s because different audiences behave, well, differently. Something that works for one company may not necessarily work for another.
But these tests can also be complex. And if you’re not careful, you could make incorrect assumptions about what people like and what makes them click — decisions that could easily misinform other parts of your strategy. So, to learn how to do A/B testing before, during, and after data collection so you can make the best decisions from your results, read the full article at HubSpot.com
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- 03 Mar
Pain Points: A Guide to Finding and Solving Your Customers’ Problems
by Dan Shewan
In the world of marketing and sales, we have focused for generations on “customer paint points.” How to identify them? How to address them? And how to connect them to what we are selling? These have been the focus of our efforts, energies, research and work.But, What Are Customer Pain Points?
And how you can position your company as a potential solution? Well, the short answer is – a pain point is a specific problem that prospective customers of your business are experiencing. In other words, you can think of pain points as problems, plain and simple. And like any problem, customer pain points are as diverse and varied as your prospective customers themselves.
However, not all prospects will be aware of the pain point they’re experiencing. And, that can make marketing to these individuals difficult. First, you effectively have to help your prospects realize they have a problem. And, then you need to convince them that your product or service will help solve it.
To learn how you can do this, and do it well, read the full article at WordStream.com
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- 02 Mar
Is it Time to Add Video Marketing to Your Content Marketing?
by Neil Patel
Now, this may seem like another instance of “fake news,” but there will actually be 0ver 3.7 million blog posts written today. In fact, it is easy to say that the market is flooded with blog articles.And Now for the Bad News
And while blog competition increases, click-through rates on display ads have continued to decrease. In fact, the average click-through rate of display ads is a staggeringly low 0.05%. So how does your content have a chance of standing out? And, where to turn?
Well, it may be video marketing that could be the solution.
By 2021, it is estimated that video will drive 82% of all consumer Internet traffic. But, is it the right time to add video marketing to your content marketing strategy? Not sure? To see a list of three reasons why you need to invest in video marketing and three reasons why video marketing might not be the best fit for you, read the full article at KISSmetrics.com
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