Let’s go back to those marketing 101 courses that break down the details of how the world of selling works. There’s the traditional path for marketing (TV, radio, direct mail, etc.) and now, thanks to the internet, there is also a digital path (email, SMS, social media, etc.). And, as we’ve all seen, digital is quickly becoming the dominant form of marketing especially when it comes to social media advertising.     Social media is everywhere and has the potential to reach nearly everyone. Just take my 80 year old grandmother […]

If you are one of those marketers that rush to check their analytic reports after sending a campaign, you might be missing a trick. This is because the process of successfully analyzing your marketing activities starts long before a campaign is actually sent.    Before you should start looking at your analytics, you need some context. That context starts with an objective because without that objective, your reports are just a load of meaningless data.    We’ve talked a lot about the importance of setting objectives before on this blog. […]

The old proverb, a watched pot doesn’t boil, doesn’t quite translate into the world of paid search. Unless you keep a close eye on your paid search campaigns, there is a genuine chance that your PPC pot will boil over and potentially burn your house down.    OK, perhaps we’re exaggerating here a little bit, but when a medium is as powerful as paid search, it is worth watching.    With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility The fact is, nothing will convert faster than a well-placed paid search campaign. Conversely, […]

As more of everything we do is conducted online, digital privacy should be something that everyone takes more seriously. This is because we know that if the wrong person accesses the right information at the wrong time, it can cause us more than a major inconvenience. Despite this, how many of us still use the same password to access every online service we use? And seriously, if you still use a password like “P4ssW0rd1”, you should probably give yourself a good talking to.    There are numerous rules, regulations, and […]

The world of Facebook Ads revolves around a few distinct ideas—the first being your objective, the second being your ad format, and the third being your targeting options. While many can get these mixed up, understanding the purpose of each of these will help you understand how Facebook Ads work and how to sort through the many different types to create an effective engagement tool.    Facebook Ad Objectives The ad objectives refer to your goals as a business owner. There are 15 objectives that business owners can choose from […]

Dynamic content has been so seamlessly incorporated into our everyday lives that we don’t really notice it’s happening. In fact, we’re more likely to notice when something isn’t optimized for our personal lifestyle and needs. Why is that?     Marketers understand the power of personalization and technology has given us unique ways to keep up with the evolving expectations of consumers. Because of this, consumers come across all kinds of platforms that already have their browsing behaviors in mind and ready. Searching for the next show to binge? Netflix has […]

Every relationship starts when two strangers connect for the first time and engage in conversation. In online marketing, that conversation typically begins on a website product page or landing page after a potential customer has conducted a specific search on Google (other search engines are available) or clicked on a link on a piece of content or social network.     From that initial click, marketers can learn a lot about their potential customer’s buying habits. In the seconds it takes to leap from a search engine to a website, we […]

Dynamic content offers marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted content based on a range of criteria, including client personas and user behavior. For marketers committed to delivering the right message to the right person at the right time, dynamic content is the “holy grail” of any content marketing strategy. However, as useful as dynamic content is, it doesn’t come without its problems.    One of the most frequently asked questions we hear about dynamic content from our clients is: How does Google rank dynamic content for SEO when that […]

Learning the intricacies of Facebook is not something you can master overnight, especially when there are so many factors involved in making a post great in the eyes of your users, and a different set of factors that make it great in the eyes of Facebook’s algorithm.     Luckily, the objective is similar with both, and that’s engagement. Getting a feel for engaging content while figuring out the tips and tricks of Facebook from its tools to its algorithms may be a bit of a learning curve, but it is […]

Great email marketing campaigns don’t start with a killer subject line or a compelling call to action. Instead, they begin with an objective. The fact is, if your email marketing strategy doesn’t have an objective, you’ll never know if it’s been successful or not.     When you set those objectives, you’ll need something to measure them against accurately. Even if you already consider your email marketing campaigns successful, anecdotal evidence isn’t good enough to justify the time and money you are investing in any marketing strategy. If you are looking […]

If you’re a marketer, you’ve probably spent years honing your skills in copywriting, design, marketing tech, ad platforms and the rest of the skills that come with the territory. On top of that, you’ve developed an extensive understanding of your business’s industry—the products, the services, the needs of your consumers, and the intricacies of the environments that surround them all. These are the things that come natural to us because they’re the world we live in every day. And when these two worlds meet, the results can be amazing—detail-rich whitepapers, […]

Keywords are everything when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Most of us have a basic understanding that in order to rank higher on search engines, our content has to be optimized with best practices and relevant keywords.     We also realize this isn’t a shot in the dark which is why many of us have dedicated software or teams who work specifically on keyword research. After that’s all good and done, we can feel comfortable with our efforts and leave the fate of our website performance up […]

Many of us have some sort of understanding when it comes to ADA compliance in the real world. Entrances equipped with ramps, sidewalks or loading zones that make coming and going accessible, and elevators inside locations with multiple floors plus wide enough doorways and low enough countertops.     But what about accessibility in the digital world? A website that is ADA compliant keeps everyone in mind. This is especially important when one in four adults in the U.S. live with a disability. While the ADA doesn’t explicitly address internet […]

We’d all love for our Facebook posts to work exactly like we have in mind, showing up exactly when and where we want them to and to the exact (and large) audience we are targeting. Unfortunately for us marketers, Facebook has a mind of its own and we are left to keep up where we can.   To effectively manage our social campaigns on this platform, we need to learn how to think like Facebook. This means understanding what works and what doesn’t, and what that looks like to the […]

Data fluidity is a strategy that ensures your data flows freely throughout your entire marketing organization and is available whenever and wherever it is needed. This is important because when data is the lifeblood of your business, having the ability to access, analyze and exploit that information at any point of exposure can provide an incredible competitive advantage.     Improving data fluidity can be quite a complicated journey. This is because your organization’s data is exposed, interrogated, and manipulated at numerous junctions. Furthermore, any number of marketing engagements could influence […]

With so many people in the email marketing industry focused on list size, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that email success is primarily based on sending the right message to the right person at the right time. This means getting personal.    But what does it mean to be personal in today’s email marketing world?    The Importance of Email Marketing Personalization Email marketing personalization is all about building a better relationship with your subscribers. This approach is important because your email marketing campaigns have a lot of competition and […]

Email is more relevant and engaging going into 2022 than it has ever been.     As the new normal set in for 2021, marketers continued to send email (not surprising). They have set goals for 2022 and plan to evolve their marketing programs.     Success is dependent upon what your objectives and KPIs are. They are unique to each email program and having the right tools in place will help you achieve success.     What will email marketers be doing and where will they spend their time? […]

The theme for the month is personalization and we want to tackle this topic in all realms of the marketing world, using this piece to touch specifically on search.   Keywords are important and rankings are important. Our expert SEO teams have this down pat. But is there a way to look at it from a non-technical perspective? You know, the consumer perspective? That’s where we get personal.   What Affects Search Results? Every user’s search process will be different from the next (unless you’re browsing signed out, incognito, or […]

Social media has driven the way society interacts with one another. This is a highly personalized world of its own which means making a post is all you have to do to get involved, right? Wrong.   Just like how we as marketers take the time to craft our email personalization and customer experience skills, social media personalization requires the same effort and innovation.   Social media users want to be treated like the individuals they are and companies that take the extra steps to create these personalized experiences can […]

As another “interesting” year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to take stock of the last 12 months and start looking at how your business can optimize your marketing activities in the year ahead.   We throw the word “optimization” around quite a bit in the marketing world—but in 2022, optimization will be more important than ever. This is because, if you haven’t noticed, the world has changed quite a lot over the last couple of years.   The global pandemic has acted as an incredible accelerant in […]

As a project manager, my forte isn’t content strategy or copywriting. But I do appreciate a good process and believe strengthening process can strengthen output.   A lot of work goes into content planning—analyzing data and defining your audience, topics, formats, goals, etc. All of that is fruitless work if it’s not followed with a strong implementation plan.   Once you have your content strategy planned out for 2022, follow these steps to create and maintain a schedule.   Create a Breakdown of Deliverables You likely have a head start […]

  When people buy from a business, they are doing much more than exchanging cash for a product or a service. Instead, consumers increasingly want to buy from people they identify with, who share the same values, and who they actually like.   Purpose-driven marketing campaigns create the opportunity for organizations to show support for the communities which they serve. These campaigns could be anything from supporting a local school’s sports team to raising cash for a specific charity, or even endorsing a political ideology or movement. In doing so, […]

by John Hayes for emfluence   Seriously, if I hear the phrase “Content is King” one more time, I’ll scream. In my humble opinion, this age-old marketing adage is entirely inappropriate. If you should assign the rank of King (or Queen) to anything in your business, it’s the client. Everything else you do, including your marketing content, is designed to serve your clients’ needs. Therefore, I prefer to think of content as a “courtier,” loyal to the throne, and always available to offer the crown some sage advice.   Content […]

Another day, another acronym. If anything has defined the role of an email marketer in the last five years, it’s the constant rollout of new consumer privacy regulations around the world.   Hot on the heels of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which sent shockwaves around the world in 2018, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) sought to give consumers in the state greater control over the information businesses collect from them. Then in 2020, Californians voted to approve Proposition 24, which updated, modified and extended the […]

Google just recently updated their published best practices for writing HTML title tags.   In early August, Google started a new system of generating titles for pages displayed in their search results. This update led to a larger portion of HTML title tags not being displayed as the title link in Google’s search results.   Since that update, Google updated their SEO page title best practices. Here are their best practices for writing descriptive title tags with our added Pro Tips. Following these title tag best practices can help ensure […]

If you boil a great marketer down to their essence, you’ll find a storyteller. They share ideas, entertain and inform, as a way to guide them down a specific path towards a satisfactory conclusion.    There are many ways a marketer can tell a story. Some create exquisitely crafted and highly complex content-led marketing workflows that would put Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace to shame. Others produce content that has more in common with Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip.    As a marketing format, Instagram Stories might have more in common […]

When a marketing technology has been around for as long as email, it’s all too easy to visualize a sudden change in the eco-system, such as Apple’s recent iOS 15 Mail Privacy Protection update, as a potential extinction event. However, if we learned anything from previous “catastrophes,” such as the implementation of Gmail’s promotions tab in 2013 or GDPR in 2018, we should already know that email marketing is far more resilient than that.   Thankfully, email marketing is not a dinosaur, and Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection update is far […]