In times of unpredictability, your customers are scouring budgets to find areas to reduce expenses. What can you do to make sure your organization is not on that list?   Be Proactive Reaffirm your value through regular communication. You don’t tell your significant other you love them once a year and hope they just assume everything is fine until further notice, right? You communicate. You share. You listen.   Communicate in a meaningful way. Generic newsletters are not enough. We say this often and it’s worth repeating: Personalize your communications. […]

In August 2019, Facebook released a new feature that makes it easier for businesses to chat with customers in Messenger. Facebook claims that their new lead generation in Messenger can assist businesses develop customer relationships.   According to Facebook, with Messenger you can: Reach the right prospects Ask the right questions Easily remind people to complete questions Nurture leads where they spend time Instantly close the loop with unqualified leads Integrate with your CRM   I don’t know about you, but that last bullet makes me incredibly happy as a […]

Can’t make it to one of our Weekly Emsights Q&A sessions? We’re recording as many of these as possible so that you can have them in one handy spot. We’re putting together this series based on your feedback, so if there’s a topic you’d like to see us cover about how the pandemic has impacted digital marketing, be sure to ask us in the comments section. Week Two: Diagnosing Dips in Organic Traffic   Week Three: Pivoting Your Content Strategy with Authenticity   Week Four: Rebalancing Your Email Strategy During […]

Good news for email marketers: according to a 2019 Twilio study, email and SMS are customers’ preferred methods of communication. The survey, which covered about 2,500 global buyers, showed that 83% of consumers preferred emails over other communication channels (although texts were more popular for urgent messages like delivery notifications or appointment reminders).   While the study is definitely favorable for email as a channel, it uncovers quite a few warning signs that can help guide email marketers through shifting strategies during a crisis—like the one we’re currently experiencing with […]

You must be able to understand why organic search traffic (Google traffic, Bing traffic, etc.) declined before you can implement the best strategy to improve it. That was the topic for week two of Weekly Emsights: COVID-19 edition, which you can watch here: If you look at your organic traffic in your reporting platform and you see meaningful declines – here is a list of questions to help you diagnose this loss further:  Questions to help you diagnose organic search traffic declines  Are there any current events?  Is the decline unique to organic […]

Marketing departments within healthcare organizations face a unique challenge: balancing the need for personalized communication without running afoul of HIPAA guidelines. Often, the challenge isn’t one of not having enough information, but one of too much – most of which you shouldn’t use. The following is a quick guide to help you organize your email strategy so that it is effective and compliant with HIPAA requirements.   The good news for marketers using the emfluence Marketing Platform is that our software is HIPAA compliant. That means we adhere to a […]

In March 2018, Instagram officially made life easier for the 70% of shopping enthusiasts – me included –who love social media and shopping online, by combining both interests into one platform and as a result, forever changing the way people shop by providing more than 130 million accounts (and counting) the ability grant their customers with the best shopping experience right from their social feed.   No longer do e-commerce brands that sell physical products have to depend solely on adding a link under their Instagram bio every time they want to […]

There’s truly no need for us to restate the details of the current coronavirus conditions we find ourselves in. With many businesses feeling like they’re in a tailspin, it’s more important now than ever to take a calm, calculated look at your marketing, advertising and overall communication efforts. And while every business is different and the level to which they’ve been impacted by the pandemic varies, we’ve put together a list of universal considerations and thought starters to focus on as we all try to navigate these uncertain waters.     #1 Don’t Lose Sight  While […]

Date updated: 4/17/2020 Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S., we have had multiple clients approach us with uncertainty and questions. How is the coronavirus affecting current user behaviors? How do we think it will affect ongoing, long-term search behaviors? The truth is, we’re experiencing this for the first time along with everyone else. But as a data-driven agency, we wanted to dive in and provide some insight into current trends and we put our heads together to discuss. We analyzed all our client data to see […]

In the last few weeks, companies everywhere have had to make important decisions on how to adapt their marketing strategies to the rapidly changing circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Email, in particular, has been heavily relied on to communicate a lot of information with customers and clients. It’s important to note that in many situations, not sending at all is better than coming across as insensitive or tone deaf during a global health pandemic. However, in the event you have important information you must relay to your clients during this time, here […]

Writing this from my home in Prairie Village (Kansas) rather than the emfluence office in the Crossroads (Kansas City, Missouri), I can only muse that the old saying “the only constant in life is change” seems like a huge understatement. COVID-19 has certainly upended all of our lives, especially those in the service, healthcare, & hospitality industries. I’m left to reflect on how this crisis is affecting the Paid Media landscape, not because it’s the most important aspect of our lives, but because sometimes it’s good to focus on what […]

Congratulations, you’ve taken the first steps to taking your manufacturing business to the next level with the use of email marketing! That’s right, email is still a thing. In fact, email marketing is used by 92% of manufacturer marketing professionals according to the Content Marketing Institute.   How the Manufacturers Can Incorporate Email into their Marketing Strategy In an industry where each purchase can be an intense and expensive, long drawn-out sales cycles that involve multiple stakeholders and other decision-makers, having a well-thought-out email marketing strategy to provide support is […]

B2B purchase decisions are typically high value and expensive decisions. These decisions develop over a longer period of time than B2C and require relevant and timely content. The average B2B buying cycle is 6-12 months (Powerpost).   So, what happens during this buying cycle and how can you guide it along? The answer – relevant, timely, targeted and personalized content.   In a study by FocusVision, they discovered the average B2B buyer consumes 13 pieces of content before making a decision, typically eight vendor-created and five third-party created. Vendor-created content […]

Is the role of the CMO over? In Fall 2019, Forrester predicted that CMOs must broaden their view of their role or see their responsibilities divided to newly created positions, such as VP of Marketing Technology. Global corporations, including Johnson & Johnson, Uber and Coca Cola, are revisiting the role of the CMO, and in some cases eliminating it altogether.   Forrester is not saying marketing is less critical to success. Rather, org structures are redefining roles to adapt to evolving marketing technology, consumer sentiment, employee expectations, talent acquisition, automation, […]

emfluence is excited to welcome two new members to the team this month!   Jana Hainey joins us as an email strategist, where she will work hands-on with our agency clients providing email strategy, inspiration, and execution.   Cory LaGrange joins us as our Director of Digital Strategy, bringing with him a love for SMART goals, more than 10 years of marketing strategy, and just a smidgen of an accent from his home turf in South Louisiana.   As Jana and Cory wrapped up their first few weeks as emfluencers, […]

The core component of running a successful website in this day and age can be succinctly summarized in one word: content. This should come as no surprise to most of us, I mean who hasn’t heard the cliché “content is king” before? Now, I don’t mean to suggest this statement is untrue–I’d actually argue that it’s as true as it’s ever been–just that this emphasis on content can very easily evolve into an overemphasis on content, which can in turn overshadow other essential parts of a managing your site.   […]

As marketers, we are all aware that there are restrictions when it comes to the types of content you can post and advertise on social media. However, it’s important to note that different social media platforms have different advertising restrictions and guidelines. So before you start posting content across all of your social media platforms, it is important to be familiar with all of the platforms guidelines because what is acceptable on one platform may not be allowed on another. Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent […]

Customer journey mapping can help to identify strengths and weaknesses with your sales, marketing, and customer support tactics so that you can improve the experience your customers have with your brand from the first interaction all the way through to the post-purchase journey.   The benefits of customer journey mapping are clear. However, the path to creating a customer journey map can be more onerous. Where do you start? Who do you involve? What does the final product need to look like?   There are various ways to create customer […]

Welcome to 2020! New decade, new you. There are dozens of new trends in digital marketing every year, so I wanted to take some time to highlight a few that I think are the most important or potentially impactful (generally). These trends are personal opinion, of course.   Business Intelligence and Data Analytics Drive Business Decision-Making In my personal opinion, business intelligence and advanced data analytics are probably the most important trends to follow in 2020. As digital marketers, there is no shortage of data to create compelling “data driven” […]

In November, Facebook rolled out a new way for SMBs to support local discovery and ecommerce in a tool you probably didn’t expect: WhatsApp.   Long known as a communication tool for your friends living overseas, WhatsApp has taken on a new face of late as users of the Facebook-owned app have taken to chatting with businesses as well. With the addition of the new tool, called Catalogs for Small Business, business owners can link their WhatsApp for Business account followers to photos and product information without having to share […]

It’s easy to get caught up in a dog and pony show for the next great piece of technology and the fabulous ROI that it promises. But building a solid martech stack is really about finding solutions that will help you execute on your strategy, not bending your strategy to a piece of software with shiny functionality. Strategy comes first. Technology supports strategy.   In fact, the most critical element to building a marketing tech stack isn’t marketing technology. It’s the people that the technology supports. You can spend money […]

Looking for your next social media advertising opportunity? You might be surprised at the power of Pinterest—and how you can leverage it to boost your brand.   Pinterest is the land of interest. It’s an online, visual paradise. Unlike social media platforms with visual support like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is a search engine relying on images and video to capture the attention of its over 300 million monthly users.     Who is doing all this searching, and what are they searching?   Pinterest was once thought to be […]

It’s been a few weeks since Google began rolling out its latest major search algorithm update, BERT, and many members of the SEM community still have questions about what this change means for search engine optimization and content marketing. For good reason, too. The sheer amount of speculation and “expert” guides that were published just days after the update was announced have made separating algorithmic fact from fiction difficult.   Thankfully, we’ve done most of the heavy lifting for you and put together a no-nonsense guide breaking down the key […]

Crafting the perfect email for your campaign can be tough. Great results depend on coming up with the right words to say, what to offer, how much content to include, etc. You could take your best guess, or you could let your audience decide!

emfluence is excited to welcome LaToya Rozof to the role of HR Manager! In her role, LaToya will oversee employee engagement, hiring, and in her own words, making sure we continue to have fun without breaking any laws.   LaToya joins us as an HR superstar with a passion for fashion. She has 13 years of HR experience and has expertise in employment law, employee relations, and HR strategy. One of her favorite work tasks is finding ways to help make the workplace a destination and not a dread (a […]

Video is king…. or at least queen. If you haven’t started incorporating videos into your social media strategy already, now may be a good time to start thinking about it more seriously. According to SocialMediaToday, video is the best performing digital content type. Which honestly shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone at this point.   Let’s just quickly talk about how huge video content consumption is among consumers really quick.   78% of people watch online videos every week 55% watch online videos every day   Those are some […]

How much do you need for marketing next year? Depends. How many customers do you want?   Budgets. Such an ugly word. So… constricting. There are multiple approaches to budget-building, but most are variations of either the top-down or bottom-up approach. As you begin your 2020 marketing plans, let’s talk about the differences, benefits, and downfalls of the two most common ways to budget for your marketing expenses.   When Should We Start at the Top? The Top-Down Marketing Budget. In a top-down marketing budgeting model, an executive team reviews […]