While data-driven marketing is certainly an invaluable tool in any marketer’s arsenal, without any creativity, it’s just more numbers.

In this article, Rik talks about the data overload happening in the marketing community. He offers tips and tools to marketing professionals in bringing creativity back to the forefront and the positive results this can lead to in their marketing efforts.

If your organization has become over-reliant on data, these tips can infuse some creativity into your ranks.

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Technology has provided marketers with unprecedented opportunities to gather data on the wants, needs, and behaviors of consumers — and on a very micro level, at that. So it only stands to reason that many brands would take a much more data-driven approach to marketing.

But overreliance on data can blindside…

A headline can make or break your content

A good headline drives traffic, social media shares, and even helps (indirectly) generate leads. A bad headline, on the other hand, will get overlooked. There is too much amazing content being published every day and if you want to be able to compete with it, you not only need quality content that provides value, but also a headline that will make people want to click on your links, as well as share your articles with their own friends and followers. In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to write headlines that drive traffic.

Step 1: Use relevant keywords in your headlines

Keywords not only help with your search engine optimization (as those are the words people use to search for content like yours), but they also make it clear what your article is about. Even before you start writing a blog post or…

What Blockchain is and how it will affect the future of digital marketing and customer data privacy

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain technology has been in the news for the past few years. Almost everybody in the corporate world has heard of it, one way or other. However, only a few know what exactly this buzzword is all about.

In this world of cyber-crime and data theft, no one wants to compromise on data security. It is of utmost importance. Blockchain was originally developed for secure transfer of value, from one person to another without the need of an intermediary like a bank. It is a network of distributed databases in which the data is encrypted via cryptography and provides an easy way to send, receive, record data, and trade digital currencies.

One of the best things about Blockchain is that it is decentralized. It…

Facebook vs. Instagram: The better platform for your business

Beginner marketers consider launching a social media campaign. Experienced marketers launch a social media campaign on Facebook. Smart marketers study all social media platforms and launch successful integrated social media campaigns on the platforms that are best for their business. Let’s be honest, social media marketing is a versatile, cost-effective and powerful tool to use for marketers and small business owners alike. It helps to reach the target audience, boosts sales, increases brand recognition, enhances conversion rates, boosts traffic to your website and even, improves search engine rankings. No wonder, then, that more and more businesses decide to include social media in their marketing strategies. In fact, according to Statista, investments in social media advertising are forecast to grow from 32 billion dollars in 2017 to approx. 48 billion dollars in…

Exporting is nothing new, but overseas markets continue to present opportunities for companies to grow

Advances in technology, internet communications and travel, mean we understand cultures and countries better than ever; making trading outside of your domestic market one of the most accessible strategic options available to businesses today. Let’s face it: twenty-first century business opportunities are global. If you have a domestic market, you could have markets everywhere. After all, it’s much easier (and less costly) to sell your existing specialism to new audiences, rather than creating new products and services. Yet, finding the right customers in new markets, and selecting the right key accounts in which to invest resources, can be tricky if you don’t have a strategy and a plan to engage them. You can’t ‘wing it’ when it comes to international marketing - or any form of marketing for that…

‘A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message’ - Mark Zuckerberg

Influencer marketing has heavily been under the spotlight in the past couple of years, with the rise of social media usage by millennials trying to promote brand and products that they seem to believe it.

Since influencer marketing is a fairly new domain of digital marketing, questions around its regulation, monitoring and revenue stream always come up as topics of debate. Perhaps, it's not immediately as clear as the other areas of digital marketing, in terms of how influencers make money or whether they should be making money at all.

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The Complete 6-Step Guide to Running a Successful Influencer Marketing Campaign

In the world of marketing, influencer marketing has been picking up a lot of steam. Influencer marketing has helped businesses increase brand awareness and even drive sales. It can bring up to 11 times the ROI of banner ads. That’s because people are increasingly using ad blockers and cutting the cord with advertisers. A survey by PageFair showed that 11% of the global population used adblock in 2016. The survey also said that blocking ads would increase over the next few years. With influencer marketing, businesses can still reach their target audience, even if they’re blocking ads. And better yet, they can reach their audience through content they actually opt into, making…

Chart of the Day: Shopping moves away from retailers after the first purchase

If your company sells products that lend themselves to repeat purchases, your marketplace visibility is essential. Cars, laptops, and suits may be more one-off buys (unless you’re of a particularly affluent persuasion), but when customers want small items, they opt for online marketplaces over retailers and buying directly from brands. Research from Salesforce and Publicis.Sapient found that 87% of people begin their search for a product on digital channels, up 16% from last year. When asked where this search starts, 28% of people prefer to start with Amazon, though 48% of people prefer Google (a large increase from 17% of people last year). When searching for products for the first time, it would seem that the public prefers to find a retailer through Google, and then browse marketplaces for…

Pointers for the perfect marketing résumé in 2019

As a marketing expert, your job description includes selling products and services. Then writing a marketing résumé should be easy for you! You just have to sell yourself, right? It’s ironic, but many job applicants in this industry struggle with the completion of the perfect marketing résumé. Some of them even neglect its importance; they just follow a random format and replace the crucial information with their own details.

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It’s time for us to understand how crucial the résumé is during the application process. Yes; the employer will mostly care about your experience, and they will evaluate your skills through the portfolio. The resume, however, is…

Learn how to ensure your content gets discovered

Ever work on a single important article for weeks on end?  Maybe you had to interview a number of busy executives or had trouble sourcing good images for the piece? You know how it goes. Anyways, after all of that work, you finally click “publish” and sit back. 24 hours later, you login and see zero likes and zero shares, a crushing defeat. Sound familiar? Trust me, you’re not alone. Far from it in fact. Nowadays there are over a billion webpages available to web traffic. Even more shocking, a staggering 2 million articles are published daily. As you might imagine, standing out can be a bit of a problem. Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix. But there is an important first step that you’re…