Is Content Marketing Headed for a Tech Revolution?
Are you ready for the fourth wave of content marketing? According to Scott Brinker:
“the fourth wave of content marketing, now emerging, is the proliferation of interactive content with responsive web marketing apps.”
In Scott’s ebook, The New Brand of Marketing Scott argues that marketing is now a technical discipline where art gives way to code. Whereas that might sound like a huge leap, it’s got to be worth hearing out and this article introducing it is a great read, I’ll summarise and expand on this below.
So what are the three waves preceding this?
We know content marketing is pretty popular and interest in it has grown dramatically in the last couple of years….
So what’s the story of the first wave? If we agree to share the waves view that in the chart above? The…
A case study of re-activation of lapsed customers with Marketing Automation and Gamification: An email marketing case study from CarDelMar
The well-known marketing rule that investing in acquisition of new customers is six to seven times costlier than re-activating past customers suggests the value of investing in reactivation campaigns. In the omnichannel world we live in, a wide range of possible methods are available to re-engage those who have lapsed, or if you prefer, are 'churned' buyers. Among the most effective methods is surely re-activation by email marketing. In this case study we present how optivo helped the German online car hire broker CarDelMar with an automated reactivation campaign, which was designed and carried out using the software of email marketing service provider optivo.
The challenge of inactivity
Previously, CarDelMar had been sending out fortnightly newsletters with information on exclusive discount campaigns, useful tips on booking reservations and introductions of new rental agencies. As is usually the case with new…
Quick ideas to increase your followers
With over 70 million Pinterest users, which grew by 58% in 2013, then it's definitely a social media platform to evaluate to see if it fits your business and demographics. See our in-depth Pinterest marketing guide by Rhian Simms and Liz Edwards for more details.
In sectors where visual identity of products is important Pinterest can be influential:
Did you know that 'a Pin is repinned on average 10x compared to a Tweet, which is typically retweeted less than 1%?'
If you are fairly new to Pinterest and looking to grow your Followers to share your boards, then here are some practical steps:
Use high impact, high quality, colourful images - those with medium lightness are 20x more likely to be repinned.
Comment on the most popular pins to be noticed.
Give positive comments about those you are mentioning.
Use other social media platforms and offline channels to promote your presence…
Why you could be irrelevant to 86% of your target audience... and what to do about it
86% of B2B email marketing does not work. That’s the average level of non-engagement in B2B email marketing databases - the people who never open, never read and never engage with any of your content.
Yet email remains an enduring pillar of modern business communication with UK workers dealing with an average of 40 emails per day and spending an incredible 81 days of the working year reading and writing emails.
How can email marketing be failing to reach such a large proportion of its intended audience when email communication is still so prevalent? So deeply embedded in our daily work?
It is not email marketing that has become less effective, it is broadcast email marketing that has become less effective. That average of…
SmartInsights tool review: Touchstone
Rumour has it that the next Indiana Jones film will see our favourite archeologist searching for the greatest undiscovered treasure of modern times: the perfect subject line.
In the meantime, we're left looking for guidance on how to improve subject line performance by using the "right" words. Do we say "free" or "no cost"? "Summer" or "Summertime"? "Deal" or "Offer"?
Any tool that helps us consistently pick out the best words or phrasing would, of course, have two huge advantages:
The benefits go straight to your bottom line: subject lines have a big influence on opens, clicks and other success metrics.
You can skip a lot of A/B subject line testing: A/B tests are not always easy to do right (and can give misleading results if done wrong).
Unfortunately, the tools or reports offering advice on subject line wording tend to suffer from two critical flaws.
First, they commonly base recommendations on a review of past subject lines and the…
What are the "must-have" features of your LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn has a wealth of features to help businesses as our evolving A-Z of 30 LinkedIn features shows. Using new features on LinkedIn often feels to me like like a finding a new recipe, where you are not sure which one to choose until you have tried it out, and seen the end-result. Though, like all recipes, we should not forget the core ingredients. LinkedIn has so much that it's important to determine your goals first and then choose the right mix of features to reach them, and perhaps test and try again.
This infographic showcasing 'the LinkedIn Profile Tips' is timely since the research shows that almost half of profiles are incomplete and only 58% update their details.
You can learn more about using LinkedIn for business with our recently…
7 Steps for completing a blog or website Content Audit
It’s easy to forget about your website’s old content, especially if it’s getting buried under your newer posts and pages. These stagnant pieces of content might be the reason your website isn’t ranking very well on SERPs, or could even be driving away potential customers when they stumble upon them while browsing.
Conducting a content audit is the best way to optimize all your current and future content to serve your audience better.
Why should you audit?
As Google’s own Matt Cutts says, it’s important to review your content to prevent it from 'going stale'. Conducting a blog or website content audit can take a lot of work, but if you’re serious about improving your website’s traffic, conversions, and user experience, it’s something you cannot and should not avoid.We found that many of their clients thought their on-page…
16 of your questions on using the new LinkedIn features answered
It was good to get LOTS of questions on our latest BrightTALK webcast (view catchup recording) summarising the 7 latest LinkedIn updates with Danny Bermant of Brainstorm Digital.
There were over 40 questions covering the details during the session. We answered most of them, but promised to answer them in full and provide links to the slides for downloads, so here they are! I hope these are helpful. Let us know if you have any follow-up questions in the comments.
For a more in-depth look at the new features and much more depth on managing LinkedIn, download our Expert members guide to LinkedIn, also by Danny. Now over to Danny for his answers.
1. Profile Organizer scrapped as premium feature, so now available to all!
Q1. Will the contact see any notes you make about them?
No, you’re safe to say what you like, so long as…
Using Talkwalker Social Search for social media listening
Value: [rating=5]
Recommended link: Talkwalker Social Search
Who are the most important influencers in my sector? What types of content are most popular for sharing? What social media strategies are my competitors pursuing?
Answering these question is a concern for any social media marketer trying to review and identify tactics to improve their social media and content marketing.
To help answer these questions there are literally hundreds of social media listening / monitoring tools options available. Of course, many of these services are paid for which rules them out for many smaller and mid-size businesses.
If you were looking for free social media insight, then the two most popular tools we have previously recommended are Social mention and Topsy. For free tools, these can be a great help in finding the most influential sharers or content and the most…
How to increase communications relevance through more personalised, contextual messages based on customer insight
Data is the key to understanding your customers and delivering new insights, but data in itself is just a series of 1s and 0s until you can bring meaning and interpretation.
Knowing and understanding your data is the first step in delivering relevant communications and customer value, as you turn raw data into information and then actionable insight. Starting this journey however can be a difficult step as highlighted in the 2013 Teradata Data-Driven Marketing Survey which stated:
‘Nearly 50 percent of marketers agree that data is the most underutilised asset in their organisation, with less than 10 percent saying they currently use what data they have in a systematic way’
Where to start?
There are several ways to data discovery and data…
