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Email Marketing vs Marketing Automation Software: Which Is Right For Your Business?

January 14, 2021/in Articles, Direct Marketing, Directors /by Dan Gartlan

Email is an essential part of marketing in many companies. One challenge many companies face is choosing which software to use in order to manage their email marketing.

On one hand, an email service provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact can send targeted emails out to select leads. It can also provide reporting on how your audience opened the email and clicked through. On the other hand, marketing automation software, like Hubspot, offers the same functionality, plus a whole lot more. Marketing automation software has the ability to nurture leads throughout the sales process, as well as the ability to monitor website visitor behavior.

The challenge is determining which solution works best for your business.

Email Service Provider Vs. Marketing Automation

Your company’s marketing needs are going to be different from the business across the street. You will need a unique blend of marketing tactics to connect with your audience and maximize your lead nurturing. Deciding which of these solutions will work better for your business requires knowing the exact needs of your company and industry.

Here are some factors to consider between email service providers and marketing automation software:

You have long sales cycles that require multiple touch points. Marketing automation helps to make some of these touch points happen without human intervention. It is possible to use an email service provider to make some of these touch points. However, the process is manual each time and there is no tracking of how a lead responds.

Read About the 5 Benefits of Marketing Automation

You need to sort casual prospects from sales-qualified leads. You don’t want your sales team’s time wasted contacting prospects who are not ready to make a purchase yet. Marketing automation allows you to score and grade leads so that your sales team will know who is close to making a purchase. Email services do not offer this functionality.

You use your lead database to promote events and participation more than for nurturing sales leads. Some businesses do not have a dedicated sales team. They have a short sales cycle and don’t need personal follow-up to get customer purchases. Email service providers are actually a great fit for this type of business. The additional functionality of marketing automation is just not needed in this business model.

You want more insight into how well your marketing activities are working. This is where marketing automation comes out ahead. This software allows you to track just about every aspect of your marketing from email click-throughs to landing page statistic to normalizing your lead data. Email services just don’t have that capability.

Which is Right for Your Business?

Only you, as the owner of your business, can determine which solution would work best in your company. Email service providers work well for building brand recognition, promoting events, and enhancing customer loyalty. However, for those companies that want a more robust solution, marketing automation software is the best solution.

Now, which solution would work best for you?

Free Marketing Tools To Start Using Today

January 11, 2021/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy, News & Insights /by Nicole Wagner

There are so many marketing tools available, that you can easily get overwhelmed trying to sort through them all and find the one that’s right for your business. But finding the right tool doesn’t have to be difficult and in some cases, it doesn’t even have to cost you anything. Here are nine of our favorite free marketing tools that you can start using to improve your marketing results today. Read more

B2B Branding Tips For The New Buyer

January 7, 2021/in Articles, B2B Marketing, Brand Development, Directors /by Dan Gartlan

Over the past few years, B2B business has seen a dramatic shift in the decision makers involved in purchasing. Now more than ever before Millennials are at the forefront of the company decisions especially when it comes to purchasing. According to a survey conducted by Google 2015 was the first year that nearly half of all B2B purchase influencers were Millennials. This shift impacts not only the B2B branding message but where that message is displayed as well since most Millennials spend a majority of their day online.

One of the biggest differences between Millennials and decision makers in the past is how they evaluate and research potential purchases. The same traditional advertising that worked on baby boomers is not going to work on Millennials and chances are they’re much further down in the purchase funnel before they even contact you. Thanks to the Internet and social media, decision makers do their own research on what they need, want, and whom they want to work with.

With more than 87 percent of online Millennials using Facebook and other social media sites, it’s imperative that your business has a strong social media and online presence however it’s not as simple as setting up pages and scheduling out posts. Millennials are looking for brands that are approachable, easy to navigate and as odd as this sounds more human. Even in this hyper-connected world people still want to be connected with real people, especially in B2B transactions. The most successful B2B companies have utilized their social media pages to reach out directly to their customers and build a sense of community with their brand and customers. It’s extremely important to assure your audience that you or your team of people will be there for them and that you can solve some of their pain points.

Read more on Using Your Brand Story To Reach Millennials In Business.

So, how does a brand convey all of this to their audience? Here are 4 things you should be talking about in your B2B branding:

Have a Purpose

Many argue that this is more geared to B2C businesses but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Showing your company culture and your core values, or the reason why you do what you do is just as important in B2B marketing. Millennials more than any other audience are looking to work with companies that leave a positive impact on the world or those that have a great story about how they started. Your brand values such as your mission statement and communication style will help create a personality and purpose behind your brand.

Read more on improving your B2B customer experience.

Knowledge

Potential customers are looking to solve a problem and they need to be confident that you will be able to solve it for them. Showing that you’re an authoritative source is one of the most important parts of your B2B branding.

Service

B2B buyers want someone that’s going to still make them feel that they have a 1 to 1 relationship even if they never communicate with you directly. Show them that you’re a company with real people who are willing to go the extra mile to get the job done.

Dependability

Showing that you can be depended on will take your brand messaging far. B2B buyers need to know that they can depend on you to get the job done so they can focus on other parts of their business. They don’t want to feel that they need to micromanage your work.

This generation is looking to be proud of who they purchase from. Today’s world is so much more transparent and connected and Millennials are not only used to that they expect you to be as well. It’s important that they are proud of who they buy from. By using ‘story branding’ companies can set a tone and feel for who they are and why they do what they do. With buyers getting inundated with so many screens and messages, stories help keep your B2B branding clear to your audience. The story with the strongest messaging that delivers an authentic feeling will stand out from the crowd. At the end of the day, B2B buyers are still, in fact, people and people love a good story.

Different Types Of Content Marketing For Lead Generation

January 4, 2021/in Articles, Content Marketing, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

“CONTENT IS KING.” It’s a phrase we have all heard before. But today, especially, it couldn’t be more true. Content, at its core, is what is essentially going to draw prospects to your brand. It is what makes you valuable. What others want to share and recommend. And it is the essence of what Inbound Attraction Marketing is all about. The trick is this: making the experience of your content one that will delight your readers and visitors and keep them coming back for more. Read more

5 Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using in 2021

December 30, 2020/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Mark Beebe

Over the course of the year, businesses will implement various marketing tactics, some of which are hot, new marketing trends, others that have already been proven to be effective. However, Some marketing tactics that began in 2020 will still work in 2021. Here are new marketing trends that will a good idea for 2021.

1. Keep Producing Video Content

At this point in time, video content should be a major component of your content marketing strategy. According to recent studies, half of all American Internet users watch video content online every day, whether it’s on their computers or on their phones. Invest in pre-recorded videos as well as live videos that are mobile-friendly to continue reaching a larger audience.

2. Add Chatbots To Your Website

Getting your visitors to engage and interact with your website is vital to maintaining their interest (and keeping that bounce rate low). Chatbots have become an incredibly helpful feature for visitors over the past few years. The presence of a chatbot allows a visitor to ask questions or for assistance in real time instead of having to email a company and wait for who knows how long to hear back. Implementing a chatbot will make your website experience much more convenient for your visitors and will prevent them from getting frustrated.

Why Your Website Redesign Would Benefit From An Inbound Marketing Strategy

3. Curate User-Generated Content

One of the most important elements of brand perception is authenticity. If your brand doesn’t feel authentic, it will hurt your reputation. One way to build your authenticity is to leverage user-generated content. There’s nobody that consumers trusts more than other consumers, after all. Produce video testimonials and set up contests to promote the creation of user-generated content (such as Instagram photo contests) that you can use to build your authenticity.

4. Focus On Personalization

Personalization has been important to customers for years now, and this won’t change in 2019. Personalizing your marketing will help you stand out and will make it easier for your audience to engage with you on a more personal level. It’s also become much easier to personalize your marketing than it’s ever been due to the ability to collect and analyze purchase history data, consumer behavior data, and more. At this point, there’s simply no excuse not to leverage personalization.

5. Employ Best Data Privacy Practices

The GDPR passed in Europe in 2018, which put into place numerous regulations regarding the collection of private user data. While such regulations aren’t yet in place in the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before they will be. As a result, you should begin taking steps to ensure that the data you’re collecting is secure and that you’ll be able to follow any new data privacy regulations that may pass.

Not all established marketing tactics or current marketing trends will be useful next year. However, some certainly will be. These are some of the marketing tactics that you should implement into your 2019 marketing strategy.

5 Creative Marketing Solutions That Will Work In 2021

December 28, 2020/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy, News & Insights /by Mark Beebe

Solutions come in every flavor. Every client has different pain, and it’s an agency’s job to seek out and offer solutions. Once the pain has been established, the solution is what will solve or compound the problem. Great agencies can put creative thoughts into a campaign and make it memorable. Here are 5 creative marketing solutions that will resonate with the consumer in 2021.

Tips To Make Your Email Marketing Program Most Effective

December 24, 2020/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Direct Marketing, Directors /by Debbie Szwast

About 124.5 billion business emails are sent and received each day. With this high volume, it’s crucial to make your emails stand out. A smart email program provides opportunities to effectively communicate with your customers and prospects, leading to increased sales and revenue growth. Segmenting—by target audience, relevant message and place in the buying cycle—is key. In fact, research shows that 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales because of lack of segmentation. And Lyris’ Annual Email Optimizer Report found that 14.30% of respondents experienced better deliverability and greater revenue when segmenting their email marketing. Read more

Top 7 Packaging Design Resources

December 21, 2020/in Articles, Brand Development, Directors /by Mark Beebe

Today’s package designers have such a wide variety of tools, technologies, and materials available that they can create just about anything they envision. Add in digital printing and their amazing design options become available to everyone. If you are looking for packaging design resources, here are 7 to get you started.

Packaging World

The world of packaging continues to evolve. To keep up with the latest happenings in the industry, you need to keep in touch with Packaging World. They offer daily articles on a variety of topics about what is hot, what materials are on top, and the leading inspirations designers have today.

The Die Line

Do you want to see the latest design inspirations from students all the way to big corporations? The Die Line is definitely the place to start. You get access to a packaging directory as well as a complete library of designs. There are new designs being added all the time, so you have a wealth of inspiration at your fingertips.

BXP (Brand Experience)

Packaging design comes together at BXP. It features design inspiration from the entire globe along with industry headlines and a fully stocked directory of packaging design resources. You get to meet some of the brightest talent in the design world. It is a place for inspiration and trends.

Seven Steps To Launching A Packaging Brand

Packaging of the World

Packaging of the World is like an art gallery of package design. You get to see some of the best design work from professionals around the globe. The best part is that you can filter the gallery based on exactly what you want. You can search by country, category and even most popular.

Retail Design Blog

The Retail Design Blog from the Creative Craft Laboratory brings selected retail packaging designs to the world. You get to see exactly what designers have in mind in a visually stunning presentation. The blog is updated every few days with even more designs. That makes it a resource you can return to time and time again.

Packaging Design Archive

If you are looking for a place to do package design research, the Packaging Design Archive is the place to start. You have the opportunity to see a wide range of designs in any number of presentations. You can filter by typography, shape, design aesthetics, materials, and environmental category, among others.

Brand New

The design firm Under Construction offers up Brand New. This features a true library of packaging designs. You get to see the latest inspirations. But, what makes this site extra special is the fact that you get a thorough review of many designs, which helps you know why a particular design works (or not).

All of these packaging design resources will give you inspiration, news, updates, and design help with any packaging need you might have.

Using Marketing Technology to Build a More Visible Brand

December 17, 2020/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Dan Gartlan

The success of some of the newest brands on the market is due to marketing technology. Brands like Uber, Air BnB, Lyft, Grub Hub and Seamless have managed to leverage marketing technology to paint the perfect picture of their ideal customer. All these brands are itching to reach the same costumer base. The companies mentioned above are looking at city-dwelling millennials who love to travel and value convenience. Through MarTech, the above brands have been able to use the data they’ve collected to tailor the user experience specifically to their customers.

While new brands seem to have marketing technology down to a science, older brands are lagging behind. Unable to invest in a marketing agency to collect and decipher data, small and mid-size businesses are lagging even further behind.

What is marketing technology?

Back in the golden age of marketing, there were four things that most companies focused on; price, product, placement, and promotion. Placing a product in the direct line of sight for consumers, and promoting that product through TV, magazine, sales, and adverts was the core foundation of marketing. Today, things are different. New School marketers focus on The 6 Cs; Making contact, connecting with the userbase, monitoring consumption, considering consumer needs, starting a conversation, and building a community and monitoring consumption.

New school marketing presents its challenges. It isn’t enough to collect the data from consumers; a company must be ready to utilize that data. In most cases, the job is easier said than done. This is where marketing technology comes in. High-end marketing software makes it easier to collect data, follow trends, and, perhaps most importantly, pinpoint patterns within the consumer lifecycle. These patterns allow a marketing professional to make educated guesses about product performance. It also allows professionals to tweak campaigns to fit current trends based on the date they’ve collected.

[Read about Effective Marketing Strategies for a Changing Economy]

The new school of marketing

Martech has changed the landscape. Besides data, it has changed how companies are reaching their preferred clientele. Influencer marketing is a relatively new concept, mostly born out of the Martech space. Influencer marketing entails identifying influential individuals in a space. For example, a makeup company may send over free samples to a YouTube beauty guru. Another may offer their fitness tea to an Instagram model. These paid influencers have built a wide fanbase through social media. Influencer marketing allows marketers to leverage an influencer’s following to reach a particular demographic. It can be considered word of mouth marketing for the new age.

The push of outbound marketing and the pull of inbound marketing is another difference between the old school and the new school. The pull of inbound, however, needs to be measured uniquely through the use of marketing software and technology. Through the creation of more data, we must move into a space that best utilizes that data to create a harmonious user experience. All the data in the world won’t matter if it isn’t being used to harness a complete and clear picture of the target demographic.

Factors That Influence Consumer Purchasing Decisions

Essential Website Optimization Techniques to Increase Visitors

December 14, 2020/in Articles, Directors, SEO /by Nicole Wagner

Does it seem like the number of page views on your company website just won’t increase? A simple and efficient solution to this problem is to optimize the blogs on your website. Essentially, optimization means making your resources as efficient and accessible as possible. Even the best quality content that is posted regularly will not be read by internet users if they can not easily find it using a search engine. Stop wasting time waiting for users to come to by applying these website optimization techniques.

Keywords are key

The strategic sharing of the blogs on your website is just as important as the content they contain. Optimization requires that you include keywords and long-tail keywords, or phrases, in your blog. Keywords are topics and phrases of significance that users type into the search engine when seeking solutions to their problems. For example, I might type the key words “best Chicago summer wines” into Google to find answers on the Internet.

Another aspect of keywords is that they are widely searched, yet specific at the same time. For instance, the words “wine” or “best wines” would not be optimal keywords since they are too general. By contrast, “best Chicago summer wines” are much better long-tail keyword because they specific, including details like region and season.

Read our article about 3 key benefits of SEO

Popularity contest

In order to determine the popularity of certain keywords, check your website’s keyword analytics. If the visits are too high, you should write about something more specific. If the visits are too low, you may not decide not use that keyword. However, if you’re feeling determined, you can write content containing that keyword with hopes of boosting the page views associated with it. Another technique you can use to find popular keywords if by typing certain words into search engines such as Google or Yahoo and seeing how many results come up. Be sure to base your keyword searches off of your buyer personas and they language they might use.

Spread the word

As much as the presence of the keywords is important, so is the strategic placement of keywords in your content. If you insert too many uses of the keywords, you are likely to be flagged as spam. On the other hand, if you don’t insert enough keywords, users may have a harder time discovering your content through given search engines.

The two most crucial places to insert your keywords are in the page and post title. An example of a title for the keywords “best Chicago summer wines” could be “Top 5 Summer Wines to Buy in Chicago This Summer.” Other important places to put your keywords are the blog’s URL, image alt-text, headers, and external links in the article. I also encourage you to include 1-2 uses of long-tail keywords in the body of the blog post, but making sure they don’t seem forced. The key to the insertion of key words is to make them seem natural, because bombarding a reader with them will seem like a marketing ploy.