Daniel Tolliday says, “You’ve written a highly informative, entertaining and insightful article that is sure to knock your audiences’ socks off, and now it’s time to sit back and watch it go viral, right? Wrong. Your job is only just beginning. The latest B2B research notes that 77 percent of marketers say content marketing plays a significant to very significant role in their B2B marketing strategies; and globally, B2B marketers spend 28 percent of their total budgets on content marketing, so it’s important to get it right. The performance of your content begins and ends with how... [...]

John Rampton says, “Is there one particular website that consistently outranks yours? This can be an extremely frustrating experience. It seems like no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to improve your rankings. This post will give you a checklist you can follow to outrank nearly anyone online. If you can consistently carry out these tasks (you likely don’t even need to do all them), you stand a fantastic chance of outranking even your toughest competitors. Choose the right competitors. A better title for this article might be “20 Tips to Outranking Your Key Online Competitors.”... [...]

Ben Lemmers says, “Sales and Marketing haven’t always had the best relationship. In fact, their relationship in many organizations can sometimes be described as that of two diverse organisms living together in a way that benefits only one. B2B companies’ inability to align sales and marketing teams around the right processes and technologies costs 10% or more revenue per year, according to IDC, so one of the largest opportunities to improve business performance can come from aligning these teams. Doing nso improves ROI, productivity, and growth. In fact, B2B organizations with... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Among its latest efforts to address online display advertising fraud, Google says it has rolled out new defenses against clickjacking. What is clickjacking? If you’ve ever clicked on a button or tried to play a video on a web page and been taken unexpectedly to another web page, you’ve likely been a victim of clickjacking. Hackers essentially overlay a transparent page over a legitimate web page. To the user, the web page looks perfectly normal, but when a user clicks on a video play button, for example, the action actually occurs on the transparent overlay. Clickjacked... [...]

Ben Davis says, “The single customer view (SCV) is one of marketing’s hot potatoes. Is it really feasible? Well, according to our latest Quarterly Intelligence Briefing: The Pursuit of Data-Driven Maturity (in association with Adobe), 20% of marketers have in fact achieved an actionable SCV. The survey has thrown up plenty of fascinating data – let’s take a look at a little bit of it. How is marketing data being used? As the survey report eloquently puts it, ‘the pursuit of digital maturity is increasingly synonymous with the pursuit of data maturity.’ With businesses... [...]

Kenia says, “The rise and rise of online video content over recent years is showing no signs of slowing. According to Cisco Forecast, video will represent 69% of all consumer-based Internet traffic by 2017; this is expected to rise to 80% by 2019. Meanwhile, another study from Business Insider estimates that video advertising will account for 41% of total desktop display-related spending in 2020 in the US. Looking at these stats, it’s clear that video will continue to be a critical element of successful digital marketing strategies for the foreseeable future. As YouTube and Facebook jostle... [...]

Matt McGee says, “WordPress version 4.5 is now available, bringing what the developers call a “more streamlined experience,” whether you’re writing a blog post or building/tweaking your site. There’s nothing that you’d call a significant change or upgrade, but 4.5 does add convenient responsive design preview toggles so users can preview how their site will look on different devices. There are also new formatting shortcuts that make it easier to add horizontal lines and/or format text as code, as well as the ability to add links inline while you write. One under-the-hood change... [...]

Parry Malm says, “Ah, the humble subject line. Gatekeeper of your offers. The crux of your campaigns. And the source of unrivalled consternation. Is the message on brand? Does it sound spammy? Will it drive sales? According to the vast majority of the N subject lines we analysed, the answers are no, yes, and probably not as much as you’d like. I’m in the subject line business. So, it makes sense that my company keeps track of subject lines that brands around the world are sending. We’ve built up one of the worlds’ largest databases of subject lines sent by B2C brands. It is all content... [...]

Pamela Wilson says, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could take your life experiences and turn them into a business? Sonia Thompson has done just that. She’s combined her time in corporate America with her love for small business to create a place where small business owners can learn the mindset and techniques they need to master running their businesses successfully. And she’s working to incorporate her personal passions, like speaking Spanish and living abroad, into her future offerings. Sonia’s story is this month’s Hero’s Journey feature. We’re tapping the collective wisdom... [...]

Valerie Levin says, “For any company hoping to get into the influencer marketing game, there are some important considerations to keep in mind. Knowing the rules, bending those rules and avoiding the less effective side of this type of marketing can help develop a successful influencer campaign and generate more conversions. This guide provides the advice for getting started and using this strategy to your advantage. From Word-of-Mouth to Social Buzz Word-of-mouth marketing is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. This type of marketing also generates more... [...]