Matt Byrom says, “Video is an awesome tool that can help you at every stage of the sales cycle.For example, you can create fun videos on social that will attract people to your brand, an explainer video to help convert prospects into customers, and educational videos to help customers use your product and become raving fans of your brand.Video really does have many uses, but with that comes a lot of cost. Creating a video can be expensive, especially when you don’t have a huge budget to play with.So this week, I’m going to show you four inexpensive ways to add video to your... [...]

Garrett Gan says, “The digital advertising industry is fraught with media hyperbole, every week with a new company claiming a panacea that will revolutionize the workflow, targeting, or optimization for all marketers.However, looking back, how many of these solutions (outside of Google and Facebook), have really truly reached a preeminent, and more importantly, indispensable position in the marketplace where it touches almost every single marketer or agency?The entire industry ebbs and flows with new solutions coming out every week, or month, with old ones dying off, or struggling to get... [...]

Tommy Wyher says, “Springtime doesn’t just mean nicer weather and blooming flowers. It’s also the time of year that small businesses are celebrated all across the United States during National Small Business Week. For small business owners, now is the time to leverage the “choose small business” momentum across the country and optimize your marketing efforts to gain the most out of the season.Depending on your business and the resources you have on hand, significant changes in your marketing program may seem costly or tedious, but they don’t have to be. Often, small changes go... [...]

Tommy Wyher says, “A webinar is an online seminar, lecture, or even conference that businesses hold on a regular basis.The advantage of a webinar is that people from all over the world can attend with just an Internet connection.Not all webinars are free or open to the public so it is important to clarify this. Often times there are a links and passwords to get into the more exclusive webinars.The goals of webinars depend on a business so not all tools are necessary for a business to have. The following is a list of top tools for businesses and who should incorporate them when prepping... [...]

Brian Hughes says, “As a Facebook and Twitter competitor, Google+ never really stood a chance, certainly not after Instagram charged on the scene (and to a lesser degree Tumblr, Snapchat, WhatsApp and YikYak).From the confusing design to weird names (remember sparks?), it seemed doomed from the start. Even Google Authorship, which promised to turn us all into instant thought leaders, failed to pan out.And yet, every few months, a new social media or search blog article would surface declaring that businesses absolutely needed to be on Google+, which left a lot of CMOs pretty frustrated.If... [...]

Fam Mirza says, “Startups and small businesses have little to no reputation.Nobody knows who you are or what you stand for. One of your immediate concerns is branding.If you want to start a path to better branding this year, look to big companies for inspiration. You can learn a lot from big brands, and there’s no reason why you can’t do what they do.These five big company branding strategies are going to enable you to brand your business in the coming 12 months.Develop Unifying Branding StandardsWhy do you recognize brands like Coca-Cola and Google the moment you spot one of their... [...]

Zachary Evans says, “Growing your business can be an incredibly tricky and confusing endeavor.Regardless of the size of your business, whether you are a tiny startup or a massive global corporation, one of the best things you can do is look at how other companies have effectively grown through marketing strategies.We’ll look closely at the successes of two industry leaders in their own rights, and what takeaways you can apply to your business. Moz: Rethink Your Strategies, but Commit to ThemMoz is a Seattle-based software development company, specializing in inbound marketing and... [...]

Christine James says, “By now almost everyone is an expert in at least a few social media networks.They might not know about some of the lingo used or exactly how to use every aspect of them, but almost everyone has heard of and tried YouTube at some point.Facebook and Twitter are now regular tools for communicating and connecting with others for many. Google+ has quickly caught up. And their number of users only continues to grow for all three both domestically and internationally.How big could social networks become? Twitter announced this week that they have reached a massive agreement... [...]

Matthew Toren says, “The simple answer is, “yes and no.”The entire concept of blogging has changed.Back when blogging made the transition from its roots as an online journal to a respected means of communicating on a broad scale with a target audience, it was primarily just that: a communications tool.Some of the key benefits of blogging were the ability for an audience to interact through commenting and the opportunity to build an audience through blog subscription.Both were highly prized attributes of the biggest and most successful blogs out there: they had large, enthusiastic... [...]

Matthew Barby says, “The traditional ways of measuring the success or failure of content are broken. We can’t just rely on metrics like the number of pageviews/visits or bounce rate to determine whether what we’re creating has performed well.“The primary thing we look for with news is impact, not traffic,” says Jonah Peretti, Founder of BuzzFeed. One of the ways that BuzzFeed have mastered this is with the development of their proprietary analytics platform, POUND.POUND enables BuzzFeed to predict the potential reach of a story based on its content, understand how effective specific... [...]