Nadya Khoja says, “I’m often underwhelmed by the conferences I attend. Many of the sessions I’ve sat in on over the past couple of years have regurgitated the same basic knowledge time and time again.The thing is, some of the “best” conferences are actually really expensive, and I often find myself questioning whether it’s worth the money and time investment. The answer is usually no, but every now and then I come across a rare gem that provides extreme value.Value, I’ve learned, does not only reveal itself in one form. And different conferences provide various forms of value.These... [...]

KC Agu says, “You might have succeeded in turning a great idea into a business, but if you can’t get people to purchase your product or service, you don’t really have anything. Sales are what validate a business, the reason every business is established.So what happens when your business is running low on sales?You could be running low on sales for any number of reasons. Maybe your marketing campaign is focusing on the wrong people. Maybe it’s obsolete. Maybe there is just too much competition within your industry.Whatever the reason, these five tips can help you squeeze... [...]

Phil Barrett says, “After Wal-Mart acquired Jet.com last year, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillion predicted that “Walmart.com will grow faster, the seamless shopping experience we’re pursuing will happen quicker, and we’ll enable the Jet brand to be even more successful in a shorter period of time.”Company executives brokered the partnership to create a standout digital experience, making it ever easier for consumers to shop online. The Wal-Mart app, its website and stores all were part of the strategy. Already, the move is putting pressure on ecommerce leader Amazon.com.As two of the... [...]

Marc Wayshak says, “Are your prospecting emails ignored all the time? If the answer is “yes,” you’re not alone. Most salespeople today struggle to write sales emails that convert to actual business.But before you take it personally, try putting yourself in the shoes of your prospects. High-level prospects receive hundreds of prospecting emails every single day — personally written ones, not spam or bot emails. No one has the time to carefully read that many messages! Your prospects have no choice but to scan them all and quickly decide what’s worth their time, and what’s... [...]

Alfred Lua says, “The thing we love most at Buffer is to help you succeed at social media. And a key part of social media success is knowing which goals and targets to set for your team.Without goals, it’s hard to know exactly how well your social media strategy is performing and where you need to iterate to continue moving forwards. Today I’d love to share with you a bunch of super-actionable social media goals you can use to help your team achieve great things. In total, we’ll walk through 9 very different, but effective social media goals and for each goal we also relevant... [...]

Scott Brandt says, “For the past four years, myself and three other marketers have met frequently to talk shop. We’ve celebrated a variety of milestones together — promotions, an engagement, our children’s birthdays. What had originally begun as an opportunity to learn from other professionals, has grown into a valuable friendship.While we’re all marketers, we each come from different industries. In the winter of 2014, I worked at a B2B software company. At the time, the other men and woman were involved in manufacturing, recruiting and higher education. On paper, our backgrounds... [...]

Nathan sinnott says, “Everyone wants to get a high click-through rate and a good spot in Google’s search algorithm. But, when it is generally accepted in the industry that Google uses approximately 200 ranking factors to rank websites — and some of these are proven, some are controversial and some are purely nerd-based conjecture — it can be hard to know which factors to focus on when it comes to your search engine optimization (SEO).So, what is most important to Google?“It is content,” said Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev. “And,... [...]

Kimberly De Silva says, “Visual content is just as important for your business as Dr. Watson is for the Sherlock Holmes story. Can Sherlock cope without Watson? For sure. Would the story without John be funny and engaging? Not so much.Images and videos are the most direct, cost effective and simple way to engage an audience. Statistics show that adding an image to a Facebook post results in 2.3 times more engagement. Furthermore, as many as 74 percent of marketers use visual content in their social media marketing.Visuals can help your brand catch the user’s attention when they... [...]

Josh Steimle says, “Tesla, Virgin Galactic and Oculus all have something in common: They build sexy products and the media loves to give them coverage. Most businesses are more mundane. They lack the flash and sizzle inherent in an industry such as space travel. Because these companies don’t have a built-in marketing advantage, they companies have to get creative if they want the media to shower them with love.For example, consider the self-storage industry. Could there be a more boring business? The building is shaped like a box. Inside are box-shaped rooms, each filled with... [...]

Angela Moscaritolo says, “When Facebook first started rolling out auto-play videos on timelines, it mercifully muted the footage by default. That changes going forward, though, as videos will now automatically play with the sound turned on.Facebook Engineering Manager Alex Li and Product Manager Dana Sittler announced the change in a Tuesday blog post, writing that “as people watch more video on phones, they’ve come to expect sound when the volume on their device is turned on.”The social network has been testing this new “sound on” feature, and received... [...]