Jacob Warwick says, “Most content marketers strive to create content that not only speaks directly to their target audience but also compels that audience to take desirable actions with the marketer’s business or brand.That sounds terrific in theory, but producing such content is easier said than done; there simply isn’t a template or solution that works for every business.To create high-performing content that drives business goals, content marketers must create content highly tailored to their specific industry or niche—no matter how oversaturated or “boring”... [...]

Barry Feldman says, “You’re driving. You need to know what speed you’re traveling at, how many miles you’ve traveled, how much gas remains in the tank, and what temperature your engine is running at.Now imagine how much it’d slow you down to go to four separate places to get that information. You’d have to stop and restart your journey each time you check one of those numbers.Sounds ridiculous, right? That’s why your car’s equipped with a dashboard, and why automakers keep updating dashboards to make them into more powerful tools that deliver more... [...]

Victoria DeRosa says, “Once upon a time, subscriptions used to be limited to newspapers and magazines. Now you can’t get through a day without seeing or hearing about a different type of recurring delivery. In this day and age, virtually anything you can think of that one can possibly purchase or use can be automatically renewed. We have everything we need at our literal and proverbial doorstep.Though subscriptions are nothing new, they have boomed in recent years, starting with wine-of-the-month clubs in the consumer space, and SaaS (software as a service) led by Salesforce in the... [...]

Dan Hanrahan says, “You’ve Got (Tons of) MailMore than 205 billion emails are sent out every day; email is the glue that helps clever marketing stick. Some 72% of US adults say they prefer that companies communicate with them through email, and 91% say they’d like to receive promotional emails from the companies they do business with. And companies oblige: 73% of them agree that email is a core part of their marketing efforts, while 25% rate it as their top channel for ROI.But many otherwise-savvy marketers are misusing email, turning to tactics that annoy and infuriate customers.... [...]

Laura Forer says, “Facebook ad targeting allows marketers to carefully select an audience. It’s a powerful way for Facebook advertisers to hyper-target very specific groups.But ad targeting can also be overwhelming, because there are so many options to choose from.An infographic by Facebook ad agency Advertisemint brings clarity to the ad targeting choices by breaking them down into five categories:1. Demographics: Targeting options include age, gender, interest, and language, among many others.2. Connections: Targeting options include people who liked a brand’s Facebook page... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Segmented email campaigns have, on average, significantly higher open and click rates—and significantly lower bounce, abuse, and unsubscribe rates—than non-segmented campaigns, according to recent research from MailChimp.The report was based on data from 11,000 segmented campaigns sent by 2,000 MailChimp customers to nearly 9 million recipients. The researchers compared the performance of each brand’s segmented campaigns with the performance of that same brand’s non-segmented campaigns.Segmented email campaigns have higher average open rates (+14%), unique... [...]

Lawson Abinanti says, “Would you like to significantly improve the effectiveness of your marketing communications? Of course, you would… We all would.If you were to read Neuromarketing by Patrick Renvoisé and Christophe Morin, you would better understand how to get prospects to respond to your marketing efforts.This article is the first of two intended to summarize some key arguments of—and encourage you to read—their book to better understand the how and why of effective marketing communication. That’s because it can help you better understand how the brain functions—what... [...]

Lux Narayan says, “As marketing technologies, channels, and platforms evolve, the skill sets of digital marketing professionals must evolve as well if businesses are to be able to successfully execute digital marketing strategies in 2017.Does your marketing team have the most important skills it needs for continued success and enhanced efforts?To identify potential talent gaps you’ll need to hire for, check out the following top 5 digital marketing skills.1. Data AnalysisArguably the most important skill in digital marketing in 2017 and beyond is data analysis.Thanks to the growing... [...]

Lux Narayan says, “As with most undertakings, before you begin writing or otherwise creating content, you should ask yourself some stock questions: why, what, when, and where—the 4Ws of content creation.And because creating marketing content is as much science as it is art, the most powerful weapon you have at your disposal is data.So, before you start working on your next piece of content, consider the 4Ws. Also keep in mind how you can use data to resolve the concerns you should be addressing with each question.1. Why write/create contentIn marketing, visibility is key. After you... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Instagram posts that include emojis receive 17% more likes and comments than posts that do not include emojis, according to recent research from quintly.The report was based on data from 6.2 million Instagram posts by 20,000 profiles (brands and individual users) in 2016.Posts that include at least one emoji have an average interaction rate (an index score of likes/comments standardized by total Instagram posts and followers) of 2.07.Posts that do not include at least one emoji have an average interaction rate of 1.77.More than half (56%) of the accounts examined use... [...]