Laura Forer says, “We know marketing automation has grown in importance, and there are plenty of resources to explain how it can help organizations. But what goes on behind the scenes? And what will it cost your organization?Although new technologies may have set costs, the price of adding people to your team will fluctuate depending on each team member’s experience and location.An infographic by LeadMD looks at the roles involved in creating a marketing automation team—the titles, the responsibilities, and the costs.The infographic outlines the skills needed in each of the roles... [...]

Laura Forer says, “If you’re not an expert in social media advertising, the process can feel like you’re on another planet.Luckily, marketing automation software company Marketo has produced an infographic that explains the various ways you can use advertising on some of the main social media platforms.For example, 53% of marketers use YouTube in marketing efforts, and there are more 18-49-year-olds on YouTube mobile than any cable network in the US, the infographic states. But, before committing to it, you need to understand your own brand and your audience, the infographic... [...]

Jennifer Smoldt says, “We used to call it IT, now it’s also Marketing. We used to call it Finance, now it’s also Marketing. We used to call it Product, now it’s also Marketing.It used to be about marcom, now it’s about martech.You get where I’m going with this: Marketing isn’t just marketing anymore; it’s an integral part of everything else in organizations. And, more and more, Marketing’s place is at the strategic helm, and marketing technology is a driving business force.Today, staying relevant in a martech world affects everyone: It doesn’t... [...]

Laura Forer says, “Snapchat has more than 150 million users, but many marketers don’t yet know how to tap into its audience.Delmondo, a video analytics software platform and creative studio, has put together an infographic containing facts about Snapchat as well as tips on how to use its marketing and advertising features.“Snapchat is ideal for real-time social media marketing because it can give the audience direct access to live events,” the infographic states.Snapchat’s most expensive offering is Discover ads, starting at over $40,000, according to the infographic.But... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Which online ad creative elements capture consumers’ attention? What types of online ad formats are most seen by visitors to content websites?To find out, Australia’s Fairfax Media conducted an eye-tracking study with 100 consumers who visit content sites regularly. Half of them were shown the desktop version of the Sydney Morning Herald, and the other half were shown the mobile version.The researchers presented a range of different advertisements on the website pages and tracked eye movement/gaze.Participants also engaged in an ad-recall exercise as well... [...]

Ulrik Bo Larsen says, “Today, the customer journey is no longer happening merely on your e-commerce website or in your physical store. Rather, it is largely made up of instances of knowledge-sharing and conversations that are happening outside of your brand’s owned channels.And that’s true of almost every stage of the customer journey—from research, to discovery, to consideration, to brand advocacy.As social media becomes increasingly important to both ensuring a memorable customer experience and mapping the customer journey, marketers are using social listening to help formulate... [...]

Bruce McKenzie says, “Business owners love the idea of making all customers loyal customers. But, in reality, fostering true customer retention is about as easy as Donald Trump giving a soft-spoken speech: You think it’s probably within the realm of possibility, but it’s unlikely.The importance of customer retention vs. customer acquisition can’t be overstated. Most companies tend to focus on new customer acquisition, when in reality the cost of retaining customers is a mere fifth of that which it costs to obtain new customers. And, increasing customer loyalty by just 5%... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Ranking among the top Google search results is increasingly driven by dynamic factors, such as content relevance and user intent, rather than static factors, such as the number of keywords and links on a webpage, according to recent research from Searchmetrics.The annual Searchmetrics ranking factors report was based on an analysis conducted in 2016 of Google search results for 10,000 keywords. The researchers examined which webpages were presented in the top 10 mobile and desktop results for each keyword and then determined which factors correlated to high rankings.The... [...]

James Thomas says, “Each year, the marketing community confronts a few dominant themes. A couple of years ago, predictive analytics was all the rage. If you ask any B2B marketer what trends dominated in 2016, you’d likely hear “ABM,” “one-to-one relationships,” or “managing the customer journey”; marketers were investing more in an end-to-end experience, from awareness to advocacy.However, if you were to ask any of those marketers to put aside trends and instead identify what their continual focus has been, year after year, you would hear, overwhelmingly,... [...]

Laura Forer says, “Even if you’re already familiar with how to optimize your website for local search today, you probably know that the state of local SEO is always changing.Between updating your Google My Business page, understanding schema markup, and setting up the right monitoring tools on your own website, keeping up with local SEO can be a bear, an infographic from On Blast Blog points out.But fear not: The infographic also provide tips on how to succeed with local SEO now and prepares you for some possible upcoming changes.For example, although customer reviews are already... [...]