content marketing Archives - Crackerjack Marketing

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email-marketing-strategy

Email Marketing: The Jason Bourne of Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy

For many years, we’ve been told that email marketing is dead—or, at the very least, on its way out. It makes one wonder who, exactly, is putting that message out there. Because nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we think there’s an email marketing resurgence!

In fact, an anonymous quote that one of my colleagues discovered captured email marketing’s place in the greater scope of marketing strategy: “Email marketing is like Jason Bourne. It will never die.”

If you’ve been receptive to the notion that email marketing should be dead, that it’s not an effective marketing tactic, there are plenty of facts to dispute it.

Death? Talk About an Email Marketing Resurgence
Read more

by Sylvia Anderson

AB Testing

Power of A/B Testing: Maximize Your Marketing Efforts

Content Marketing

A lot of people cringe at the word “test.” Whether it reminds you of your days of schooling when you simply weren’t prepared or a medical scan, tests typically aren’t people’s favorite thing to do.

Of course, tests are important. In marketing, testing allows us to understand what is working, or not working, and why. A common approach to this is A/B testing for marketing optimization.

What Is A/B Testing for Marketing, Exactly?

In simple terms, A/B testing is putting forth, to your audience, two different versions of something—whether it is a subject line, piece of content on your website, or even an entire marketing campaign. You might also test the time of day you deploy an email.

by Sylvia Anderson

email subject line best practices

Email Subject Line Best Practices

Content Marketing

If you’ve read any of my recent blog posts, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a big fan of analogies. When looking at your email marketing subject lines, and the best practices that make them great, I often think about it in this way…

Let’s say you’re a contractor who builds houses with the intention of then turning around and selling them. You’ve put so much effort into designing the layout of the structure, choosing the perfect elements (paint, flooring, cabinetry, etc.), creating a beautiful landscape, and getting everything in tip-top shape to put the home on the market.

You’re all set to have an open house, but your signage is confusing. Or inaccurate. Maybe your attempt to attract potential buyers is so blasé, they simply skip over your house and go on to the next.

So, let’s think about this in respect to email marketing. It’s important to do everything you can to invite your audience into your email. To “tour your home” so to speak. Otherwise, what’s the point?

by Sylvia Anderson

Better Writing for Content Marketing

Better Writing for Content Marketing

Content Marketing

Small and mid-market business owners wear a lot of hats. Besides the day-to-day of running a business, you are often tasked with the (perceived) burden of writing content for your website, email communications, ads, social media, and more.

“But, I’m not a writer!”

I’ve heard that sentiment more times than I can count. Even if you do have experience with the written word, taking on the content marketing responsibility can feel overwhelming.

Take a breath. I’m here to tell you that better writing for content marketing is just a few tweaks away. You might choose to incorporate all of these tips, or just a few. But, remember, however much you invest in your content marketing will be returned to you in kind.

by Sylvia Anderson

The Winning Content Formula

Content Marketing

Remember 9th grade chemistry? Trying to learn all those formulas and hoping an unfortunate experiment gone wrong might cancel the rest of class?

Well, that was my experience. I’m not “science-minded” by any stretch of the imagination.

But, I do understand that when things come together in the right combination, something magical can happen. Even the most basic, elemental components are capable of producing groundbreaking results.

In marketing, there are also the “basics.” For example, marketing channels: email, social media, your website, paid advertising. Another essential component is SEO.

by Sylvia Anderson

How User-Generated Content Can Tell Your Brand Story

Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing

Your brand story is so much more than a collection of facts about your business. It’s even much more than how you feel about your company and what makes it tick. It’s a unique, complex combination of the facts about your brand blended with the emotions your brand stimulates in its customers. Essentially, it’s a human-to-human representation of your business. Fans are already posting to Instagram and Facebook, why not empower them and harness their user-generated content for brand marketing?

by Crackerjack Marketing

Should-You-Fire-Your-Social-Media-Agency-

Should You Fire Your Social Media Agency?

Social Media Agency Matters

If you want to increase your brand’s awareness, engagement, and sales leads through social media, then get ready to roll up your sleeves. In a time where things are always changing, especially in the digital world, it can be hard to stay up-to-date with everything you need to know. Social media marketing requires countless hours of brainstorming, developing new strategies and tactics, testing, experimenting, and measuring results.

by Crackerjack Marketing

Creating a Blog Content Engine

Content Marketing

Recently, I had the honor of giving a presentation to some of the smartest people in social media. Hosted by the Social Media Association of Michigan, sponsored by Tech Town Detroit, I was asked to “cram everything I know about blogging into a one-hour presentation.”

Well, it’s pretty difficult to condense 12 years of experience into one hour. Knowing that these are savvy marketers, I thought presenting the tools and systems for keeping the content engine turning would be the most helpful since this can be a daunting task for even the most well-seasoned content marketers.

by Crackerjack Marketing

Why The Best Agency For You Might Not Be A Social Media Agency

Why The Best Agency For You Might Not Be A Social Media Agency

Content Marketing, Social Media Agency Matters

Do you know who Danny Kaye is?

I think I can be appropriately curmudgeonly in saying that most kids today don’t know who Danny Kaye, the great 20^th Century entertainer, is (was).

For those of you who are unaware, he was a huge star of his time, incredibly well-rounded, with a career that worked through stage, screen, television, records, and food. He died in 1987, after giving us the classic films such as “The Court Jester,” The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and “White Christmas,” as well as a variety show and a handful of special TV shows. Kaye was a classic comic, too, always pushing the envelope even in serious situations.

A huge part of Kaye’s appeal was his incredible well-roundedness. No matter the situation, he was able to bring something to it: a little soft-shoe, his lovely singing voice, his wide variety of foreign accents, or his in-depth knowledge of food (especially Asian cuisine).

Kaye was a real, old-fashioned entertainment jack of all trades.

by Stephanie Schwab

Role of Images in Content Marketing

What Makes Visuals So Crucial to Content Marketing Success?

Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy

There’s no denying that visual content has taken over our generation. With more than 3.7 billion internet users in the world and smartphone users expected to reach 2.32 billion by the end of 2017, from Snapchat to Facebook to Instagram, there is practically no end to our appetite for visual content.

by Archie Alibasa

How to Use YouTube for Content Marketing

How to Use YouTube for Content Marketing

Content Marketing

When you hear the phrase “content marketing,” chances are written text comes immediately to mind. However, blog posts and articles aren’t the only types of content you can use for content marketing. You can also create, publish and share your content in video format. YouTube provides a fairly easy-to-negotiate and definitely well-known platform for doing just that.

by Crackerjack Marketing

3 Ways to Deliver Successful Content

3 Ways to Deliver Successful Content

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the bridge between you and your target audience – it connects you to people you otherwise might never reach. The goal of your content is to get the audience so interested in your content that they can’t help but cross the bridge to your side. However, we all know that sometimes our content misses the mark and our audience isn’t interested for very long, or even at all! What’s keeping readers engaged? Your story is! What makes up your story? Your content!

by Lesley Lloyd

8 Simple Ways to Breathe New Life Into Your Content Marketing

8 Simple Ways to Breathe New Life Into Your Content Marketing

Content Marketing

8 Simple Ways to Breathe New Life Into Your Content Marketing was authored by Sharon Hurley Hall and Christina Strickland.

If you’ve been at content marketing for any length of time, you’ve discovered that it’s all too easy to become comfortable or even complacent. You know what you’re doing, you’re no longer a newbie, and things are running like clockwork, but are you doing all you can do? Could doing a bit more improve your results?

Yes, you are putting effort into producing compelling content, but there is always room for improvement. Why should you bother? Well, the bottom line is that even small improvements can prevent your audience from growing bored and losing interest while also providing your current followers with a reason to keep coming back for more. And you want new visitors, right? Taking the time to refresh and reinvigorate your content also encourages sharing and helps to draw new visitors in your direction.

by Crackerjack Marketing

Ways to Generate Blog Post Ideas

Surefire Ways to Generate Blog Post Ideas

Content Marketing

“Surefire Ways to Generate Blog Post Ideas” was co-authored by Stephanie Schwab and Christina Strickland.

Sometimes the hardest thing about having a blog is figuring out what to post on it each week. Maybe you started with a bank of grand ideas, but as you used them up, your blog started to feel, well, a lot less fresh. Perhaps you’ve struggled for ideas since the very beginning. The good news is you can stop liberally applying your forehead to your desk.

Here are some of the best ways to generate blog post ideas:

by Crackerjack Marketing

5 Ways to Use Google Analytics

5 Ways to Use Google Analytics

Content Marketing

You’ve probably heard plenty about the importance of tracking and monitoring in your online business. And while there are many tools designed to help you collect and analyze data about your online audience, Google Analytics is one of the most well-known.

Here are 5 ways you can use it in your business:

by Crackerjack Marketing

types of content marketing

7 Types of Content to Include in Your Strategy and Why {Part 1}

Content Marketing

When creating content, a good rule is to make it deep and wide. That’s why you have to think beyond the blog when developing your content strategy. Don’t get me wrong; blogging remains one of the most important ways to increase your influence and authority and to grow both trust and traffic, but why stop there? To get the full benefits of inbound marketing, you need to create shareable content.

So how do you determine what’s sharable? BuzzSumo is a tool that tracks what content performs best on your site or your competitor’s site. (It’s a powerful tool!) When I performed a recent search there, I found that the most shareworthy content included articles, infographics and video.

by Sharon Hurley Hall

What Brands Can Learn About Social Media From Game of Thrones

What Brands Can Learn About Social Media From Game of Thrones

Content Marketing, Social Media

Social media doesn’t just emulate life. In some ways, it emulates television too, especially good television like Game of Thrones. If you’re a fan, read on to learn what Game of Thrones has to teach those of us who work with brands who strive for social media success. Not a fan yet? There’s still plenty to learn here. Read up, avoid the spoiler (towards the end), and then start watching.

by Crackerjack Marketing

Content Marketing: 5 Goals for Your Business

Content Marketing: 5 Goals for Your Business

Content Marketing

When using content marketing for your business, you probably have one, very clear main goal in mind: making more sales. However, there are a bunch of other goals that help you achieve this one. Having a firm idea of what they are will help you gain perspective and make sure your content marketing efforts are moving in the right direction.

by Stephanie Schwab

4-Steps-to-Creating-a-Content-Marketing-Engine

4 Steps to Creating a Content Marketing Engine

Content Marketing

Once you’ve decided that inbound marketing is right for you, what’s next? As enthusiastic as you may feel, it’s only natural to puzzle over how you’re supposed to go from being an traditional, advertising-heavy company to a creator and distributor of content that attracts, engages, and moves your audience through the marketing funnel. The answer? You need to create a content marketing engine so that content creation becomes easy and seamless. Here’s how.

by Stephanie Schwab

Creating Content for Inbound Marketing

Creating Content for Inbound Marketing

Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing

Content is at the core of what inbound marketing is – it’s what attracts people to your brand, product or service, versus you needing to go out and find them. Think of content as the honey which attracts the flies!

Because it’s easier to start something new when you have a process, I offer you this method of creating content.

by Stephanie Schwab

How to Use Content Marketing for B2B Lead Generation

How to Use Content Marketing for B2B Lead Generation

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a primary lead generation tool. In fact, close to 70 percent of marketers use content marketing for lead generation. Why? It’s been proven over the years that it’s effective and beats out many other efforts at attracting leads. For example, studies demonstrate that many consumers are unimpressed with the plethora of ads they see each day, say “no” to telemarketing calls, and trash carefully crafted marketing messages sent through the postal mail. If 86 percent of potential customers skip ads, you need another way to reach them, and compelling content consistently performs in this area.

by Stephanie Schwab