Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®

Alexis Hall

How to Avoid Marketing Automation Disaster: 6 Essential Pre-Planning Steps

Alexis Hall
Alexis Hall
Content Marketing

Marketing-Automation-Strategy

As sales cycles increase and buyers become more informed, marketing automation is on the tip of the tongue of almost every marketer you talk to today. In fact, research has found that 79% of top-performing companies have been using marketing automation for more than 2 years.

Over the past five years, I’ve consulted with clients as marketing automation conversations evolved from “what’s that” to “someday” through to the vendor selection, planning, implementation and measurement of a system. Interestingly, 78% of successful marketers cite marketing automation systems as most responsible for improving revenue contribution, but getting from the “someday” to the “planning” can be daunting.


How to Avoid Marketing Automation Disaster: 6 Essential Pre-Planning Steps

4 Steps Marketers Can Take Towards Increasing Their Digital Marketing Budget

Marketing Budget

Raise your hand if you’ve ever encountered a situation like the one described below:

It’s time again for your annual marketing budget meeting. You’re confident that what you’ve put together is going to knock the leadership team’s socks off.

You begin rocking through your amazing slide deck, chock full of powerful data points such as the number of Facebook Likes and banner ad clicks. Everything seems to be going great, and you know that this is the year you’ve finally proven the value of digital marketing and will win more budget. This means more budget to create additional content, place more ads and maybe even hire a great agency to help augment internal marketing efforts.

“Sure.” your CEO says, “That all looks great, but what are we going to get out of it?”


4 Steps Marketers Can Take Towards Increasing Their Digital Marketing Budget

Good Content Vs. Good Enough Content: A Fight for Sore Eyes with Ann Handley

Ann Handley Authority Rainmaker 2015

“Do you have any mustard?”

“Give me the mustard.”

“Pardon me: Do you have any Grey Poupon?”

These three statements mean the same thing, but each is a unique way of asking for the desired item. Often, it’s not what you say, but how you say it.

In her session at Authority Rainmaker 2015, Ann Handley shared the belief that brand voice is key to creating good content marketing that will set you apart.

There is this idea that as quantity of content increases, quality takes a nose dive. So how do you maintain or increase quality of content while increasing quantity?

It starts with being really good at the basics, like brand voice.

Not More Content…Ridiculously Better Content


Good Content Vs. Good Enough Content: A Fight for Sore Eyes with Ann Handley

Stand Out or Don’t Bother: Sally Hogshead on Harnessing Your Fascination Advantage

Sally Hogshead Keynote

Why is Jägermeister the bestselling liquor brand that no one likes?

Because it’s toxic taste is what sets it apart from all the other liquor choices behind the bar. The worst it tastes, the more people talk about it. That creates a unique experience that people seek out.

This illustrates what Sally Hogshead suggested in her opening keynote at Authority Rainmaker – different is better than better. Sally is a best selling author, keynote speaker and marketer who has consulted for brands ranging from BMW to Target.

Sally says that the uniqueness of a brand is what can be translated into their competitive advantage. When you are able to put that competitive advantage into words, it translates into something people will evangelize and purchase.


Stand Out or Don’t Bother: Sally Hogshead on Harnessing Your Fascination Advantage

How to Create a Remarkable Content Experience with Podcasting

Jerod Morris - Authority Rainmaker 2015

Podcasting is one of the most intimate content marketing experiences because we take podcasts with us during our daily rituals. A podcast is not words on the page, it is the human voice in your ear while you are brushing your teeth, out for a morning jog or driving home from work.

Podcasts numbers have been growing steadily for years.  As smartphone ownership explodes, internet connectivity increases and the consumers’ desire to consume niche content on demand grows, podcasting becomes more popular.

The average podcast is about 35 minutes. Compared to the average length of a user engagement with a blog post, Tweet or even white paper – 35 minutes presents a tremendous opportunity.  Combined with the particular intimacy of the medium, the podcast has the ability to create a deep and lasting impression of your brand with your prospect.


How to Create a Remarkable Content Experience with Podcasting

3 Ways to Create a Lasting Customer Relationship Online

Pamela Wilson - Authority Rainmaker 2015

A warm handshake, an inviting smile and a shared joke. These types of in-person interactions create a personal connection that builds trust. As more and more business today is conducted on the internet, brands are challenged to create a warm customer experience online which is crucial to build the trust required for transaction.

In this post, we cover three basic tactics which build a warm experience in person and how that translates to the online experience as told by Copyblogger’s Pamela Wilson at Authority Rainmaker 2015.

3 Ways to Create a Warm Customer Experience in Person

  1. The Introduction – A warm introduction is the first step in building trust with a prospect. Introducing yourself can make your prospect more open to hearing from you and more likely to listen.

3 Ways to Create a Lasting Customer Relationship Online

5 Tips for Digital Marketing Newbies to Survive and Thrive

Alexis Hall
Alexis Hall
Digital Marketing

Digital_Marketing_Newbie_Tips

Nearly 5 years ago, I walked into the TopRank Online Marketing offices eager to start my first day. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was sure that the team could all tell that I was a total digital marketing newbie.

Those first 8 hours were both exhilarating and overwhelming. Lingo that I had never heard of was flying fast around me (what did a Panda have to do with marketing and what was a MQL?). I felt both intimidated and impressed by the smarts, expertise and experience of those around me. And I remember thinking, would this ever be me?

Since then, TopRank Marketing has changed and grown in many ways, just like I have. In fact, TopRank has doubled in size in the past year and will soon be moving to a larger office space.


5 Tips for Digital Marketing Newbies to Survive and Thrive

How to Dominate Search Results With Your Brand – Brian Clark Tells All

Brian Clark - copybloggerIf you create content and no one can find it, then what is the point?

On TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog we know that SEO is a crucial step in the amplification of content.  As Lee likes to say, “Content isn’t really great until someone finds, consumes and acts on it.”  Yet, I know from working with clients ranging from enterprise to small business, SEO is not always part of the content development process.

Whether it’s a lack of SEO know-how or a fear of old fashioned ideas like keyword stuffing, Brian Clark, CEO of Copyblogger Media aimed to break down those walls and show online marketers how to dominate search results with content.


How to Dominate Search Results With Your Brand – Brian Clark Tells All

Andrew Davis Offers 5 Secrets to Bigger, Better Marketing Results with Less Content

Andrew DavisInformation Overload:

17 new web page are published every second.

2 million blog posts are published everyday.

As marketers and content producers, we are indeed, contributing to the information overload of the consumer.  Digital marketers spend a huge amount of time churning out and branding content. However, we don’t spend nearly enough time thinking of creating a content brand.

Yes, there is a difference between branded content, and a content brand. Branded content is created for a company. It typically takes a corporate-centric view of the world and hopes consumers embrace the brand.


Andrew Davis Offers 5 Secrets to Bigger, Better Marketing Results with Less Content

Jay Baer’s Youtility – Content So Useful People Will Pay for It

Content Marketing WorldIt sure is hot in Cleveland! On a humid morning in Cleveland, OH over 1,700 people gather in the beautiful Cleveland Convention Center to learn the secrets behind the best content marketing leaders in the industry.

Content Marketing World kicks off with a keynote from Jay Baer (@jaybaer).  Today, Jay is speaking all about content utility or Youtility.

More so than ever before, businesses face competition from more than just other businesses that do what they do. They are also competing on your Twitter feed, Facebook stream and inbox with every other business, acquaintance, friend and family member jamming  your news feed with shoes sales, baby pictures and cat videos.


Jay Baer’s Youtility – Content So Useful People Will Pay for It

3 Ways to Use Multi-Channel Analytics Reporting for Better Content Marketing

multi-channel marketing analyticsThe average consumer goes through more than five touch points with an ecommerce business before they convert. This number is trending upward, as companies and customers continue to interact across a greater number of platforms. B2B companies, with often greater price points and a longer buying cycle, may find the number of interactions with prospects prior to conversion even higher.

Good content marketers know that integrated, consistent messaging is critical across multiple digital platforms.  It allows us to connect with our customers how – and when – they expect to connect with us.

With so many touch points between first contact and conversion, how are companies able to break through all of the data within analytics? We need to determine not only which channels are most effective, but also how to customize marketing activities to the behavior and preferences of the audience in that channel, at that point in their decision.


3 Ways to Use Multi-Channel Analytics Reporting for Better Content Marketing

An Interactive Marketing Evening on the Future of Content: Tips, Team Building & Upcoming Trends

The Future of Content - Lee Odden, MIMAOn Wednesday evening in downtown Minneapolis, marketers gathered to hear the answer to a burning question: #whatthefoc? (AKA what is the future of content?)

The Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) hosted the sold-out Future of Content event, with speaker Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing CEO and the author of Optimize, aiming to point attendees in the right direction.

Marketers know content is important; in fact, 78% of CMOs think custom media represents the future of marketing. How has content changed how we view marketing today and more importantly, how can we prepare for the future? These highlights from The Future of Content with Lee Odden should shed some light on the issue:

Ask yourself 3 questions about your existing content strategy.

Odden instructed the audience to ask themselves three questions about their business:


An Interactive Marketing Evening on the Future of Content: Tips, Team Building & Upcoming Trends