B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

Nick Nelson

A Non-Agency Guy Reflects on His First Year at TopRank Marketing

TopRank Marketing Team

Liking where you work is not an optional luxury. At least it sure shouldn’t be.

Spending 40 hours of every week at a place you dread is a tough way to go through any stretch of life. I’ve been there and I’m sure many of you have as well — especially if you work in digital marketing, which can often be a fast-paced, demanding, and stressful field.

So last year, when I decided to pursue a new professional venture, finding the right culture fit was a huge priority for me. As I started exploring the possibility of joining the TopRank Marketing team, I had some reservations; not because of anything specific to the company, but because it’s an agency.


A Non-Agency Guy Reflects on His First Year at TopRank Marketing

In a World of Diminishing Trust, Data-Driven Marketers Can Turn the Tide

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Digital Marketing

Trusting Hands

My first encounter with marketing data malpractice came at a young age. I wasn’t old enough to understand what was going on at the time, but my dad loves to tell the story. As I’ve gotten older, the humor and timeless relevance of this anecdote have struck me more and more.

It was the mid-90s. We received a piece of mail at our house addressed to Lucy Nelson. It was a credit card offer from one of the industry’s heavy hitters. Nothing out of the norm so far, right?

Here’s the problem: Lucy was no longer alive.

And the bigger problem: Lucy was not a human. She was our dog.


In a World of Diminishing Trust, Data-Driven Marketers Can Turn the Tide

5 Productivity Hacks to Bring Content Creation From Failing to Flying High

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Content Marketing

Hot Air Balloons

Let’s just get this out of the way: I don’t know anything about hacking. I’ve never hacked anything in my life, unless you’re describing my golf swing, or you count using a Game Genie to cheat at Sega Genesis back in the early ‘90s.

In general, I find terms like “life hacks” and “growth hacking” to be… well, hackneyed.

But you know what? Blog titles that include “hacks” — or other strong and compelling descriptors such as “surprising” or “critical” — have a greater tendency to gain viral traction. Sometimes a simple data point like that can be the springboard you need to uncover inspiration.

Which brings us to the purpose of today’s post.


5 Productivity Hacks to Bring Content Creation From Failing to Flying High

Innovative Marketers Must Not Just Face, But Embrace, Their Fears

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Digital Marketing

How can you confidently pour your heart and soul into a non-traditional marketing strategy, knowing it could either take flight or fizzle?

It’s a dilemma that outside-the-box marketers must wrestle with if they truly wish to innovate and transform their industry. The idea of experimenting with methods that haven’t been substantiated through successful practice is both exhilarating and terrifying.

When facing tight budgets, client expectations, and ROI demands, fear of failure often wins out. But to quote Seth Godin: “In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”

The marketplace is now busier and more crowded than ever, so perhaps what we should really be afraid of is following the same established blueprint as everyone else.


Innovative Marketers Must Not Just Face, But Embrace, Their Fears

3 Unusual Content Marketing Approaches That Actually Work

My favorite brand on social media is Denny’s. The diner chain eschews pretty much every marketing convention, and that’s exactly why its efforts stand out so much.

The company’s online personality has been compared to that of a “chill teenager.” Its Twitter feed is filled with juvenile humor, rarely promoting the restaurant’s actual food in any serious way. I doubt many people find the image of a pancake in a shoe appetizing. The Denny’s Instagram page looks like some sort of bizarre avant garde art project.

None of this goes by the book. But Denny’s scores tremendous engagement on almost every social media channel, and has developed a cult following of sorts on the web thanks to its quirky content. This has proven to be a significant differentiator for their business.


3 Unusual Content Marketing Approaches That Actually Work

How B2B Brands are Getting Creative on Twitter with 280 Characters

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Social Media, Twitter

Could you imagine pulling an Oreo cookie out of its sleeve to find four chocolate wafers and two layers of cream filling? Or taking home a six-pack of beer and somehow discovering 12 bottles crammed inside?

It’d be discombobulating to say the least, and that’s how many of us marketers are feeling about Twitter’s recent decision to double its character limit to 280. The 140-character tweet felt as natural and familiar as 10 organic listings on a search engine results page. Now, the game has changed completely.

Bigger isn’t always better, of course. If brands simply take this opportunity to double down on their promotional messaging or stack hashtags, it’s not going to create a better experience for users. The real opportunity, as our Caitlin Burgess explained last month when previewing the Twitter character expansion, “is to discover whether or not you can use that extra space to deliver more value and resonance to your audience.”


How B2B Brands are Getting Creative on Twitter with 280 Characters

Digital Marketing Tools & Tactics: What the Trends Tell Us

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing Trends, Tools & TacticsAs the old saying goes: the more things change, the more they stay the same — a saying that certainly has resonance across the marketing industry right now.

As it stands, the top challenges many of us are facing in 2017 are, in essence, the same ones we’ve been battling for years. According to an expansive aggregation of digital marketing studies and reports from Getapp Lab, the industry’s top pain points include: lack of time, knowledge, and resources; difficulty converting leads into customers; and diminishing reach in an increasingly crowded digital environment.

The analysis offers a widescreen view of the current landscape for businesses, highlighting tactics that are leading the way, solutions being embraced to overcome prevalent hurdles, and emerging technologies that hint at the direction of the marketing industry for startups and enterprises alike.


Digital Marketing Tools & Tactics: What the Trends Tell Us

How to Use Audio to Engage Customers in a Connected World

Have you ever heard a song in the morning, only to have it stubbornly stick in your head all day long, even though you don’t care for it?

Of course you have. It happens to all of us, and there’s a clear explanation for it.

“People remember things via audio signal better, longer, and stronger than when they see visually,” said Gabe Tartaglia in his presentation at Digital Summit Minneapolis: Engaging in a Connected World with the Power of Audio.

The field of neuroscience is increasingly measuring and shedding light on this phenomenon. Today’s marketer needs to be paying attention.

The Screenless Revolution

In his role as Vice President of National Vertical Sales for Pandora, Tartaglia has an inherent interest in this dynamic. And here’s why he believes it matter to all of us: “We are entering the age of voice.”


How to Use Audio to Engage Customers in a Connected World

Digital Marketing News: VR is Growing, AI is Watching & 3 Billion are on Social Media

Global Social Media User Base Reaches 3 Billion
A new report compiled by HootSuite and We Are Social found that the total number of social media users has now exceeded 3 billion, accounting for about 40 percent of the global population. Truly an incredible number, and one that speaks to the contemporary ubiquity of these networks. Mashable

AI is Analyzing You on Social Media for Marketing Research
With so many people using social media, there are no shortage of habits and behaviors to monitor and aggregate. AI marketing solutions company Ayzenberg is using machine-learning algorithms to analyze social speech and create actionable data for segmenting and profiling customers. The Next Web


Digital Marketing News: VR is Growing, AI is Watching & 3 Billion are on Social Media

A Marketer’s Guide to Minneapolis: Gearing Up for #DSMPLS + Exclusive Event Invite

Next week, Digital Summit will arrive in Minneapolis, drawing in distinguished speakers and attendees from far and wide while placing our hometown at the center of the marketing world for a few days.

Whether you’re coming into town to join the festivities, or simply curious to learn more about the Twin Cities and why TopRank Marketing is proud to be planted here, let this post serve as your guide to the Mini Apple and beyond.

More Than Meets the Eye

If you’ve seen the movie Fargo or other representations in pop culture, you might be led to believe we Minnesotans are a bunch of hot-dish devouring, “OHHH-kay den” saying, lutefisk loving northerners.


A Marketer’s Guide to Minneapolis: Gearing Up for #DSMPLS + Exclusive Event Invite

4 Marketing Lessons I Learned from Building a Bustling Baseball Fan Community

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Content Marketing

[Editor’s Note: Please join me in welcoming another new author to TopRankBlog.com, Nick Nelson. Nick is a Content Strategist that has been with the TopRank Marketing team for a few months and spends his time creating great content for some of our enterprise B2B clients. Welcome Nick!]

If you build it, they will come.

Ah, if only it were that simple. But as any business proprietor knows, it is not. Even if you offer a great product or service, attracting customers takes time and effort. It requires creativity, dedication, and tenacity. That is where marketing comes in.


4 Marketing Lessons I Learned from Building a Bustling Baseball Fan Community

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