Interactive Marketing Archives - Online Marketing Blog

Interactive Content Marketing: Why B2B Marketers Should Take Their Content from Boring to Bold

Caitlin Burgess on Sep 20th, 2018 Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing

Show of hands, B2B marketers: How many of you know which Hogwarts house you belong in? Or which Disney princess best represents your personality and relationship ambitions?

via GIPHY

Don’t be shy. I’m a Gryffindor wizard through and through—and apparently, I’m more of a Jasmine than an Ariel. And I know all this thanks to the rise of interactive content.

From quirky quizzes to ROI calculators to guided eBooks, interactive content is a rising content marketing star. BuzzFeed is perhaps the most prolific example, creating dozens of quizzes each week that are making their way into social feeds and search results. (And almost all users reportedly finish them).

But why should B2B marketers consider adding interactive content to their mix?

Interactive Content Marketing: Why B2B Marketers Should Take Their Content from Boring to Bold

5 Cool Ways to Make Marketing Magic with Interactive Content

On the occasion of the new trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I was thinking about the fantastical wizarding world of Harry Potter. Who wouldn’t want to live in a world with magical items like pictures that move, newspapers that automatically update themselves, portraits that speak?

Then it hit me: My smartphone can show moving pictures and auto-updated news, and it doesn’t have to be delivered by owl. AND it’s a lot more compact than the average Daily Prophet issue. Sure, we can’t play proper Quidditch yet—someone get Elon Musk on flying broomstick development—but as far as interactive content goes, Muggles have got it on lock.

5 Cool Ways to Make Marketing Magic with Interactive Content

Mobile Content Marketing With Apps: Pros, Cons, Examples and Best Practices

Nicolette Beard Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Online Marketing

Mobile Apps Early adopters of mobile technology in their digital marketing mix have been experiencing great results by providing convenient methods for customers and prospects to find, consume and act on brand information. Mobile commerce success is here too: According to IBM, 25.8% of total online sales for Thanksgiving, and 21.8% for Black Friday were via mobile.

As companies discover innovative uses of mobile technology for marketing and communications, they can help differentiate their services, reinforce corporate culture, and build long-term customer loyalty.

With growing demand as a content delivery and customer experience channel, mobile applications represent a substantial digital and content marketing opportunity for brands. Mobile is now 28% of all web traffic and the smart money is on those companies and organizations that can attract, engage and convert through the creative content opportunities mobile apps provide.

Mobile Content Marketing With Apps: Pros, Cons, Examples and Best Practices

Content Marketing with Interactive Tools: Pros, Cons, Examples & Best Practices

Nicolette Beard Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Online Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy, Visual Marketing

At first glance, interactive online tools may not seem like a content marketing tactic. But, when you consider their educational and entertainment value, interactive tools offer exactly the kind of ‘stickiness’ marketers and brands are looking for.

From the early days of collaborative online learning to sophisticated interactive tools that allow consumers to keep track of their calorie count and fitness level, today, numerous institutions, governments, news organizations and brands have incorporated interactive tools on their websites to further educate and engage their customers and constituents.

Why incorporate interactive tools as part of your content marketing mix? Because education is such a powerful and important fundamental to improving the customer experience. The ability to invest in effort and receive output contributes to a customer experience that can differentiate your brand. At the same time, useful interactive tools satisfy a need for your target audience. Ultimately, tools that enable user interaction and feedback can drive sales, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Content Marketing with Interactive Tools: Pros, Cons, Examples & Best Practices

List of Minnesota Marketing & PR Associations, Organizations, & Groups

Lee Odden Interactive Marketing, Marketing & PR Industry, Online Marketing

Minnesota Marketing Associations Sometimes it feels like I spend more time on the road than in Minnesota, but the Twin Cities has a fine digital marketing community that includes advertising, direct marketing, interactive, B2B, search, PR and communications groups that serve the needs of marketing and communications professionals in the region.

Networking locally can be incredibly important if you’re new to the area, want to connect with other professionals in your field or are in search of professional development and job opportunities. Below are a list of Minnesota (primarily Minneapolis & St. Paul) marketing and communications organizations that offer a range of opportunities for networking, education and industry involvement.

List of Minnesota Marketing & PR Associations, Organizations, & Groups

A-to-Z Internet Marketing News: Google Redesign, Cyber Monday, Speed Linking, Self Serve Twitter Ads, Damn Humans

Ashley Zeckman Interactive Marketing, Marketing Industry News, Online Marketing

[Note: If you click on the “more” tab in the presentation above and select “autoplay” it will eliminate the need for clicking through the entire presentation]

As I’m sure you’ve noticed we’re trying something a little different this week. Lee tasked me with creating a weekly news round up to share on the TopRank Blog. Who doesn’t love news? I thought this would be a good opportunity to share with our readers some information that has been released this week that we think is newsworthy. I also convinced Lee to let me try something a little different which is why there is a Prezi presentation which provides highlights of the overviews and links to articles listed below. I’m curious to know what you think of both the means of communicating the news as well as the articles themselves. Happy reading (and watching).

A-to-Z Internet Marketing News: Google Redesign, Cyber Monday, Speed Linking, Self Serve Twitter Ads, Damn Humans

5 Tips For More Effective B2C Internet Marketing

Ashley Zeckman B2C Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Marketing, Social Media

Is your internet marketing strategy putting customers to sleep?

Compared to B2B companies, businesses that serve consumer audiences are typically focused on a much shorter sales cycle due to the cost and nature of the purchase. They are searching for a one stop sale. B2C companies typically target a single decision maker or customer segment instead of multiple decision makers and influencers. As a result, the approach and internet marketing tactics mix needs to be more relevant to the consumer vs. the business buying experience.

The Holiday season gives B2C marketers plenty of reasons to improve their focus on best practices in internet marketing. Competition is tough for online buyers, so what should B2C marketers keep in mind with their Internet marketing strategy? Here are 5 essential tips for B2C marketers to get more sales online:

5 Tips For More Effective B2C Internet Marketing

7 Principles for User Generated Content: Michael DeHaven SES Chicago 2011

Ashley Zeckman Content Marketing, Google, Interactive Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies, Search Engines

Michael DeHaven’s presentation at SES Chicago on “User Generated SEO” started with some actual user generated content from the audience. Before the session DeHaven gave 5 volunteers a bite sized Ghirardelli chocolate bar. In exchange for the treat he asked that each of the volunteers write a review of the chocolate and then share it with the rest of the audience.

What Was the Response?
The chocolate was called everything from waxy, to too sweet, messy, and melt in your mouth goodness. In contrast the packaging created by the Ghirardelli marketers was quite different, “take time to slow down and feel yourself melt with each bite.” As you can see the professional marketers took a much different approach than the consumers.

7 Principles for User Generated Content: Michael DeHaven SES Chicago 2011

ad:tech New York Search Marketing Masters

Lee Odden adtech, Interactive Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO

As part of my November cross country efforts to share search, social media and content marketing insights, I’ve switched from BlogWorld Los Angeles last week to ad:tech New York this week. I’m really looking forward to a great group of Search Marketing sessions at one of the the largest Interactive Marketing conferences in the world. In the past year I’ve been to London, San Francisco, Barcelona and many other great cities (even Cleveland!) but New York is by far one of my favorite places for a conference.

Earlier this year the amazing Melanie Mitchell, SVP of Search at Digitas, was serving as a conference Marketing Master for the Search Engine Marketing track and she asked me to speak at my first ad:tech in San Francisco. When I was asked to perform those same SEM track programming duties for the ad:tech New York show, I had to say yes!

ad:tech New York Search Marketing Masters

SES San Francisco Keynote Interview: Susan Bratton on Persuasion Marketing

Lee Odden Interactive Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences, Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies

SES San Francisco is coming up fast and when I discovered that Susan Bratton was giving the opening keynote presentation and on a topic that I have been interested in for years, I wanted to make sure we did a pre-conference interview. For backstory, I met Susan the first time at an ad:tech conference in Chicago while she was the conference chair. That was the same conference where I first met Frank Gruber and David Berkowitz so it was a great networking experience. Since then Susan and I have crossed paths a number of times at events like SXSW and online.