Online Marketing

Online marketing encompasses a broad range of strategies and tactics, but the overall goal remains the same, attracting new business, engaging with customers and converting more leads to sales. With nearly three billion Internet users, online marketing is the key to attracting new eyes, spreading brand awareness and growing your business online.

Named a top Marketing Blog by Advertising Age, the experts at TopRank Marketing are here to teach you how to become an online marketing master!

Browse our online marketing news and articles to find, tips, guidelines, and current best practices.

The Next Level of Influence: 30 Essential Influencer Marketing Statistics

Joshua Nite
Online Marketing

Pop Quiz: When influencer marketing is done right, who wins?

a) Your brand
b) The influencers
c) Your audience
d) All of the above

In case you missed the last few classes, the answer is D. In the ideal influencer marketing engagement, your brand gets a boost in credibility, authority, and exposure to a new audience. The influencer gets a cool content asset to promote, association with other thought leaders, and is able to grow their influence in their niche. And the audience gets awesome content neither the influencer nor the brand could have produced on their own.

Getting to that “everyone wins” stage requires strategic planning and execution, though. You can’t just throw money at someone with a big Instagram following and expect results.

The Next Level of Influence: 30 Essential Influencer Marketing Statistics

Webinars That Wow: 5 Tips for Create Engaging Webinars #MPB2B

Alexis Hall
Marketing PR Conferences, MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Online Marketing

Think about it. Do you enjoy being marketed to?

As marketers, we love our jobs; we love marketing. But like anyone else, it’s safe to say that we don’t enjoy receiving cold pitch emails, or downloading gated white papers, or spotting that “Request a Demo” ad for the 10th time.

As Mark Bornstein, Vice President of Content Marketing at ON24, said during his Keys to Engagement Driven Webinars session at MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum 2018, we’ve a reached a tipping point.

While the channels have changed, marketers are still very much relying on passive tactics that simply don’t engage. Modern audiences want to learn, but they also want to be inspired. And our professional expectations are very much evolving alongside our personal lives. With the Netflix model, we can choose to consume the content we want, when we want to.

Webinars That Wow: 5 Tips for Create Engaging Webinars #MPB2B

7 Must-See #MPB2B Sessions Plus Exclusive Insights From Top B2B Marketing Speakers

Ashley Zeckman
Influencer Marketing, MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Online Marketing

The air is crisp and the leaves have fallen which means it’s time for one of my favorite Fall events: MarketingProfs B2B Forum.

Each year, B2B marketers from around the globe gather for this epic event. And this year, the forum is moving to San Francisco (we’ll miss you Boston) for the very first time.

At the conference, TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden will be guiding an expert panel of B2B influencer marketers who will dig into what it REALLY takes to create and scale a successful program. Shortly after, I will be taking the stage to share how you can identify influencers and tap into their superpowers with my Stranger Things themed presentation. We’d love to see you at both sessions if you can make it!

7 Must-See #MPB2B Sessions Plus Exclusive Insights From Top B2B Marketing Speakers

Top Brand Personalization Secrets From Scott Monty at #Pubcon 2018

Lane Ellis
Online Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy, Pubcon

Scott Monty Speaking at Pubcon Photo by Lane R. Ellis
Scott Monty brought his nuanced and precisely-paced neoclassical style of marketing to Pubcon Pro Las Vegas 2018, leading off with a Longfellow poem — a refreshing non-technical respite from the buzzwords otherwise pouring forth from most presenters at the tech-savvy conference, as he delivered a mainstage address about social media, trust, and personalization.

Scott, who was a classics major, began by noting that much of human nature is constant all around the world, with people holding the same shared motivations, including many great human truths behind what we do that still apply today — perhaps more than ever.

We’re faced with a huge trust deficit, however, as confidence among us in general has plummeted, which Scott sees as a primary gap to be filled.

Top Brand Personalization Secrets From Scott Monty at #Pubcon 2018

Words of Wisdom: Lee Odden’s Top 9 Insights on How to Succeed at Influencer Marketing 2.0

Caitlin Burgess
Influencer Marketing, Online Marketing

Today’s content marketing space is a tumultuous one. Content shock, ever-changing search engine algorithms, social media’s midlife crisis, growing consumer distrust in brand messaging—marketers are constantly challenged to adapt and scale their strategies to simply bolster visibility, nevermind reach objectives and prove ROI.

Emerging from the noisy marketing mix is a promising strategic marketing star that can capture the attention of hard to reach buyers, improve audience engagement, bring insightful perspectives to the forefront, and build brand trust and credibility.

Of course, I’m talking about influencer marketing.

Spokespeople, brand advocates, experts—brands have been tapping “influential” people as marketing and advertising partners for a century. And, just as it’s always been, in the modern era of influencer marketing, some love it, some hate it, and plenty of people question whether it “actually works.”

Words of Wisdom: Lee Odden’s Top 9 Insights on How to Succeed at Influencer Marketing 2.0

Content Marketing World 2018: What We’re Most Excited About

Anne Leuman
Content Marketing, Content Marketing World, Online Marketing

Every year, close to 4,000 marketers from across the globe make a pilgrimage to Cleveland, OH for the annual Content Marketing World extravaganza — the largest content marketing conference in the world. And this year will be no different.

We’ve been attending CMWorld since the inaugural event back in 2011 — and we still get butterflies each and every year. The week’s schedule is filled to the brim with sessions and workshops from the industry’s leading marketers and experts, making it impossible not to look forward to what the conference has in store.

But with so many great speakers and a packed schedule, which sessions are a must-see? As CMWorld veterans, we want to help you plan ahead and get a front-row seat to the sessions that help you reach your marketing goals. Check out our list of can’t-miss sessions and things we’re excited for down below.

Content Marketing World 2018: What We’re Most Excited About

The Latest Evolution of Facebook: The Marketing Low-Down on 5 Recent Changes

Anne Leuman
Facebook, Online Marketing

From the Russian ad debacle to the Cambridge Analytica scandal to suffering a major stock price blow just a few short weeks ago, Facebook has been making less-than-stellar headlines the past few months. Users are concerned about their privacy and how their data is being used—and brands and marketers are wondering whether the platform will continue to be a viable advertising and engagement platform.

In an attempt to rebuild trust, ensure better data protection and transparency, the social network is doubling down, again, on their commitment to improving the user experience and creating a fun, respectful community.

The Latest Evolution of Facebook: The Marketing Low-Down on 5 Recent Changes

A Tasty, Strategic Addition to the Content Marketing Table: ‘Repurposed Content Cobbler’

Caitlin Burgess
Online Marketing

If you didn’t know, tomorrow, May 17, is home to a very special holiday: National Cherry Cobbler Day.

I know, I know—every day seems to be home to some strange, random, or innocuous holiday these days, but this one has a special place in my heart.

via GIPHY

While my palate generally prefers more savory options, fruit cobbler is my jam. (Does that count as a pun? No? OK.) And as it turns out, not only is cobbler of all varieties deliciously satisfying to eat—but it also serves up a tasty slice of content marketing inspiration.

You see, cobbler was an innovation in both sweet and savory cooking, originating in the British American colonies. Settlers didn’t have access to suitable ingredients or equipment to make their traditional puddings and pies, so using a little creativity with what they did have, the cobbler was born.

A Tasty, Strategic Addition to the Content Marketing Table: ‘Repurposed Content Cobbler’

Social Media Marketing Benchmarks: What Works & Where to Focus

Joshua Nite
Facebook, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Advertising, Twitter

Social media marketers, how are you feeling? Take a minute to breathe if you need to. The last few months have been a wild ride. Fatigue, vertigo, and even a little nausea are perfectly understandable.

As I said before, social media isn’t dying, but it is changing. Marketers are used to quick changes, naturally, but it’s important to be sure we’re making the right changes. We should approach evolving our social media with the same data-driven, strategic rigor that applies to everything else we do.

The good folks at Rival IQ recently published their 2018 Social Media Benchmarking Report. The data points to some clear directions for the next evolution of social media marketing.

Here are some of the key data points – and, more importantly, what you should do about them.

Social Media Marketing Benchmarks: What Works & Where to Focus

Digital Marketing News: Top Ads 2017, Marketing Jobs 2018, Google Mobile First

Lee Odden
Marketing Industry News, Online Marketing

The 10 Most Watched Ads on YouTube in 2017 – This impressive collection of work includes two video ads that exceeded 100 million views. Which was your favorite? Natalie Portman for Miss Dior or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson” for Apple? AdWeek

B2B Tech Buyers More Motivated by Reliability & Ease of Use Claims Than Price. A study by Lavidge of 400 B2B decision makers in the US reports that technology buyers prefer reliability (64) over low cost (49%) when justifying purchasing decisions. MarketingCharts

The 2018 Hiring Outlook for Marketing and Advertising Jobs. 46% of marketing and advertising executives say it is somewhat challenging to find skilled workers today; 7% say it is very challenging – MarketingProfs

Digital Marketing News: Top Ads 2017, Marketing Jobs 2018, Google Mobile First

Content Conversations: Content Marketing Predictions for 2018

Ashley Zeckman
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing

Last year around this time, we reached out to a series of content experts (many of which are included in this post), to ask them for their top content prediction for 2017. By and large, the explosion of video content was a top prediction and rang true this year.

We also received predictions related to the mistrust of news sources (#FakeNews anyone?), the need for restructure within marketing departments as content marketing roles become more defined and the necessity for a defined content marketing strategy.

And while each of these predictions were spot on (or very close to what we’ve experienced this year), some of them were very aspirational. This year, content marketers have been through alot. They’ve had to do even more with less, focus even more on marketing performance and try to navigate a very saturated marketplace.

Content Conversations: Content Marketing Predictions for 2018