Lee Odden

Help Us Celebrate 15 Years of Blogging – TopRank Marketing Blog

Lee Odden on Dec 28th, 2018     Blogging Strategy, TopRank Agency News

15 years of marketing blogging

I think it’s safe to say that there are not many marketing blogs that have hit the 15 year mark.

However, I am happy to say that the class of 2003 includes an impressive cohort of marketing blogs including several that have become industry standards like Search Engine Roundtable by Barry Schwartz and Search Engine Journal founded by Loren Baker.

While TopRank’s Online Marketing blog started with a focus on search marketing, we’ve grown and evolved over the past 15 years just like the marketing industry has. Plus, instead of me writing 3-5 posts a week myself (over 2,400 total), I now have a great team that does most of the hard work.


Help Us Celebrate 15 Years of Blogging – TopRank Marketing Blog
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Google Lens & Visual Search Updates, Social ROI Study, & App Ad Market Growth

Lane Ellis on Dec 28th, 2018     Online Marketing News

2018 December 28 Instagram Chart

Over 70 Percent of Millennials on Twitter Have Commented on Companies’ Customer Service
More than 70 percent of millennial Twitter users have left comments for the customer service accounts of at least one company, according to new survey data. 62.48 percent of surveyed Twitter users also say that personalized responses to their comments represent the top way brands can improve their social media customer care. AdWeek

AppsFlyer: App ad market to grow 136% to $64.1 billion from 2017 to 2020
By 2020 app advertising will grow to become a $64.1B market segment, a 136 percent jump from 2017, according to new market research study data, representing a year-over-year rate of 34 percent growth. VentureBeat


Digital Marketing News: Google Lens & Visual Search Updates, Social ROI Study, & App Ad Market Growth
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Lane Ellis

Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2018

Lane Ellis on Dec 27th, 2018     Influencer Marketing

Celebrating group of people dancing in confetti photo.

2018 saw a continuous rise of influencer marketing’s power and scope in both B2C and B2B industries. This was a continuation of last year’s explosion of interest in the practice and with more practitioners than ever going all-in, influencer marketing has been a primary focus of what we have explored on our blog throughout the year.

We’re lucky to have some of the strongest and most successful B2B influencer marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog, including our CEO Lee Odden, Ashley Zeckman, Joshua Nite, Caitlin Burgess, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Tiffani Allen, Debbie Friez, the author of this post, and Alexis Hall, among others.


Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2018
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Ashley Zeckman

TopRank Marketing’s Top 6 B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions & Trends to Watch in 2019

Ashley Zeckman on Dec 26th, 2018     Digital Marketing, Influencer Marketing

B2B Influencer Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2019

How many of you can count the number of times you’ve purchased a product or made a decision based on a recommendation from a friend, acquaintance, review on the web or a celebrity endorsement? I’d venture to guess that most of you would say: “Too many to count.”

That’s because we all rely on advice from others to help us make sense of a complex world where we don’t always have all of the information we need to make a decision.

Influencer marketing has been around for ages (literally), but it’s only begun to build steam within the B2B world over the past few years. The good news is that for many, B2B influencer marketing is still in its infancy—which means there are plenty of opportunities to begin implementing influencer marketing today.


TopRank Marketing’s Top 6 B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions & Trends to Watch in 2019
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Caitlin Burgess

From Our Marketing Family to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 25th, 2018     B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The smell of pine, cinnamon, and fresh-baked cookies are in the air. The jingle bells are ring-ting-tingling. And we’re all reflecting on months past and looking ahead to what the new year will bring.

2018 was quite a year for the TopRank Marketing team. We had the pleasure of working with an incredible book of clients—both longtime partners and new favorites. We welcomed new incredibly smart and talented team members, and said goodbye to some who went on to make their marks on different industries and brands. And 2019 looks awesomely bright, as we gear up for more projects and grow our team.

To celebrate the year, the holiday season, and each other, the TopRank Marketing team enjoyed a few days of festive fun. Take a peek!


From Our Marketing Family to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!
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Lane Ellis

Our Top 10 Content Marketing Posts of 2018

Lane Ellis on Dec 24th, 2018     Content Marketing

Top 10 Content Marketing Post of 2018 High Five Group Image

Content — it encompasses just about everything we read, view, or listen to online these days, and as our CEO Lee Odden said years ago, it’s also the reason search began in the first place.

We’re especially proud of the content marketing success our team at TopRank Marketing has achieved in 2018, for a wide-range of B2B clients. As 2019 draws near we wanted to share our top content marketing articles of the year — each loaded with best practices, research, examples, and the latest trends.

The excellent content marketers who make our award-winning blog one of the most popular in the industry include Ashley Zeckman, Joshua Nite, Caitlin Burgess, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Tiffani Allen, Debbie Friez, Alexis Hall, the author of this post, and our blog’s founder and agency CEO, Lee Odden.


Our Top 10 Content Marketing Posts of 2018
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Google’s WordPress Plugin, Snapchat Marketing, Facebook & Google Ad Bidding, & Mobile RTB Spend Rises

Lane Ellis on Dec 21st, 2018     Online Marketing News

2018 December 21 ZipChart Image

Google Introduces WordPress Plugin With Integrated Analytics, Search Console, More
Google has launched a WordPress plug-in called Site Kit that offers convenient access to various Google tools including AdSense, Search Console, Analytics, and PageSpeed Insights, among others. Search Engine Journal

Marketers’ use of Snapchat is on the rise — but is still a fraction of Facebook and Instagram
Snapchat has seen an increase in use as a marketing platform, despite lacking some of the flexibility powerhouses like Facebook and Instagram allow, according to recent forecast data from eMarketer and others. L.A. Biz

Search Engine Marketing: Why People Click on Paid Search Ads
Seventy-seven percent of people are confident that they can recognize paid search advertisements, and 75 percent find paid search eases the buying process, according to new survey data. Clutch


Digital Marketing News: Google’s WordPress Plugin, Snapchat Marketing, Facebook & Google Ad Bidding, & Mobile RTB Spend Rises
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Lane Ellis

New Year, New View: 3 Ways to Approach Analytics in 2019

Lane Ellis on Dec 20th, 2018     Web Analytics

Blue and purple hydrangea flowers image.

Welcome to the eighth installment of our “Collective Wisdom” series, featuring wisdom from a wide swath of thought leaders in the digital marketing industry and beyond.

This year, with the help of many great minds, we’ve covered the full range of content marketing tactics and best practices, including planning ahead for success, the art of crafting powerful content efficiently, and several strong promotion tactics. Most recently, we also dove into analytics and how they can best be used to measure content marketing success.

Now, with the new year drawing closer, let’s continue our exploration of content marketing measurement with an eye to the bright future ahead.

#1 – Widen Your Analytics Scope

Small planets next to huge sun image.


New Year, New View: 3 Ways to Approach Analytics in 2019
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Caitlin Burgess

TopRank Marketing’s Top 6 B2B Social Media Marketing Predictions & Trends to Watch in 2019

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 19th, 2018     Social Media

Social Media Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2019

That magical time of year has come once again, B2B marketers. As the end of the year draws near, we’re reflecting on what has come to pass and looking ahead to what is yet to come. We’re setting goals. We’re shaking up strategies. And we’re hoping the next year will bring more focus, insight, and success.

Undoubtedly, social media marketing is top-of-mind as we reflect and plan. From the emergence of cool new platform features to scandal and algorithm shifts, 2018 brought both opportunity and obstacles—excitement and dismay. And we expect 2019 to be no different.

So, what do B2B marketers need to keep an eye on in 2019? How will you need to adapt your social media strategies? How can you turn challenges into opportunities? Here are our top social media marketing trends and predictions for the coming year.


TopRank Marketing’s Top 6 B2B Social Media Marketing Predictions & Trends to Watch in 2019
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Anne Leuman

7 Efficiency-Boosting Martech Tools & Platform Features B2B Marketers Need to Consider

Anne Leuman on Dec 18th, 2018     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Back in 2011, roughly 150 marketing technology solutions were on the market. Today, the growth of this sector and it’s options are staggering. In fact, according to Scott Brinker, the mastermind behind the Chief Marketing Technologist Blog, the martech landscape has grown an impressive 27% in 2018 to include nearly 7,000 solutions.

Of course, B2B  are rejoicing at the increased number of solutions at their disposal. Many have been steadily adding new tools and solutions to their martech stacks as the need arises to help streamline operations, automate the mundane, quickly gain new insights, track campaigns, and generate greater results.

In other words, these tools offer big efficiency gains, giving you the time, insights, or resources to make better marketing decisions.


7 Efficiency-Boosting Martech Tools & Platform Features B2B Marketers Need to Consider
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Anne Leuman

The Key to SEO & Content Marketing Success: Understanding Search Intent

Anne Leuman on Dec 17th, 2018     Content Marketing, Search Engine Strategies, SEO

Tips for Understanding Search Intent

From changes in how people search thanks to technological innovations such as voice assistants, to changes in how search engine algorithms identify searcher needs, smart SEO is now rooted in understanding and matching the intent behind search queries.

When we marketers understand search intent, we can create new content and/or optimize existing content to be more tailored to their audience’s specific needs, problems, and questions—helping gain SERP visibility in the increasingly crowded content landscape, and attract more qualified traffic and build trust with those visitors (who will hopefully feel like you “get” them and their needs).

At TopRank Marketing, we call this SEO and content strategy striving to be the best answer for your audiences—wherever and whenever they’re searching. But where do you start?


The Key to SEO & Content Marketing Success: Understanding Search Intent
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Facebook’s Sponsored Results, Google+ Shutdown, Consumer Brand Trust, Instagram’s Ad Spend Up

Lane Ellis on Dec 14th, 2018     Online Marketing News

2018 December 14 Headway Capital Image

Facebook relaunches search ads to offset slowing revenue
Facebook has announced that it will relaunch its sponsored search results and Marketplace advertising. This is the return of an option unavailable to digital marketers since 2013, a move that could help Facebook offset recent decreased revenue trends. TechCrunch

Consumers Say Brands Ask for Too Much Information
Brands asking for too much personal information is the leading cause of mistrust among U.S. consumers, at 35.9 percent. The second leading cause of mistrust is the result public data scandals at 28 percent, among several findings relevant to digital marketers in a recent Jebbit survey. eMarketer

Will Ad Dollars Continue Shifting From Facebook to Instagram in 2019? New trends report data
Instagram has continued to draw more advertising dollars than its parent company Facebook, according to new report data from Socialbakers. AdWeek


Digital Marketing News: Facebook’s Sponsored Results, Google+ Shutdown, Consumer Brand Trust, Instagram’s Ad Spend Up
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