5 Companies With Inbound Marketing Strategies That Work David Klein is the co-founder of Orange Line, Australia’s leading strategic inbound marketing consultancy. Read more about David and the team on the Orange Line blog. Follow him @davidaklein or on Google+. Some companies seem to have an innate sense of just what it takes to attract a market. Or, perhaps it only appears that way. For most companies, it's more likely that they learn through trial and error, research, and testing until they get it right. The following five companies have each developed inbound marketing strategies that truly work. 1. According to Kieran Flanagan, inbound marketing manager for Salesforce.com, "The new B2B purchase journey is search-initiated, social powered, and buyer-controlled." The Salesforce strategy has been able to generate leads by building — and effectively promoting, through multiple channels — a "content-rich micro-site" valued by the target market. The result? 2. 3. 4. 5.
Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change Executive Summary Generations, like people, have personalities, and Millennials — the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium — have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change. They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. Their entry into careers and first jobs has been badly set back by the Great Recession, but they are more upbeat than their elders about their own economic futures as well as about the overall state of the nation. They embrace multiple modes of self-expression. Nearly one-in-four have a piercing in some place other than an earlobe — about six times the share of older adults who’ve done this. Despite struggling (and often failing) to find jobs in the teeth of a recession, about nine-in-ten either say that they currently have enough money or that they will eventually meet their long-term financial goals. They respect their elders.
7 Ways to Use YouTube in Your Business Though Facebook and Twitter were the leading social networks that swept through the business world in year 2010, in 2011 YouTube continues to be the most valuable video marketing and advertising tool for businesses of all sizes. By far the web’s largest and most popular online video archive, YouTube offers fantastic opportunities for a business to show off its expertise, share knowledge, market products and connect with customers, colleagues and prospects. Here are 7 ways to use YouTube as an effective business tool. A YouTube Channel for Your Business While it sounds like an obvious first step, I’ve come across many businesses that upload tons of videos on YouTube but don’t even create a channel for themselves. Having a dedicated channel gets your business a lot of exposure and provides an innovative medium for you to keep your followers updated on your new offerings. Tag your videos It’s crucial to tag your videos with the right set of keywords. Soft sell your videos Playlists
17 Brilliant Sources of Content Hiding Right Under Your Nose Creating content is a pain in the puppy. (I'm watching my potty mouth, you guys.) That's coming from someone whose entire job is to create content. If you identify with that overburdened inbound marketer description and are constantly frustrated at your inability to create as much content as you'd like, this is the post for you. 1) Tap your sales and services teams. The best marketing content is the stuff that answers people's common questions. Tip: If you record your calls for training or quality assurance, you can also use the recordings to transcribe questions and answers if you don't want to bug your sales and services teams. 2) Pull from your company collaboration tool. Many organizations -- especially as they grow and struggle to scale internal communication -- adopt online collaboration tools. For example, we recently released a brand new ebook, 7 Awesome Analogies to Help Explain Inbound Marketing. 3) Interview an internal expert. A few things I'm not an expert on: Boom.
The History and Future of Mobile’s Role in Fashion “Moving Targets: How To Connect and Engage Lifestyle Customers Via Mobile Devices, Games & Apps” is a three-part mobile series on mobile sponsored by Fresh Concept Lab, creators of Stylmee, the fashion and lifestyle industries’ first 3D fashion iPad App. Mobile marketing is something that can’t be ignored. Lifestyle brands, retailers and products are actively and artfully trying to master the medium in order to catch their customers’ attention and loyalty. In a five part series, we will be exploring the process in which retailers can successfully leverage all mobile channels and devices for online success. A brief history of mobile The marketing industry is going mobile, and the fashion industry going with it. U.S. marketers will spend about $56.5 billion on mobile advertising and promotions by 2015, according to Mobitrove. Why are marketers so hot to reach mobile consumers? Because more than 72.5 million people own smartphones. Even better? Getting the message to the masses
WINNERS TO WATCH: 10 Stellar Branded YouTube Channels By: Marketwire+Sysomos and CommPRO.biz If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is likely worth a million. And some of the YouTube accounts on this list have seen that many, and more, views. That’s a testament to the power of images in telling compelling stories, building brands and driving social sharing online. In fact, online video is the perfect marriage of social media and compelling content. What makes a YouTube channel different than, say, TV ads? With that mind, here are some standouts exhibiting best practices for your viewing pleasure. You may also be interested in...
12 Simple Ways Marketers Can Humanize Their Brand Companies are not people. Boom. How's that for a controversial opening line? For the sake of harmony (and the point of this blog post), let's try to remove the political implications from that statement, and consider what it means for us as marketers. How would most people describe their relationship with your company? The fact is, people do business with people they like and trust, and it's really, really hard to trust a company. 1) Write an 'About Us' page that's actually good. The 'About Us' page is one of the most frequently flubbed up pages on the internet. So, who do you want to be? First, I recommend you check out SEOmoz. The other example of a killer 'About Us' Page I highly recommend is Andrew Reifman of Andrew Reifman Graphic Design. 2) Kill the business babble. Just. Hint: 'About Us' pages are often one of the biggest business babble offenders! 3) Inject a sense of humor into your content. It's easy for B2C companies to create hilarious content -- and you certainly should!
14 Funny Brands You Can't Help But Follow in Social Media There are quite a few factors that go into what makes a brand "followable" in social media. Think about it from the follower's perspective -- why do you choose to 'like' or follow certain brands on social networks like Facebook and Twitter? It could be because they share valuable, educational content that appeals to your interests and needs. Or it could be that they give you access to exclusive deals, coupons, or other promotions. Truthfully, the best brands to follow in social media should probably have a combination of all those characteristics. So the next time you're planning your social media updates, why not incorporate a little humor here and there? 1) Charmin You mean the toilet paper company? Looks like it's going to be a ginormous latte w/4 extra espresso shots kind of day. Confession: We just did the "potty jig" in front of a co-worker and blamed it on being late to a meeting & had to run. 2) Taco Bell 3) Old Spice Old Spice doesn't only pick fights with other brands. 7) GymIt
What Can Brandable Phrase Domains Do For You? Marketing minds everywhere are always trying to come up with the new “edge”. Simple tactics can make huge gains in returns from marketing efforts. One tactic that has been used by many huge companies but is never focused on much is the brandable phrase domain. What is a brandable phrase domain? A brandable phrase domain uses a phrase intended to be catchy to draw interest or intrigue to a promotion or advertisement to entice people to visit it. Similar to how a slogan accompanies the business name to add more branding and something else people can remember the company by, a brandable phrase domain can do the same for both online and offline promotions and ads. Brandable phrase domain use is fairly common with large companies. The best way to understand brandable phrase domains is to look at examples: Kinds of brandable phrase domains with examples 1. 2. 3. GotMilk.com WillYouJoinUs.com (used by Chevron) 4. OnlyTheyKnow.com (used by ABC) MoreToSee.com (used by Sharp) 5. 6. 7. Other Examples 1.
History of Marketing Channels Revisited In October of 2009, we ran the first version of this very popular infographic which has been used in a lot of innovative ways by different companies! From a very cool analysis of the transition we are all seeing in customer engagement strategies (see Razorfish’s Liminal) to a cool poster that was given away as swag to marketing geeks. As I said back in 2009, the most fascinating aspect of this graphic is the explosion of marketing tactics available to businesses since the onset of Al Gore’s invention the Internet. We hope you all enjoy this version of The Timeline of Marketing Channels as much as you did three years ago! Would you like to use this infographic on your site or blog?
25 Popular Company Logos Then And Now A while back we showed you how a number of famous logos that you probably see everyday are hiding cleverly disguised images. What can be just as interesting as spotting these subliminal messages however, is taking a look into the past to see how these popular companies have changed their logos over time. While some have remained fairly consistent, the vast majority have undergone major overhauls. About David Pegg After helping found the United Nations, the United States, and United Airlines, David consigned himself to a transient life of writing lists and sleeping on park benches. Great Logos With A Secret Meaning Amazon vs. Apple: Competing Ecosystem Strategies - Ron Adner by Ron Adner | 11:59 AM March 19, 2012 The most viable rival to Apple’s iPad isn’t produced by a traditional hardware firm. Samsung, Motorola, Toshiba, HP, RIM and HTC have hardly made a dent in Apple’s dominance. Remarkably, the leading challenger is online retailer Amazon, with its Kindle Fire tablet. The innovation game is changing. This shift from products to solutions matters to everyone. In the past, product-focused success depended on exploiting capabilities — in branding, manufacturing, distribution, etc. — to deliver the best product. For example, when Apple expanded from music players to phones, it carried over to the iPhone not just the technology and software that powered the iPod but also users’ entire music collections and its music store’s entire supplier base. In the rush to match the pieces, most of Apple’s rivals have missed the critical connections that draw the entire ecosystem together into a coherent whole.
The History of Marketing (infographic) The History of Marketing (An INFOGRAPHIC) HubSpot has put together this great Infographic on the history of marketing. Take a look at how technology has changed the way marketers do their jobs, how consumers have responded (not always so favorably). History of Marketing Infographic The Fried Side - Social Media Marketing | Denver | Social Media Consulting & Marketing | Social Media Denver Connect: Authored by: Brad Friedman Brad Friedman is a “Recovering Attorney” living in Denver, Colorado. See complete profile