Digital Marketing from the Trenches Live at the Hive

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We’re back a new episode of Digital Marketing from the Trenches – Live at the Hive and this week, we’re reading Reddit Sales and Marketing Stories. For those of you not in the know, Reddit is one of the most magical places on earth, where regular folks like you and I can ask the Reddit community anything and everything we may have on their minds.

Reddit is a gold-mine of “subreddits” or communities created around any topic you could possibly imagine. Members ask some of the best and worst questions imaginable. In today’s episode of Digital Marketing from the Trenches, we’re featuring some of the best Reddit Sales and Marketing Stories from the following Subreedits:

/r/sales/ (354K Members)
/r/advertising (190K Members)
/r/LinkedInLunatics/ (665K Members)
/r/B2B_sales/ (7.2K Members)
/r/marketing/ (1.4M Members)
/r/AskMarketing/ (66K Members)

Joe and Dan delve into some of their favourite Reddit Stories, bringing things full circle and giving their opinions and experience in response to some of the best sales and marketing stories including:

Worst Meeting Ever! (Sales)
Thinking Through the Merch and Know-It-All CEOs and Power Dynamics. (Marketing)
I’m told to do 100% ABM messaging. I’m in Sales, Not Marketing and I’m going to fail. (ABM)
LinkedIn Lunatics!
- Answering your own comments with a comment.
- Winning the Lottery vs 100,000 LinkedIn Followers.
- His divorce was the worst job he ever had so he added it to his resume.
- His wife got pregnant by another man. He learned 9 things about B2B from that experience.

Key Takeaways* Alignment between sales and marketing is crucial, especially for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies. * Don’t just tell salespeople to do ABM if they have no experience with it – work together to integrate their existing successful tactics. * Understand the client’s true needs and set expectations properly. * Keep in regular contact with clients/prospects to avoid misalignment. * Don’t be afraid to push back respectfully on leadership decisions that don’t align with data/strategy.

Key Podcast Moments* The agency prepared an extensive proposal for a client, only to have the client completely change direction at the last minute with no explanation. * An SDR was told to do 100% ABM outreach, even though their previous high-volume outreach was successful. * Examples of questionable LinkedIn posts and behaviors, like self-congratulatory comments and using personal tragedies for engagement.

Watch on Digital Marketing from the Trenches on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMSzOrbpEb8We’re an Account Based Marketing Agency specializing in Sales and Marketing Alignment for Mid-Market businesses. Our Grow Programs are the perfect fit for business of any size looking to grow their B2B sales effectiveness with Lean ABM strategies and tactics. We’re also Hubspot certified and have a team of expert marketers ready to launch you into the world of modern sales and marketing.

If you enjoyed this, don’t forget to subscribe to Digital Marketing from the Trenches using the handy links below, wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Read the Complete Podcast TranscriptDan Nedelko 0:00
And in 321,

Joseph DellaVecchia 0:05
everyone. Welcome to sales Reddit stories. I’m Joe, he’s Dan, and today we’re going to be reading some of the most relatable sales and marketing stories from Reddit. This is a new segment, a part of live at the hive digital marketing from the trenches here at honeypot marketing. Dan, how are you today? I’m good. Joe, I’m good. I’ve been very excited for this episode ever since we talked about setting this up. Since Reddit is probably one of my favorite websites in the world to go visit on a regular basis. It’s a true treasure trove. Anything you want to find on the internet, you’ll find on Reddit, any interest, any genre it exists,

Dan Nedelko 0:43
it’s true. It’s true. And let’s be honest, this is inspired by Smosh’s Reading Reddit stories show with Shane top and that crew over there, which is a little bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, and I know your partners as well. But in all seriousness, uh, there’s a lot of really good sales and marketing conversation that does happen on Reddit. It’s a great place to to kind of find stuff, and then, and then, obviously, you get down into LinkedIn lunatics, which we’ll talk a little bit about. But in terms of, you know, the way that everything washes out for B to B, sales, techniques, marketing stories. It’s a it’s a treasure trove of information. For sure,

Joseph DellaVecchia 1:27
you can, you can always find something that’ll make you laugh, even make you cry,

Dan Nedelko 1:31
make you cry

Joseph DellaVecchia 1:32
today. Dan, I think we’re gonna be doing a lot of face palming, a lot of relating, and I think at the very end, we’ve got a special treat that’ll get us all laughing, yeah.

Dan Nedelko 1:41
And I think we have, we we’ve also got some good stories for salespeople and for marketers, about ABM, general sales, all sorts of stuff and and also, I think, yeah, on that outro, what not to do on LinkedIn? Because oftentimes we’ll hear, what should I do on LinkedIn? How should I post, whether it’s for their company, or whether it’s for you personally, but these are definitely what not to do. So with that, let’s dive right in. I know you got your first pick of the day.

Joseph DellaVecchia 2:11
All right, awesome. Our first story, Dan is coming to us from our slash advertising. Okay,

Dan Nedelko 2:19
let’s go. The

Joseph DellaVecchia 2:20
client requested a business plan and roadmap for a homegrown end to end ecommerce solution, everything from a website with a secure shipping cart and checkout process to source pick and pack and fulfillment capabilities from multiple warehouses across the country that complemented their existing fulfillment capabilities. No, this is around 2008 so this is no small feat. At the time, multiple millions of dollars would have changed completely the complexion of our agency with this one project spent months prepping, had an airtight solution that was a reasonable budget wise my boss, who was brilliant, put the entire proposal together using the legwork I’d done, designed to be about a two hour conversation, ticked every box and then some. We were pumped. Day of the presentation comes four of us and eight clients, including VPs and the CMO and the CTO of this fortune 500 company. We get two pages into the discussion, maybe three minutes tops, and the CMO takes his hefty spiral bound, leave behind, throws it down onto the table, and our team stands up. Well, you really missed the mark here. Then he walked out of the room, leaving us all to stare at each other. Later that day, he made a call to our president requesting that my boss, who I will repeat to this day, one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever worked with, never be allowed to work on his account again. We found out after the fact that somewhere between the original ask and the meeting, he decided, and told nobody else that he really wanted was a turnkey storm storefront where they just sell the product at wholesale, and the vendor takes everything from there, worst meeting ever.

Dan Nedelko 4:07
So much to unpack in that so much to unpack so much.

Joseph DellaVecchia 4:10
Well, first things first, and in 2008 I was barely 10, so Dan, you are in the marketing world at 2008 so you can speak a bit more to the the landscape and E commerce at this time.

Dan Nedelko 4:21
What are you trying to say? I’m

Joseph DellaVecchia 4:22
saying that you have more experience, and you were doing this in 2008 that’s

Dan Nedelko 4:26
nice, in a roundabout way. You’re saying I’m old, which is totally fair, and that’s okay, yeah, in 2008 this was no laughing matter, right? Shopify didn’t exist. None of these easy SaaS platforms. In fact, the cloud didn’t even really exist at that time, either. So, you know, you’re looking at a huge tech lift. Really is what it comes down to. So, yeah, it’s not, it’s definitely not what it is today, 100% but I think there’s, there’s quite. A few stories. I mean, what are you getting out of this one? What are your thoughts on it for first and foremost,

Joseph DellaVecchia 5:04
my first thought is that, like, well, never to this caliber. I understand this situation where the client makes an ask. You prepare for that? Ask you go in and the client’s like, this is not at all what I was asking. And so I just think, from from an account management standpoint, first is just, it’s so important to get aligned and ask the questions. Even if I see this probably the most common example, a client will come and say, I need SEO. I want SEO. Ask about their goals, ask about what they’re looking for, and ask what their current understanding is. Because a lot of people in small businesses, you know, SEO has been thrown around a lot, and it’s something that they’re told that they need, or they think they fully understand, and it’s okay if they don’t fully understand, or even if they have the understanding wrong, that’s what the marketing team is there for. But a lot of the times, in my experience, I’ve had a lot of people come to me saying, I need SEO, and what they’re really looking for is silver bullet, inbound leads, which is a whole other conversation, but it’s they’re not looking for the same thing that they’re telling

Dan Nedelko 5:59
you, yeah, 100% I mean, the takeaway that I get from this story is number one, if you’re dealing with a fortune 500 expect that the people that you’re dealing with are corporate people. Like that is what they are. Their job is to work within a large organization. So it has a completely different dynamic than mid market and small business. That’s kind of thing number one, then thing number two, I’m getting out of this is, and, you know, the mistake on jump driver, who’s the OP, or the original poster of this, whoever was where they dropped the ball on this was going two months or several months, prepping without actually circling back and making sure that you’re keeping in touch with that person, you know, they change their mind. From a I can take it from the client standpoint, right, to say it’s not my job to update all of the vendors. In a sense, it kind of is, if you’re doing procurement like that, right? If you got a whole bunch of vendors bidding on a project, well, you can’t just change the bounds of the project. That’s what RFPs and RFQs are for, right? But if I were to take it from the perspective of that agency or jump driver the original poster, I think one thing that you could have done in this scenario is not wait a couple of months, right? That’s a very waterfall method. It’s like, well, I talked to you in April, and now we’re in July. You know, the entire world could change. Since then, it doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to be in a meeting like that. It’s going to be embarrassing, stressful. And the guy that was his boss, you know, he’s claiming up and down, that this guy was brilliant, which is, you know, 100% could well be the case. I think what this comes down to, from a sales side, is keep in touch with your prospects before you’re closing a deal on a regular basis. To see that, like, to your point, Joe, like, do they understand what SEO is, you know? And oftentimes it’s true, you know, that’s like saying I need a carburetor for my car. When you go to a mechanic, I don’t know what I need. You know, I need the outcome. I need my car to run really well and not break down on me. Can you tell me how to do that? And that’s typically what agencies should be asking their clients, is like, what do you want as the outcome? And in this case, obviously that changed, not a pretty situation, but yeah, in in terms of that, from a sales perspective, one thing I like to do is to keep in kind of an iterative approach, to say, hey, here’s where we’re thinking of going with this, and maybe just shooting like an outline, not sending, you know, the the end clients, not preparing the budget, but getting a pulse check on that on a regular basis is is a really good idea to avoid that. I love

Joseph DellaVecchia 8:56
the analogy that you used with the car in the carburetor. That’s just that that’s in perfect way to explain it,

Dan Nedelko 9:00
it Yeah, and you know what? It’s pretty funny. I think a lot of times, you know, we’ll get people coming over to us on on the marketing side and in the sales side and telling us what they think they want. You know, from a salesperson’s perspective, is, don’t ask your clients, like, do you want SEO? Do you want Google ads? Do you want a brand repositioning? Do you want a content strategy? Because, like, all of that stuff may work together in concert, depending on what the outcome is, right? Yeah. So you should be asking your clients and your prospects, like, what are you looking to achieve from this? You know, you can sell on pain points and and and on solutions, but don’t sell on the tactic for sure. All right. And you got a story for us? I got one that pretty much everybody in sales and or marketing ever have probably run into, and it’s never a good feeling. So I’ve been an AE at a digital. Marketing agency for the past two and a half years. In my first six months, I signed a franchise of med spas to handle their organic SEO for their website, local SEO for their 16 locations and paid Google paid social media ads. This contract resulted in them spending around 20k per month with us, which in turn grew to my biweekly paychecks. Grew my bi weekly paychecks by more than 100% on Friday, they emailed my team saying they’re terminating all contracts, pulling our access to their accounts, and they’re pursuing a contract with another agency, sad music tier, running down face. This was out of the blue with no explanation. They fired their marketing manager who hired us, and said they are terminating all business with us by November, feel like my sales spirit has been completely broken. The account was nearly half of my monthly revenue. It took us months to sign them with us, and it was out of pure luck that they were transferring agencies at the time, I had the biggest account by far in my market, and now it’s gone. My goals are going to be unattainable. Now. My paychecks are going to be a fraction of what they used to be. Feel like I’m gonna wash the F out, and eventually my manager will see I’m useless and fire me like they probably should have, since I’m going to be costing the company money. Now, I’m still shell shocked from the news yesterday. I can’t see any positive outcome from this, and I feel like I should just quit and find something else to waste my time on. That’s all I have. That’s pretty that’s pretty dark, that’s bleak, that is bleak. It’s extremely bleak, bleak. And I think it’s a story, plus it’s a psychological profile. But what are your thoughts on this one? Joe,

Joseph DellaVecchia 11:33
my thoughts are is that it’s something that you see all the time. You know clients are going to churn. It’s going to happen. There are clients that you will form long term relationships with that you know may never leave you. There are clients where you know they’re going to churn and you know we’ve seen it before. I think anyone who has worked in marketing agency life has seen it before. Losing a champion can be detrimental. You have that person who you’ve worked with closely understands what you’ve done, knows what you’re doing, and is there to back you up and back up the work that you’re doing to the higher ups, and especially in a corporate chain, that can be very, very beneficial, because then someone else comes in, and I put it as as a comic book reader, I put it as it’s when somebody new is going to write Batman. You know your Batman is Bruce Wayne. His parents died in Crime Alley. He’s Batman now, but then you’re going to put your own spin on the mythos. Someone new is going to come in and want to put their own spin on the company and leave their footprint right there to make a name for themselves, to show that they’ve been made. It’s the right decision to put them in this higher position, or for them to take over this project. Yeah. And so most of the time with marketing, it’s we’re gonna get a different team that can do more and better and aligns with my

Dan Nedelko 12:45
vision, honestly. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I was gonna say, one of the

Joseph DellaVecchia 12:49
things I can say right there in that situation is get in front of that and align with that new person. If your champion is gone, yes, it sucks, but now you have a new person to make.

Dan Nedelko 12:59
Yeah. Well look, this is my biggest pet peeve with marketing managers and in the marketing industry in general, when you start a new position, regardless of what level you’re at, CMO, VP, marketing manager, whatever, stop firing all of your vendors and getting brand new vendors. It really is a short sighted thing. And there’s a couple of comments in that Reddit thread that speak to the same thing. It’s like, every time someone new comes in, they’re firing all their vendors and they’re getting in so they can, you know, plant their flag, show leadership, they’re doing something new. It’s a really short sighted thing for those people to do, but it happens all the time. It is probably the most common thing that I see. So if you’re on that side of it, don’t like, look at the ones that are showing value, keep your good vendors and make the changes where you need to. I mean, don’t you don’t need a carpet bomb when you can snipe right, and it doesn’t prevent you from doing that. I think that’s like, my first thing. Second thing is, well, there’s a, there’s so many things. I’ll be honest, this poor guy or gal, whoever it is, this poor person, understood your sales spirit is completely broken. It happens in every agency. In every sales role, you’re going to lose a client, or they’re going to lose the bidding process and never get the client, or you’re going to have a great client and you’re going to lose that client. It does. Client. It does happen all the time, and I think the first thing, and I try to say this to my kids with things like sports, something I used to do back in my sporting days, is you get 15 minutes to cry about it, right? Give yourself 15 minutes, and then you just kind of move forward, because you’re not going to change it, right? It’s already happening, but you can’t wallow in this, like this person’s going down. I’m completely broken. I’m useless. They’re going to fire me. I’m still shell shocked. I mean, if you had a, if we had a psychologist on here, taking this apart, I think there’s, there’s probably some other like confidence issues going. And on with this person.

Joseph DellaVecchia 15:03
I don’t disagree with that, but, yeah, no, I think you’re 100% right. Like, especially in sales, you’ve got to be you got to be hungry, and you got to be ready to jump back on it and go. And just because you know you’ve lost this big client, let’s say they said 20,000 let’s say you lose this one client of 20,000 Yep, does. That doesn’t mean you can’t get into the $20,000 client. But if your issue is, you know, that’s a big client, it takes so long to close and focus on 10, $2,000 or five, $4,000

Dan Nedelko 15:30
yeah, that’s, that’s good advice. That’s something I always kind of run through in my brain, is, is the kind of, if this, then that, right? Like, if something’s gonna happen here, what’s going to happen there, and I think so, I think you need to take the time to kind of, you know, have the funeral, go through the grieving process, but put a time limit on it, and don’t let it go for a week, right? You have nowhere to go but forward and kind of come up with those solutions in general, I think you’re right, Joe. I think the one thing that’s really important is if you’re in sales, or if you’re in an entrepreneur or whatever leadership position, you have to always be thinking of if this, then that what happens if, and kind of have a playbook you can’t cover every scenario, but you can certainly have a playbook where you have a plan that’s one two. Never take your pipeline for granted in a business or as a salesperson, you can’t you can’t say, hey, things look good today. I closed a bunch of deals this quarter. I’m going to be great for the next quarter, right? In fact, when things are good is when you should be working on that pipeline even more, right? And fostering those things. You can either grow the business there, but I do see a lot of what happens is this kind of lackadaisical attitude, especially when you’ve got a whale, right? So for this person, actually like this, obviously, this client was a whale. Call it a quarter million bucks a year. And they rode that wave until the wave dissipated and kind of went its natural course. That’s the second thing. I think the third thing and final thing is, as a business, you should always have a termination runway, right? Whether it’s 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, depending on the model, there’s all sorts of different ones. There are 12 month contracts with penalties for early termination, and enforce that contract so that you’re not waking up one day and having a rug pulled out from under you. And it’s like, Oh, my God, I’m whatever. I’m not going to make my pipeline next week I won’t be able to make payroll. If you’re a business owner, you know, contracts are there for a reason. They were signed for a reason, and they should not be just walked on by a new client. Like maybe that marketing manager has no idea that there is a 90 day termination clause. Well, they can pay it out and fire you, and you can walk away. They can get the value for the next 90 days. But certainly, if you’re in sales, you should be well informed, if you’re not about what the terms are of that thing, and you should really make sure you make it, make it known. Like I said, so much to unpack inside of this thing. So much poor, this poor person, though I, you know, like, I hope that they’re not, like, beating themselves up and what is it, flatulating themselves like whipping themselves, hmm, I never know what that what, what that term is, but whatever. Don’t be. I just

Joseph DellaVecchia 18:41
always think about the Da Vinci Code, that scene, right?

Dan Nedelko 18:45
And there was that guy. I read The Da Vinci Code and I saw the movie. There was the one guy, the one character in the book. I know that he was in that, that sect that, like he had barbs in him, so every time he moved, it would like stab him. And that was his penance, yeah, yeah. Don’t be that person that’s that’s the lesson,

Joseph DellaVecchia 19:01
don’t be the barb guy from The Da Vinci Code, right? Yeah, that’s our first piece of merch for this podcast. Is

Dan Nedelko 19:10
sorry. Tom Hanks, sorry. Dan Brown, can’t remember the book or the movie. All right, moving right along. Joe, over to your next one. All

Joseph DellaVecchia 19:20
right, awesome. This one is from r slash marketing Dan, and this is someone talking about their first internship.

Unknown Speaker 19:27
Okay, sounds good. This

Joseph DellaVecchia 19:29
was my first internship. I was asked to help make company merchandise, including towels, pens, erasers, mugs and car air fresheners. Mid project, two distant neurons finally communicated, and I began to wonder why a relatively unknown B to B ship repair company that gets most of its revenue from two contractors, merch. I went to the CEO and pointed out that the whole marketing team me agreed that spending 60,000 euros, approximately $64,865.90 Cents on merch that no one will buy is nonsensical. To my amazement, after several months of boxes full of worthless merch sitting in our warehouse, each employee received three towels, two mugs, five pens and a handful of car air fresheners. When I asked why, the response was, see young man, now every employee will market our company wherever they go. At first, I thought it was genius, but then the same two neurons turned back on and pointed out that our employees are really unlikely to be seen with the merch anywhere in public, not to mention, even if some get noticed by a big shot manager on a beach with a towel, they won’t go back running to their bosses saying, OMG, this guy I saw on the beach used a towel with a relatively unknown brand fixing pipes on ships. Really, really well and really, really cheap. We should hire them. Then I have so many. But what are your thoughts on this one? Well,

Dan Nedelko 20:58
this is a perfect time when the CEO should not be doing this, but all too often, especially this, again, I’m guessing this is a this is a small company, right? Small business, or is it not really B to B, B to

Joseph DellaVecchia 21:14
B, ship repair, so I don’t really know. Honestly. I mean, not too much details, yeah.

Dan Nedelko 21:19
I mean, let’s just say their marketing department is probably pretty small, regardless of the size of the company. I mean, they’ve obviously got 65k us, so you’re looking at 85k 90k Canadian. More than that, actually, yeah, more like 90 is a especially the the you see young man kind of quote. It sure seems like that CEO was stepping outside of his lane a little bit and trying to be the smartest guy in the room and then saving face. He’s probably a good talker, but, yeah, that’s a that’s a great example of probably the intern is the only person in the marketing department. Have never seen that before? Have you? Never the intern is the only one in the

Joseph DellaVecchia 22:04
marketing department. I was that intern is the only one in the marketing department when I finished college my first job,

Dan Nedelko 22:09
right? So it does happen and the CEO wants to be the smartest guy in the room. Happens all the time. Yeah, that’s my initial take on it. That I think, is the landscape. How about you?

Joseph DellaVecchia 22:24
I think my initial take is it goes back, I think, a few episodes, to when we talked about Google business profiles, which is, know your audience, know what they’re looking for and know what is the best way to appeal to your audience. In that episode, we talked about how if you’re a small and local business, if you’re doing one thing, it’s use Google business profile for that Visio, just like this right here. It’s knowing your audience. How are people going to see you? How are they going to know you? How are they going to get the word out? Seems like this is a pretty specific B to B operation with specific targets and decision makers you need to reach. Sounds to me a lot more like Account Based Marketing is going to be way more effective here than merchandise. Now, it’s cool to have merchandise. I’ve seen lots of B to B companies have merchandise on their like, on their websites, or it’s just something that, you know, they hand out at a meeting, or something like that. Seen that before, and you know, maybe you make a little bit impassive revenue. Or it’s a really great thing for brand awareness to have no argument there. But if you think that is what’s going to take your business to the next step and elevate it when like the person, like the intern, points out, nobody is going to see this, and even if they do, they’re going to be on vacation and they’re not going to get the information they need from seeing your logo on a towel. Yeah, this is a product or service that requires education,

Dan Nedelko 23:39
yeah, for sure. And I mean, it screams, you need ABM, most of the revenue comes from two clients. So there’s probably two more clients out there that would double the revenue of this business with 60 grand. We’ll call it 90 grand because it sounds better and it’s Canadian. If you were going to do that, well, you would then have $45,000 to wine, dine, schmooze, send custom tools, or whatever the heck it is that they do, you could find something and do, and that’s the whole point of ABM, right? Is like, get rid of the merch. Get rid of the towels like you, because you only have a small number of Tiara clients and real key targets that you want to go after, even if they’re in the hundreds, and if you’re a bigger organization, even if they’re in the 1000s, if this guy has two, I mean, think of the things that they could do, right? They could send custom tools over to their prospective clients. They could offer a $45,000 discount for the first 12 months. I mean, for right, like, I mean, there you go. That certainly is a door opener in terms of loyalty in those types of spaces. But, you know, I think it also comes down to a really important point on this one, is the intern is obviously too junior to kind of stand up to the CEO of the company. I don’t think the power dynamic. Could be any further across the spectrum than that, right? You’ve got a, what is probably a young intern in school or fresh out of school, talking directly to the CEO, so like, there’s no intimidation there, right? I think one of the tactics that I would use, and I have used in in my past with this kind of thing, especially on the agency side. Because, you know, we you do run into this. You certainly do is a very plainly written, so not a whole lot of like, flowery language, not like this is a terrible idea. You shouldn’t do this, etc, etc. I would send it in an email, very matter of factly. Like, this is my recommendation. You can take it or you cannot take it. But I need to state this clearly. I like using that technique too, which is, when someone does something, it’s like, I can’t argue with you, because the power dynamic, you are the person in charge here, right? And quite often, you know, the person in charge is not actually the person in charge. I mean, I work for every one of our clients, right? I’m not like, I’m, by far, not a boss, right? So you have to convince the recipient of this. And a way to do it is just to say, This is my recommendation. I couldn’t be more firm about it, or I couldn’t, you know, recommend this more strongly. Here’s what I think you should do. Here’s why I think that this will not work out well, but ultimately, it’s your call. But I have to, kind of, you know, it’s like being in court. I think it’s like for the record, like, I have to go on the record as saying this so that, you know, I can wash my hands of this, like Pontius Pilot, like, I want nothing to do with this. If it tanks.

Joseph DellaVecchia 26:42
I have nothing else to add. I think that’s a very perfect summary of it.

Dan Nedelko 26:46
Cool, yeah. And I mean, I really do think, like when you in this really does relate to Account Based Marketing and to sales is oftentimes, you know, people talk about merch and they talk about promo stuff, and it’s always pens and post it notes. And, I mean, you go to a conference, right? You’re gonna get, you’re gonna get a whole bag of the same stuff,

Joseph DellaVecchia 27:10
right? Branded stress ball. Yeah,

Dan Nedelko 27:12
exactly the branded stress ball, the calculator, the coffee mug, you know, USB, terribly underpowered USB drive, like three gigabytes or two gigabytes or something. You know, you know the drill. The reality is, is that merchandise, like free promo stuff, can work, but you’ve got to really think about it, and please God, don’t give people post it notes and pens, although people do love pens, at least get nice pens, right? Like it’s something that’s memorable in those things, and really tailor it in ABM so you could send it directly to your prospect in a wrapped box with a nice thing that they will actually use. Yeah, it’s, it’s a, it’s a way that you can kind of contend with that. So alrighty, moving right along the story for us. Dan, I’ve got, I think this is our final story, actually, final story, final story of the day. We’re trying to last time we said we were going to do a half an hour, and we ended up doing an hour. So you know, we don’t want to necessarily do that. Let’s see here. Okay, so this one is on the sales side. This one is started a new SDR gig about a month ago, selling software development Pro Services. The SDR function sits under marketing. So my boss has never worked sales in their life. I’m being told to do 100% ABM messaging since the other SDR was having no success from high volume outreach, spent about two hours making an ABM campaign only to queue up seven people. Since our target segment is sub 500 million annual recurring revenue, talking to people is why I like sales. I need to find a way to spend more time on the phone. Even if no one answers, it still feels like I’m getting something done. If you look a salesman being forced into marketing, sitting and writing, except I have a quota hanging over my head. No experience selling proserve or to start up this small 15 total headcount is ABM really the only way forward. So that’s the scenario. Any thoughts right off the top, Joe, so

Joseph DellaVecchia 29:21
I think my thought right off the top is that this just screams, and we talked this In last episode. The biggest pain point we see with ABM, there isn’t an alignment between sales and marketing and ABM is sales and marketing alignment. If this, this marketing team should be working with the salesperson to help make that process easier, and the salesperson should be working with the marketing team to help understand the product. Understand the product and their process so they can create an effective strategy together. I think the salesperson also needs to understand the importance of building that personal one to one connection with the target account, contact whoever it is, and how valuable that’s going to be. One thing that I’ve seen a lot in my. Experience of working with sales people from across B, B to C, wherever. Is that, when they have a technique that works, they’re very resistant to change or to try a new technique. No, they’ve got like, Nope, I got this. I know I can get someone we said the last time. You know, you always hear like, if I can just get them on the phone, if I can just get them in the room face to

Dan Nedelko 30:19
face, if I can look them, if I can look them in the eye, right? That’s a big one, and that’s

Joseph DellaVecchia 30:25
and that’s then where it comes to, like, okay, maybe, but like, face to face, look him in the eye. That’s closing the deal. That’s your last step. Let’s get you there, and we have effective ways to get you there. So I do say this with a little bit of the marketers lens on, I’ll admit, but ultimately, it’s just the importance of alignment and working together, and not just the marketing team saying, Go do ABM to the salesperson who’s never done it before and just has a vague understanding, right?

Dan Nedelko 30:49
So I think that, I think that’s the first thing you hit the nail on the head, is, you know, what is ABM to this person? I don’t think they really clearly know, and I don’t think that their marketing director knows what it is, because in true ABM, you do not tell a fish to climb a tree, which is exactly what’s happening here. You don’t take someone that’s very good. That’s like saying ABM does not include outbound calling, and that’s not true. That’s not true at all. Account Based Marketing does not increase the divide between digital and what you would call traditional sales method. In fact, it merges the two. So why would you take someone that has success with calling, that knows how to call, and say, now don’t call, because we don’t call at this point in our funnel. The funnel has to be flexible enough to say, Oh, we can accommodate that that calling portion of it. And in fact, I mean, you’d be crazy to do ABM without any calling whatsoever. Now, should you do cold calling? Where do you do it? How do you do it? There’s always a nuance to that. And this poor soul spent two hours making an ABM campaign, not sure what it was, probably an email sequence of some sort, and not having any luck with it at all. So the the other dynamic here is that they’ve put the SDRs, the sales development reps, and the BDRs, the business development reps, which are usually really what like that fundamentally comes down to, is they’re the call setters for the for the salespeople. That’s, that’s their job is to nurture. Sometimes, organizations will put those people under the marketing team, which isn’t a bad idea, as long as the person running marketing has sales experience or can appreciate what goes into that process, right? Doesn’t sound like that’s the case here, and it’s a huge problem. So, you know, if I were giving this person advice, you’re in a small company, your total headcount is only 15, I would just go right to the President and the marketing leader, whoever that is, sit them down and say, Look, this is how I’m successful. I can’t be successful. It’s not going to work, right? Like, this is going to fail for all various reasons. So, like, you could take that approach in this scenario, right? And there’s a really great comment here, I want to kind of go over to because some of the comments actually have a lot of really good feedback here. So wait, I understand this, seven contacts per lease per day, this ends up averaging out like 34 unique activities at full volume. That sounds like a part time job, or it’s multithreading at the lead stage is necessary, getting into and through to accounts. That’s really like you got to talk to other salespeople here, because that’s not enough. You’re never going to close. You need more volume than that in order to close that to get to your sales targets. Like, you’re going to be basically staring at the wall and and if you see the like Thelma and Louise, right? Like, if you if you know the car is going off the cliff. I you’d be like, Thelma and Louise and go right on over. They do that, right? I got that, right? They do yes, but you don’t want to be rolling towards it like hoping, like, Gee, I hope I can get out going really slow. You know, if you’re, if you’re going at two miles per hour towards the cliff, and the cliff is a couple of miles away, get out of the car like any time and figure out the right way to do it. Don’t just slowly, you know, that would be really sad just to be sitting in that car slowly going over the edge of that cliff after a year or so of doing that.

Joseph DellaVecchia 34:36
So 100% Totally agree it’s Yeah, and we said it before, you know, we’ll say it again. The worst people to talk about sales and marketing alignment

Dan Nedelko 34:48
with, yes, they typically don’t align so well, it’s the thing. It’s true

Joseph DellaVecchia 34:53
for ABM to work, it’s gotta, it’s gotta have that synergy. And just on your point of that’s not enough. When we work with clients and we start where. With them on ABM, we always say, you know, your target account list started with 100 you need to have those 100 target accounts, right?

Dan Nedelko 35:08
Yeah. And I mean a couple of things. One, we come at it, and I hate that it’s called Account Based Marketing, because it’s, it’s, it’s sales and marketing alignment is what it is, right? So sometimes we meet sales teams, and there’s some resistance to working on this, like all you wouldn’t know you you know it takes, it is a significant boulder to roll up a hill, if it’s not phrased and introduced properly in the sense that we are aligning with the best activities that sales does. So whatever’s working for you right now, we want to know what that is, and then we’re going to enhance it. We’re going to make it better, because we’re going to take what’s working, integrate it into a full flow for the stuff that we know works, and everything’s going to get stronger, but it’s going to follow what you’re doing right now. So yeah, the sales and the marketing alignment, super duper important in terms of how this whole process works, and so the sales teams and the marketing teams are often, and it’s often not all at war, right? It’s a Cold War. It’s a war of inertia. It’s a war of lack of response. It’s a war of lack of engagement. It’s a war of a lack of communication. These are problems inside of organizations that organizations constantly need to be aware of, because it’s the silent killer, right? It’s like, well, no, our sales teams and marketing teams, they don’t fight, but they also don’t work together. They don’t collaborate, and it’s so it’s very polite, right? It’s very friendly, it’s very corporately friendly, but it certainly isn’t collaborative and moving that thing forward. And that’s that, that’s that internal resistance, that silent killer that really needs to be addressed specifically by sales leadership and marketing leadership, that mom and dad get along, everybody else on the team gets along, and this is how we’re going to do it, right? So that’s all

Joseph DellaVecchia 37:06
I have to sum it up. If ABM is rolling a boulder up a hill, don’t be Sisyphus.

Dan Nedelko 37:12
I think that’s the second Sisyphus reference you’ve had this week. Or was that last week? Last

Joseph DellaVecchia 37:18
two weeks,

Dan Nedelko 37:19
the last one? Okay, I’ve gone about 25 years without a real Sisyphus reference. Just for anyone that is unsure about who Sisyphus is, Joe.

Joseph DellaVecchia 37:29
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is the one that is cursed to roll the boulder up the hill. And once it gets to the top, it will roll back down, and he will forever be forced to complete his task, essentially, getting to the height only you have to restart from the bottom, a modern day reference of Sisyphus is Darth Mauls complete Star Wars arc from The Phantom Menace to Star Wars. Oh,

Dan Nedelko 37:48
wow. You just nerd it out. And you had a Star Wars reference in the middle of a Sales Marketing podcast. Good job. You go Star Wars three would be proud of you, wouldn’t you? Yeah, there you go. All right, we have now hit the time. Finally, what not to do? Yes, go ahead, Joe. I want,

Joseph DellaVecchia 38:07
I want to put it like this. You know, I understand people coming to us and saying, What should I do on LinkedIn? You don’t really know what to do LinkedIn advertising. I feel like they don’t even know what they’re doing. They’re changing the rules every five seconds over there. But you know, sometimes it’s like what not to do. Okay, you know, maybe you shouldn’t post this type of content, or maybe you should structure your content this way. That’s what I would think the What Not To Dos. But sometimes people do things that you think are very obvious what not to do, but they’re still doing it, and that’s why the subreddit r slash LinkedIn lunatics exists. It’s a subreddit Damn that you actually turned me on to and it’s filled with people posting, some of it satire, but most of it, I’d say about 90% of it, is people posting things on LinkedIn that they really shouldn’t do. And the only way to really emphasizing at this point across, I think, is to go through some real examples. Yeah, really awesome things we found,

Dan Nedelko 38:59
if you’re having, yeah, recently. I mean, this stuff is all hot off the presses. None of this is like old. Sometimes you’ll find memes and they’re a few years old. LinkedIn lunatics is one of my favorite places. If you’re having a bad sales day, go check out LinkedIn lunatics. If you’re frustrated because your LinkedIn post isn’t getting any traction, go visit LinkedIn lunatics. I think the important thing about this LinkedIn lunatics is super entertaining. Even the satire is great. The best part is when it’s absolutely real. That is the part that makes it even more entertaining. And please God, you know, don’t do these things. You know, in the quest for LinkedIn engagement, people are willing to go to great lengths to do very, very well, what would con the the thing about common sense is that it’s not so common anymore. Isn’t that your old man? Funny

Joseph DellaVecchia 39:50
thing about common sense is that it’s not so common anymore, right? My but my martial arts teacher used to say to me all the time,

Dan Nedelko 39:57
right? So people are con. Constantly asking us, what should I do on LinkedIn, and what shouldn’t I do? And, I mean, you know, would you do it in real life? Like, if you wouldn’t do it in real life, then please, you probably shouldn’t do it on LinkedIn. That’s the first one. So why don’t you kick us off with good old Steve Rigby here? Yeah,

Joseph DellaVecchia 40:13
I wanna talk about Steve Rigby here. Steve Rigby is a principal at Rigby Associates, and it looks like he’s trying to be a thought leader on LinkedIn. We’ve all been there. You know, you want people to notice and respect your opinion and see you as an expert in the field. It’s true. And so Steve commented on this video. The videos crop. We don’t really know what the video is, but Steve’s comment on the video is, they earn so much. There is never a personal risk. CEO bollocks, I am afraid. I’ve worked with them. So he’s, he’s right now making a comment and calling out CEOs and saying that, you know, there’s no personal risk

Dan Nedelko 40:46
for them. And the first, yeah, oh, go ahead. I don’t want to interrupt. Go ahead and you know. So you look at this, you see

Joseph DellaVecchia 40:51
a comment. And usually, you know, if I’m making a comment and I want to see traction again, I’m going to sit back and I’m going to wait and see if anyone interacts with it, see if anybody starts discussing it with me and form a discourse from there, Steve did get a comment back. He got one comment back, and this person is agreeing with Steve. And so you think that would be great for Steve’s engagement and for people to see him as a thought leader. The only problem is that he’s common. Agreeing with him is from Steve himself one minute after making his original comment, Yeah, where’s Steve Rigby comments tagging Steve Rigby saying, great point, Steve, good

Dan Nedelko 41:34
job. Steve. The

Joseph DellaVecchia 41:35
comment also has one like which I assume is Steve Rigby liking his own comment. I cannot

Dan Nedelko 41:42
be. The only way to make this better would be for Steve Rigby to fully go into an entire back and forth thread. You know, have an argument, have a debate. You know, go down that rabbit hole. Steve, yeah, you know, you’ve got to have at least one friend. I mean, I think I have one friend at least. I mean, I’ve got kids, so that’s okay. Get your wife, get your mother, get your cousin, get somebody to, like, even reach out and ask them, Can you please, like, you know, throw this comment down, but don’t do it yourself. That’s it’s not a good look. So it’s

Joseph DellaVecchia 42:19
the one person liking and reposting all your LinkedIn stuff. Me, my your one LinkedIn friend. Yeah,

Dan Nedelko 42:24
well, you might be my one friend. So there’s that. And I think I have to pay you for that, so that’s good, too. All right, moving right along. Dennis hegstad, I’m gonna, actually, this is your gem, Joe. So I can, I can get

Joseph DellaVecchia 42:41
my gem. And so then I phrase it to you like this. Dennis HEG said, tweeted essentially a would you rather question? And you know, I think it’s, it’s an interesting question that we should take a moment and discuss. Dan hypothetical here, would you rather if I could give you one of the following two things? Which one are you going to take? Would you rather take a $1.2 billion winning lottery ticket, or 100,000 LinkedIn followers.

Dan Nedelko 43:07
I mean, it’s, it’s not even a pause, even though I paused, you would obviously take the 1.2 billion for like, for 1.2 billion reasons. But what did Dennis say? Dennis

Joseph DellaVecchia 43:20
said he’s choosing option B, 100,000 LinkedIn followers every time. He says, You should never underestimate the power of having a personal brand online. And I will agree with one thing. Dennis is right. You should never underestimate the power of having a personal brand online. We’ve seen it happen with many in many different ways, in many different cultures. What power a brand can have for you. However, I did the math before we sat down, Dan and 100,000 LinkedIn followers. At $1.2 billion is $12,000 per person. I cannot imagine a world where 100,000 people follow you, where you pay $12,000 to have someone follow you, and they make up that value over time, they somehow bring you in new business. They somehow elevate you to this whole new level. I cannot see you spending $12,000 per person and having a positive return on investment on that.

Dan Nedelko 44:11
I mean, I guess LinkedIn. I mean, I guess you could treat this like a thought experiment, but I don’t think Dennis has really thought through the thought experiment fully, because if you got a $1.2 billion in cash, you could easily get yourself a million LinkedIn followers, simply by taking, I don’t know, a quarter million dollars, which is a small fraction. So I think also people forget about what a billion is, right? 1000 million dollars, that is an enormously large amount of money, not even close, right? So you get 1000 you get 1000 $200 million even if you took 50 of them, of the millions, and solely put it into LinkedIn. I mean, I. Good lord, you could certainly get 100,000 LinkedIn followers for that. You could certainly have a ghostwritten book, you could have a TV show, you could do all sorts of things. So the thought experiment here falls to pieces. I think the lesson for me in this one is, I mean, don’t try to be too friggin clever. I think Dennis was really trying too hard here. Probably had somebody ghostwrite this and didn’t check it. You know, Twitter slash x right now is, well, actually, I think we’ve got an example coming up. I see so many of these, like, you know, Apple released iOS 18. Here’s nine things you need to know about. Or, I watched the Avengers last night. And here’s nine things I learned. Like, I mean, it is the most overdone contents, pasta, content, copy, pasta that you could possibly see. I think that’s possibly what happened here, because it’s, I’m a little embarrassed for Dennis, and I, I don’t well. I hope he doesn’t have a professional life to account for on social Well,

Joseph DellaVecchia 46:03
the first thing I want to say is I appreciate you trying to find the lesson in an r slash LinkedIn post. I think that’s and to find an actual, real lesson is true. Also, that’s a valuable skill you’ve got there. But I want to go back to your point of just understanding how much 1.2 billion is in people not realizing. And it reminds me of when I was in high school in math, my math teacher put a line on the board and put one end and one end. He put zero on the left end and 1 billion on the right end. He gave me the marker. He said, Joe, go mark on the board where you think $1 million is between zero and 1 billion. I walked up and I put the line right in the middle. Made sense to me, you know, grade nine math. I’m like, yeah, it’s right in the middle. And then we went through it, and where it actually stands is that it is very, very close, like a centimeter, maybe two centimeters away from zero on this line is where he put the mark for 1 million. Because zero to a million is a lot already, yeah, but then you have to redo that 1000 times, and that’s how you get to a billion. A billion, yeah, billion is so much. It’s like, yeah, it would be like, but like, here’s Yeah, I love my job. If I had $1.2 billion Dan, I’m sorry I’m not coming into work

Dan Nedelko 47:17
tomorrow. I don’t blame you, and I don’t think I would. I would tell you, I want a billion dollars. They’ll see in, like, I don’t know, a month, whatever happens, I don’t really care. I think, I think that’s pretty normal. Yeah, I think of the math side of it, you know. And that’s the interesting thing, when you see influencers talking, whether it’s on YouTube, on LinkedIn, on Twitter, on wherever it is, and, you know, even if you say like I’m a millionaire because you have a business, you’re not a millionaire. Otherwise I’d be a millionaire and I’m not a millionaire. But if you have a legitimate millionaire comparing themselves to Elon Musk or Jeffrey Bezos or anybody that’s on the billionaires list, right, it’s not even a valid comparison. The two are just so wildly off in terms of economies of scale and exponential growth. So yeah, I think that. I think beyond that, I think the takeaway is stop trying to be too clever, right, and beat this one to death. All right, moving on to our next one here. This is a this is a good one again. Please stop trying to farm engagement on LinkedIn. This is definitely something you should not do. And it was Business Insider, right? Like this guy. So Business Insider, not one of my favorite publications. I think that they, they do a lot of just like anything for the click, but here’s the quote, my divorce was the worst job I ever had. Make no mistake, it was an unpaid job with unreasonable hours. So I decided, like any job I’ve had to put my divorce and my LinkedIn resume says, Carl Dunn. Good job. Carl.

Joseph DellaVecchia 48:57
Can I say something that might just be a hot take that I want to preface. I have no pre information. I’m just, I’m making an assumption here. Okay, this guy got divorced because he was married to his job and not his wife.

Dan Nedelko 49:11
Either that or he was really bad at creating content to try to, like, farm content. One of the two, either way, I’m happy for his ex wife. Yeah, congratulations, you did a good job. I don’t even know what to say, you know, like, yes, we talk about being witty. We talk about, you know, be creative, be witty, be funny. I can’t tell if any of those things are at play here, but it certainly is not in great taste to and I mean, maybe he just hates his ex wife. I mean, cool, but, yeah, I don’t. I don’t really have much else to comment except don’t do this.

Joseph DellaVecchia 49:50
This one’s just funny. This one’s for our amusement. Honestly, yes,

Dan Nedelko 49:53
this is for our amusement. And we’re going down the route, oh, sorry. We’re gonna say something there. I

Joseph DellaVecchia 49:58
was just gonna say, Dan, like, our. Last one that we’re going to talk about, which I think is what you about to segue here goes back to that trend you were talking about, where people are overusing those content copy pastas, where they no longer original or creative. They’ve kind of become a meme at this point. And one of the most popular ones that we’ve seen is what this taught me about B to B sales, and people trying to take real life experiences and translate that to B to B sales, one of the most common, overused ones is people proposing, taking the event of proposing and saying what my proposal taught me about B to B. Sales, and I always find it really weird when they then talk about negotiating. I’m like, why are you negotiating in your proposal? Your marriage proposal, doesn’t I have comments about that.

Dan Nedelko 50:41
There’s, there’s actually, that’s interrupt you. There is a great LinkedIn lunatics threat about that very thing, yeah, yeah,

Joseph DellaVecchia 50:49
yeah. But you found one Dan that absolutely like, I think takes the

Dan Nedelko 50:53
cake. Yeah, it’s, it’s a good one. And if you’re watching on YouTube or on the video, you would have seen it already. And, you know, just hang on so bow tied. Cool surf. I’m not sure if I’m saying that right, but I’m gonna try. My wife got pregnant by another man. It’s been a challenging nine months knowing he’s not only my son, he’s not my son, but I’m so excited to raise him like my own. Nice thought. Here’s nine things that taught me about B to B sales. And I wish we had nine failed trumpet I wish we could. We could find them. Maybe we will find them for a future episode in the world of analogies, this is wrong on so many levels. I don’t think it taught you anything. Anyways, I don’t even know what to say they’re really I can’t tell if this is satire. I am hoping bow tied qual is, is a satire channel, and this is taking a jab at everybody that posts these nine things that taught me about something, not just B to B sales, but anything. I got nothing. I got nothing on this except, like, don’t be this guy.

Joseph DellaVecchia 52:02
Like you’re, you’re just airing out your personal laundry for clicks at that point. And the shock factor up at the top, which, I mean, there’s so many other ways you can talk about shock factor. People on LinkedIn love a good statistic, lead with a shocking statistic. Don’t lead with your wife got pregnant. Yeah,

Dan Nedelko 52:20
I think there’s a difference, just like with anything. I mean, if we’re gonna take this down a slightly serious road as we wrap up for this episode, is, you know, it’s not anything for clicks, because LinkedIn is full of that. There are people that their job is just LinkedIn engagement, and they farm it as much as they can, and the tropes are tired Well, well, the content has become a trope, right? A content has become a meme because they’ve used it, reused it. They squeezed that lemon a million times, and they just keep doing the same thing that is not someone to follow that at all. I think what you need to do is you actually need to find your own voice and provide value to the people that that you are intending to be valuable to, and that can be a really small group. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be millions of people. So don’t just try to and, I mean, I think on Tiktok now, right? It’s the is it a Gen Alpha? Like a Gen X tries to speak. Gen alphas is a bit of a thing for farming engagement, right? Yeah. And once it’s funny, and okay, you do it. I see this real estate agent. I think he’s done like two dozen of these videos, and he’s farming engagement at that point, it’s a bit too much right. Like you’re you’ve gone over, you’ve crossed over a line of providing valuable content into really damaging your own brand, looking like an idiot using these things in the wrong way. And like I said, my hope is that this is actually a jab at that format, this copy PASTA format, which is really like, if you go on to Twitter, my my Twitter timeline is just polluted with this stuff. There isn’t nine things that I haven’t been taught by, everything from the Samsung product release to the Apple WWDC to the last episode of of House of Dragon. Like it’s, it’s just done, and it’s ridiculous.

Joseph DellaVecchia 54:25
Here’s what the last episode of House of Dragon taught me about B to B sales, bring a dragon with you to get what you want.

Dan Nedelko 54:30
Yeah, exactly. Well, no, here’s what the last episode of House of the Dragon taught me about B to B sales is. Don’t give away the climax three episodes before the end of the season. There you go. That’s it. That’s all because that’s exactly what happened. If you haven’t watched house of the dragon, I think it’s eight episodes. Episode Five really is the constructive season finale, which is the big battle scene with the dragons. Everything else after that is just talking

Joseph DellaVecchia 54:59
you. Not in a good way.

Dan Nedelko 55:01
No, not in a good way. I was, honestly, I like the show a lot. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a vast, vast worlds better than the last few seasons of Game of Thrones. But, I mean, I was like, why am I even watching this? I don’t even care at this point, this, these last few episodes, especially the final episode of the season. So anyways, that’s a different rabbit hole.

Joseph DellaVecchia 55:25
Or Dan’s thoughts. I’m sure there’s a pop culture and movie streaming podcast he’s been on before to talk about these types of things,

Dan Nedelko 55:32
and it would actually be 21st century cinema

Joseph DellaVecchia 55:38
TF, streaming, wherever you get your podcast, that’s right. Search I hear the host is really good looking. Search

Dan Nedelko 55:42
up TF CC, 21st century cinema, hosted by Joseph dellavecchia. And you can hit up the number one most streamed episode ever of TFCC is guest host

Joseph DellaVecchia 55:58
by Dan nedelko. Yes, it is true for no

Dan Nedelko 56:01
lack episode, for no lack of opinion on popcorn versus cinema. Popcorn, film versus cinema. So anyhow, with that, I think we can do a graceful exit. We said we were going to do 25 minutes. We are now at pretty much an hour again. So yeah,

Joseph DellaVecchia 56:17
you know. But if you’re here and you’re listening. That means you like it. That’s, that’s, you know, we found our people. They’re okay listening to us Blab. When we say, Hey, we’re gonna go for 25 minutes and we go for an hour. Dan, I think you have the same experience as I do. Where my wife I say, I’m gonna blab for 25 minutes. At 26 minutes, she’s like, can we go? People are here and they’re and they’re staying for it. If you think we’re on the right

Dan Nedelko 56:40
track, if you think for one second I’m inserting myself in a conversation between you and your wife on a recorded podcast that will live on the internet, you gotta be insane. Katie’s

Joseph DellaVecchia 56:49
right. You’re a talker like me. I’m assuming you’ve had a similar experience. Oh, I

Dan Nedelko 56:53
have, I have, my wife just zones out. She just zones out, like, like, I’ve

Joseph DellaVecchia 56:57
watched, she’s learned. I’ve

Dan Nedelko 56:58
watched Star Wars, uh, episode for A New Hope, well over 175 times in the almost 20 years we’ve been together, every time I turn it on, it’s as if she’s never seen it before. She is so good at just she legitimately does not watch it, but it looks like she is watching it, but she’s not. She’s not absorbing it. So that is a special superpower of hers and hers alone. All right, no, if you’re still here, no, that’s fantastic, and that’s great. You know, we do these relatively unscripted, and we’re continuing to do these with a focus on sales, marketing, ABM, agency, life, sales, life, all of those things. So thanks for being here. Thanks for subscribing, thanks for following. If you’re listening to us on Apple podcast or Spotify, please leave us a like comment. Follow us and give us a star rating review. That stuff is really, you know, it’s the lifeblood of podcasts. And we’re back, and we’re going to be, I think we’re every other week now, right, Joe,

Joseph DellaVecchia 58:04
that’s the goal. We’re every other week, every other week,

Dan Nedelko 58:07
with another episode and probably some smaller ones to be inserted, so you can expect a good, consistent flow. And we’ve seen amazing growth in live at the high digital marketing from the trenches, or it’s digital marketing from the trenches live at the hive. We’re a bit schizophrenic on it. We even picked out some really fancy new podcast music that we will be introducing probably in this episode. So that’s it. That’s a wrap for this week.

Joseph DellaVecchia 58:37
We’ll see you guys next time with another exciting episode.

Dan Nedelko 58:40
That’s it. That’s the outro. Boom. Thanks so much. We’re signing off. Oh, I think I used to say peas and carrots. No, that was my kids stream. Anyways, have a great weekend. Have a great week. We’ll see you on the next episode of digital marketing from the trenches, peace!

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In the latest episode of Live at the Hive, hosts Dan and Joe dive into the essentials of Account Based Marketing (ABM) and its impact on business growth. As a strategic tool, ABM helps businesses target high-value accounts by aligning sales and marketing efforts. Here, we’ll summarize key points discussed in this insightful podcast and explore how you can implement an effective ABM strategy to boost your B2B sales.

Understanding Account Based Marketing (ABM)ABM is a focused growth strategy that uses marketing resources to engage a specific set of high-value accounts. Unlike traditional broad-spectrum marketing methods, ABM involves creating personalized campaigns tailored to individual accounts or small groups of accounts. This approach ensures that marketing efforts are directed towards the most promising leads, resulting in higher conversion rates and stronger customer relationships.

Key Elements of Account Based Marketing1. Aligning Sales and MarketingThe success of ABM hinges on the seamless alignment of sales and marketing teams. Effective communication between these departments is crucial. Sales teams provide insights on successful deal closures and potential leads, while marketing creates content and campaigns based on this information. This collaboration ensures that messaging is consistent and targeted.

Defining Target AccountsIdentify and prioritize high-value accounts that are most likely to benefit from your product or service. Focus on understanding their specific needs and pain points. This helps in creating tailored marketing strategies. Engaging with these target accounts can involve personalized emails, customized content, and strategic outreach activities.
Leveraging TechnologyImplementing the right technology is essential for an efficient ABM strategy. Use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and marketing automation tools to track engagement, manage workflows, and score leads. These tools help in moving prospects seamlessly through the sales funnel, from initial awareness to closing the deal.

Strategies for Effective Account Based MarketingCreate High-Quality ContentYour content should provide value to your targeted accounts at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Offer in-depth insights, industry-specific reports, and thought leadership pieces that address their unique challenges. Ensure that your content is not only informative but also engaging and easily accessible.

Nurture Leads and Build RelationshipsLead nurturing plays a crucial role in ABM. Use a combination of email marketing, social media engagement, and personalized messages to keep your prospects interested. Regularly update them with relevant information and demonstrate your expertise, helping to build trust and credibility over time.

Utilize Traditional Sales TechniquesDon’t overlook the effectiveness of traditional sales tactics such as cold calling, warm calling, and attending networking events or conferences. These methods help in building personal connections and can lead to valuable face-to-face interactions with potential clients.

Getting Started with Account Based MarketingImplementing an effective ABM strategy can transform your sales and marketing efforts, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. By aligning your teams, defining target accounts, and leveraging the right technology, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are focused on the most promising opportunities. Remember, successful ABM is about building meaningful relationships with your clients and providing them with personalized, high-quality content that addresses their specific needs.

Stay tuned for more insights on ABM and other marketing strategies by following the Digital Marketing from the Trenches podcast, everywhere you listen to podcasts.

The post Account Based Marketing for B2B Sales Teams – An Introduction first appeared on Digital Marketing for Growing Businesses by Honeypot Marketing.

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Welcome back to Digital Marketing from the Trenches – Live at the Hive!Dan Nedelko and Joseph DellaVecchia discuss the importance of Google Business Profiles for local businesses. Did you know that 96% of consumers have conducted a local search in the last 30 days?

Google Business Profiles offer features like reviews, direct calls, and content posting features, making it easier for consumers to find and engage with businesses.

We also discuss the benefits of NFC tags for gathering reviews and the significance of consistent updates.

In this podcast, we’re discussing the role Google Business Profile plays in lead generation and the importance of integrating local lead generation, SEO and reviews with your marketing strategies.

The TLDR (Too Long Didn’t Read) VersionLive at the Hive – Google Business Profiles and Lead Generation* Dan Nedelko introduces the podcast “Live at the Hive” and mentions the previous podcast that ran for four years. * Dan welcomes Joseph DellaVecchia, who is a long-time listener and first-time guest co-host. * Joseph DellaVecchia shares his background and mentions his involvement in various social media platforms. * Dan and Joseph discuss the importance of refreshing content to avoid feeling stale and the constant changes in marketing trends.

Discussion on Social Media Platforms and Algorithms* Dan and Joseph talk about the evolution of social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. * Joseph shares his observations on the differences in engagement and content performance across different platforms. * They discuss the challenges of understanding and adapting to ever-changing algorithms, especially on TikTok. * Dan emphasizes the importance of staying updated with platform changes to maintain relevance and engagement.

Introduction to Google Business Profiles* Dan introduces the main topic of the podcast: Google Business Profiles and their importance for local businesses. * They highlight the significant number of local searches conducted by consumers in the last 30 days. * Dan explains the broader context of digital marketing and its impact on businesses and consumers. * Joseph and Dan discuss the evolution of business directories from traditional Yellow Pages to modern Google Business Profiles.

Benefits and Features of Google Business Profiles* Dan explains the ease of setting up a Google Business Profile and its benefits for businesses. * They discuss the various features available, such as phone calls, directions, website links, and reviews. * Joseph shares his experience with different platforms and the varying engagement metrics observed. * Dan emphasizes the importance of businesses verifying their profiles and keeping them updated.

Importance of Reviews and Consumer Behavior* Dan and Joseph discuss the significance of reviews in influencing consumer decisions. * They highlight the rise of review-based platforms like Amazon and how it has shaped consumer behavior. * Joseph explains the role of Google Business Profiles in allowing businesses to interact with reviews and maintain a positive online presence. * They discuss the importance of genuine, organic reviews and the impact of negative reviews on business reputation.

Strategies for Obtaining Reviews* Joseph suggests various strategies for businesses to obtain reviews, such as outreach campaigns and NFC tags. * They discuss the benefits of NFC tags for making it easy for customers to leave reviews. * Dan shares his experience with using NFC tags and their effectiveness in gathering reviews. * They emphasize the importance of consistent updates and engagement with the Google Business Profile to maintain a strong online presence.

Introduction to Win Local Program* Dan introduces the Win Local program, which offers a setup checklist, Google Business Profile setup service, and a subscription program. * He explains the benefits of the program for businesses, including ongoing support and content creation. * Joseph highlights the importance of having a consistent audience and the role of Google Business Profiles in attracting new customers. * They discuss the different tiers of the subscription program and how they cater to businesses of various sizes and needs.

Integration with Other Marketing Channels* Dan and Joseph discuss the integration of Google Business Profiles with other marketing channels like social media and traditional advertising. * They emphasize the importance of a holistic marketing approach that includes both organic and paid strategies. * Joseph explains how Google Business Profiles complement other marketing efforts by providing a direct path to qualified leads. * They highlight the role of Google Business Profiles in capturing consumers in a state of need and converting them into customers.

Conclusion and Call to Action* Dan and Joseph wrap up the discussion by emphasizing the importance of Google Business Profiles for local businesses. * They encourage businesses to take advantage of the platform and maintain an updated profile. * Dan provides contact information for listeners to reach out with questions or inquiries about Google Business Profiles and lead generation. * They conclude by reiterating the benefits of a well-executed Google Business Profile strategy for business growth.

The post Unlocking The Power of Google Business Profiles for Local Businesses first appeared on Digital Marketing for Growing Businesses by Honeypot Marketing.

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Welcome back to Live at the Hive!Dan Nedelko and Joseph DellaVecchia discuss the importance of Google Business Profiles for local businesses. Did you know that 96% of consumers have conducted a local search in the last 30 days?

Google Business Profiles offer features like reviews, direct calls, and content posting features, making it easier for consumers to find and engage with businesses.

We also discuss the benefits of NFC tags for gathering reviews and the significance of consistent updates.

In this podcast, we’re discussing the role Google Business Profile plays in lead generation and the importance of integrating local lead generation, SEO and reviews with your marketing strategies.

The TLDR (Too Long Didn't Read) VersionLive at the Hive – Google Business Profiles and Lead Generation* Dan Nedelko introduces the podcast "Live at the Hive" and mentions the previous podcast that ran for four years. * Dan welcomes Joseph DellaVecchia, who is a long-time listener and first-time guest co-host. * Joseph DellaVecchia shares his background and mentions his involvement in various social media platforms. * Dan and Joseph discuss the importance of refreshing content to avoid feeling stale and the constant changes in marketing trends.

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Is your content not performing as well as you'd hoped? Simply creating content and releasing it doesn't guarantee success for your business.

Content needs to be engaging and properly defined before publishing so it aligns with your target audience to create a buyer's journey.In this episode, we are joined by our special guest, Ken Marshall, Chief Growth Officer at RevenueZen.Ken's agency has developed systems that turn your website from an afterthought, into a powerful tool that generates new sales inquiries for your business without you having to lift a finger. For the last 5 years, Ken and his team have honed their superpowers to create Google-approved SEO, nurture content marketing conversions, and develop effective LinkedIn strategies.RevenueZen looks at demand and lead generation from a holistic approach that involves tailoring strategies to the specific needs of your business. Driven by a desire for long-term and sustainable business growth for all clients.It's all about using your platform to create a buyer's journey that engages with potential clients.Through proper analysis and discovery, you too can create direct solutions that will efficiently address client pain points.B2B Marketing Tips That Work In 2022: Content, SEO, Social, and Authenticity

We'll discuss tips and strategies to help your business improve in the B2B space.What's on the agenda?

Evolution of B2B generation. Creating roadmaps for potential clients. B2B content strategies. Process of discovery to identify and create content Building an engaging rapport with potential clients.

Evolution of B2B Generation Whether it's a marketer in-house or an agency, a business should never think that their channel or anyone's channel is the right channel for them at that given time.

As technology developed and became more accessible to consumers and businesses alike, digital marketing changed too.

The B2B generation has evolved with this new idea of dark social and multiple touchpoints ad we are starting to give that the credit that it deserves when people have always made purchasing decisions that way.

The major shift is people are spending more time choosing their own journey with multiple touchpoints. Creating Roadmaps for Potential Clients A roadmap is a communication document that outlines your product's direction, intention and problems you are interested in solving.

Here are some best practices when building your roadmap:

Define your audience as this will define the level of details Use a now, next, later column format to simplify the layout and make your roadmap easy to navigate If you are managing a larger portfolio or a complex product, you might want to highlight product areas Be transparent about what your goals are and how you aim to get there, both through the outcomes and value you want to provide them with

B2 Strategies Planning a successful B2B marketing strategy takes time, but when done right, it will pay off immensely for your business.

Segment your market, then focus on a target segment Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for each market segment Perform a competitor analysis Take your prospect's through the buyer's journey Identify channels and resources to use

Process of discovery to identify and create content. How do you tap into your audience's context to find the content you need to create?

Audience Research: The key to content discovery Use Content Discovery Tools Create a strategy Brainstorm Ideas Be Authentic Keep your audience in mind

Building an Engaging Rapport With Potential Clients Building rapport involves finding common ground, establishing good communication, and building mutual respect.

Connect over something you have in common Share the game plan Be empathetic to the problems they are facing Actively listen and respond Restate their problems in your own words Be genuine

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When your business grows and expands from its original design, customers new or old can become confused by the change and unsure of the direction you're heading in.

Your company may need to redefine itself to reduce complexity, and the best way to do that is through a rebrand.

In this episode, we are joined by our two special guests, Kim Tarlo from Mint and Josh Alvernia from Clue.

Kim is the Executive Creative Director and Partner at Mint, an independent creative agency that builds brands to make a positive impact on culture and the future.

She works with brands to take on the different business challenges that they face depending on their lifecycle. Kim also works with big companies who are trying to evolve to a new audience or launch new campaigns and products.

Josh is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clue, a leading data and media partner for search, social, and programmatic advertising.

At Clue, Josh helps marketers interpret and transform their data into growth.

His team of strategists, traders, developers, data analysts, and engineers help right-size data and advertising technology to solve unique challenges and unlock businesses' boundless potential online.

Overcoming challenges of a rebrand and finding inspiration through process and execution to deliver a clear message and service.

Rebranding a company can help it thrive and become timeless to keep up with audiences of today and the future.

The Anatomy of a Rebrand: Humanizing a Tech Brand

We'll be discussing the inspiration, process, and execution that goes into the rebranding of a business. What's on the agenda?

Introducing Kim Tarlo of Mint and Josh Alvernia of Clue. The business perspective on rebranding. The agency perspective on rebranding. What goes into a rebranding project? The common pitfalls or challenges when rebranding and ways to avoid them. How to measure if the rebrand was a success.

Introducing Kim Tarlo of Mint Agency and Josh Alvernia of Clue Digital Meet Kim Tarlo. She is the Executive Director and Partner at the Mint Agency based in Toronto.

Mint Agency works with brands that take on different business challenges such as rebranding.

They work with different clients who are trying to evolve to a new audience or launch new campaigns or products.

Meet Josh Alvernia from Clue Digital. Clue Digital is a data and media partner across search, social and programmatic advertising.

The goal of Clue Digital is to help marketers interpret and transform their data into business growth, especially through expertly managed media campaigns.

The mission of Clue Digital is to right-size data and advertising techniques so that they can solve unique challenges. The Business Perspective on Rebranding The internal perspective of the business can change when it starts growing.

The changes occur when companies shift their products or services while growing.

The primary reason to rebrand a business is to change the target audience and change the marketing strategy.

Rebranding can be strategically a good idea when as a business you are crystal clear about the changes that you want to make. The Agency’s Perspective on Rebranding The first step of any rebrand, especially with a company where you have key stakeholders, is getting to know the vision for the business, where it is meant to go and aiming to go, where it's been and where the customers are today.

It is important to understand what's going on with the business and all the roadblocks they are facing.

It is also really crucial to get close with key stakeholders for a rebrand and be aligned on the goals and what the big idea is set to be for the business. What Goes Into a Rebranding Project? To rebrand a business is to take it in a new direction. It's about going to the core of what you stand for, consolidating your aims and vision and then modifying your image to reflect these changes.

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It can undoubtedly be frustrating when your business or website comes up at the bottom of a search.That's exactly why you need proper SEO optimization to increase traffic to your site and climb the search engine ranks to be visible to potential clients.In this episode, we'll be talking to Vikas Singal, an entrepreneur, Professional SEO Consultant, Founder & CEO of SamBlogs.com, and Founder of Grownle.com who has been working in Digital Marketing Industry for over 11+ years.Vikas is well known for providing invaluable service and SEO insights to all of his clients to help accelerate their business growth.

Whether you are the leader of a small business, start-up, challenger brand, or enterprise, Vikas can answer your SEO questions.Knowing the importance of SEO and what it can do for your business will get you the result you need in the world of digital marketing.It's all about increasing your findability online and ranking at the top so people can find your business.SEO Fundamentals and the Future of Search for Business.

We'll be discussing SEO 101 and what the future holds for potential SEO tactics as they continue to change and grow.

What's On Agenda?

The importance of SEO and why businesses need to include it in their marketing strategy. Search fundamentals. How businesses can get started with an SEO program. The most common misconceptions about SEO. How SEO will evolve in the future. Top tips and advice for businesses looking to increase their findability online.

The Importance Of SEO And Why Businesses Need To Include It In Their Marketing Strategy You've probably heard a hundred times or more how important Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is as a digital marketing technique. But do you really understand the significance of SEO?

Increasing visibility, or making it simpler for prospects to find you when they search for anything you have to offer, is one of the most crucial SEO duties. Your rating has a direct impact on your visibility.

It's important to raise your organic page ranking since the higher you appear on a search engine result page (SERP), the more probable it is that potential customers will see you and click through to your website.

One of the key objectives of SEO is to increase online traffic, and you can improve traffic by improving visibility and ranks. Search Fundamentals A website's rank in search engine results is influenced by a variety of factors, including SEO. Here are 3 essential elements of a successful SEO campaign.

Keywords: In order for the audience to find your website through a search engine, keywords must be included throughout the content of your website. Your search engine ranking can be made or broken by using relevant keywords. Links: Search engines can easily increase your rank by linking back to your website and using a variety of other factors. Although some people think that increasing the number of links is the greatest approach to boost their SEO, the quality of the links really has a higher ranking than the quantity. Content: The king is good content. Search engines can tell when a website's content is trustworthy, so stuffing your keywords all over the place won't improve your rating. Instead, produce material that is clear, insightful, condensed, and enticing. There are many different types of content, including blog posts, white papers, websites, case studies, and more.

How Businesses Can Get Started With an SEO Program?

Start-ups and small businesses can leverage SEO to attract qualified website traffic and prospects.

Use Google Ads Keywords Planner to identify trendy and relevant keywords Include Relevant Keywords in the Title Tag and Website Content Create a landing page for each product or service Include relevant text in the page URL Include alternative text for each image

The Most Common Misconceptions About SEO Every digital marketing campaign should include SEO as a c...

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It's no easy task connecting your brand to a targeted demographic without the right tools.

That's where the power of target market research and data analytics comes in!

In this episode, we'll talk to Angeley Mullins, CMO & CGO at Latana Brand Tracking.

With more than 18 years of experience in growing companies and markets, Angeley has been successful in partnering with CEOs, Founders, & Investors to grow their companies as well as established Corporate Leaders expanding their organizations into international markets.

As a Marketing & Commercial Leader, Angeley's expertise spans both E-commerce & SaaS ( launching & growing business) leading Commercial Divisions including Marketing, Sales, Product, Customer Success, Sales, & Operations.

She specializes in growing leaders and departments in addition to achieving commercial growth.

Discovering the demographic for your brand is just the tip of the marketing iceberg.

It's all about building the best relationship between your brand and your audience. Brand Tracking 101: Going Beyond Mentions with Angeley Mullins from Latana We'll be taking a look at why branding is so important for a company and the process of building the right brand strategy. What's on the agenda?

Establishing and implementing a brand. What is brand tracking? What is the relationship between a brand and its audience? How can a brand take action to make better marketing solutions? How does Latana (and to a greater extent how does Brand Tracking) work? How does Latana differ from other Brand Tracking solutions?

Establishing and Implementing a brand Developing and putting into practice a unified branding strategy is frequently done after the fact, or not at all, for many firms.

You need to get the answers to a few important questions before investing any time in branding.

Are consumers familiar with your brand? How do others view you in the marketplace? How do clients see your company in comparison to rivals? What traits do consumers connect your brand with?

Latana, with a mobile optimized survey and machine learning process, can help you know your brand worth and which demographics you should target for the effectiveness of campaigns. What is Brand Tracking? Brand tracking is the process of continuously assessing the health of your brand over time.

It gives you a way to discover what your target markets believe about your company and how they react to your brand messaging.

But brand tracking offers more than just information on consumer reaction to your brand.

It also enables you to track competing brands, compare your brand success across markets, find new markets or target audiences, and even identify ones that aren't performing.

Brand performance has historically been difficult to precisely measure.

However, it is possible (and highly recommended) to simply track your brand health and performance using the correct tools and KPIs that are now readily available. What is the relationship between a brand and its audience? Develop genuine connections with your audience by using emotional branding.

Understanding your target market's problems or what your product or brand is doing for them will help you use emotional branding to connect with your audience.

What value you are bringing to them and how, in some manner, do you improve their life?

With this kind of marketing, you can tailor a brand to the interests and demands of your target market, giving your customers the chance to become familiar with your goods while also developing an emotional bond with your company. How can a brand take action to make better marketing solutions?

To ensure your marketing solutions are effective and efficient, your brand can:

Discover the purpose Determine target audience Outline the key qualities & benefits your brand offers Build a brand story and messaging.

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It's true that everyone needs healthcare, so why would medical professionals consider marketing?With the right strategy and marketing, your practice can stand out by reaching patients both new and old, helping grow your business.In this episode, we'll be talking to Justin Knott, CEO of Intrepy Healthcare Marketing.Justin is a speaker, podcaster, and content creator that helps physicians and medical practices tell their stories. He promotes their procedures and specialties to engage with existing and potential patients to drive new business and growth.As the President & CEO of Intrepy Healthcare Marketing, Justin aids doctors and surgeons in creating a connection with their patients and communicating key differentiators through healthcare marketing strategy development.The right content strategy can help you compete with larger healthcare systems in your market.Get the best engagement from a marketing perspective to help your practice stand out among the rest.How SEO, Digital Ads, and Specialty Marketing Strategies Can Help Grow Practices What's on agenda?

Defining a marketing strategy. Why is SEO so important when building a marketing strategy? Is paid advertising necessary to attract new clients? Specialty Marketing Strategies. What are the most important elements of tracking performance and ROI? Best practices.

Let's dive in! Defining a marketing strategy A marketing strategy is a long-term plan for achieving a company's goals by understanding the needs of customers and creating a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage.

It encompasses everything from determining who your customers are to deciding what channels you use to reach those customers.

Few things to keep in mind while developing a marketing strategy:

Marketing is more than just advertising and promotion – it's all about connecting with the customer. A marketing strategy sets the direction for all your product and marketing-related activities. Having a marketing strategy helps keep all your activities on track.

Creating – and following – a marketing strategy is essential to setting the direction not just for your marketing-related activities but also for your entire business.

Without a defined strategy you won't know who your customers are, you won't develop the right products, and you'll waste money promoting them. Why is SEO so important when building a marketing strategy? SEO is the most viable and cost-effective way to understand and reach your customers at critical moments.

The goal of experienced SEO is to lay a strong foundation for a beautiful website with a clean and effective user experience that is easy to find by searching, thanks to the reliability and reliability of the brand and its digital properties.

SEO dates and formats provide a clear signal of intent and user behaviour. This happens in different ways.

Search for query data. SERP analysis. Analytical data and AI insights.

Local SEO aims to optimize digital properties for your specific environment, so people can find you quickly and easily and get one step closer to a transaction. Is paid advertising necessary to attract new clients? Paid advertising is one of the most important channels in Digital Arsenal. However, they are often abused because the results are immediate.

Paid Ads are very affordable and measurable. The targeting of paid ads is so specific that you can reach relevant visitors who are interested in your brand, match the demographics of your sales persona, and are in the exact geographic location you want to target.

With paid advertising, you can customize your brand and message the way you think it's appropriate, and test them regularly to see what's working and what's not. Specialty Marketing Strategies It is important to find the balance between client expectations and what we want to happen while creating specialty marketing strategies.

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While communicating through social platforms gets your message across, it may not build the genuine connection you want for your audience.It can feel robotic, scripted, or even disingenuous. So what's a good solution?In this episode, we'll be talking to Roger Nairn, Co-Founder, and CEO of JAR Audio.Podcasting can engage listeners by delivering value in the form of genuine and relatable content.You don't have to be a professional radio host to start a podcast. Be genuine, relatable, and engage in meaningful conversations.The Power of Podcasting for Building Your Brand.

What's on tap?

The origin story of JAR Audio. How they start from a small agency to one of the world's largest agencies? Podcasting; a new, powerful, and sometimes arguable underutilised channel. The rise of podcasting. Can anyone create a podcast? Identifying your personas. How a podcast fits in with a business's content strategy. Create themes and engaging stories around your personas. Repurposing your podcast. How to measure the success of your podcast.

The origin story of JAR Audio Roger Nairn has spent more than 20 years in the advertising world and has worked with some of the world's biggest agencies.

With the idea to create advertising materials for clients to reach audiences and engage with them, he got into the podcast space.

What just started out as a hobby, gave Roger an opportunity to speak with incredible people including Seth Godin and Stefan Sagmeister.

Roger with the thought of business in mind started combining podcasts with his love of advertising marketing and met some amazing people who had their own specialities.

Soon enough, Roger and his partners Jen and Aaron started a little agency that helped brands get into the podcast space and made them successful at it.

Since just being full-time 2 years ago, Jar Audio is one of the largest podcast production agencies in the world. Podcasting; a new, powerful, and sometimes arguable underutilised channel. A podcast is a sort of technology, an idea like an RSS feed, and is about 15 years old.

Over time, it has evolved; however, the actual crux of it is all about engaging stories and conversations, topics that are interesting to the listener.

A podcast is also an intimate medium as you develop a relationship with the host.

Podcasting has higher effectiveness because podcase listeners are more engaged as they are often listening, whilst doing other activities which increases their focus. The Rise of podcasting Podcasts have influenced not just regular people but also corporations. With their rise in popularity, and often a need to monetize, some podcasts now employ ads and promote products or businesses.

Indeed, they often do so better or more effective than other media platforms.

First, podcast advertising chooses quality over quantity: User experience means listeners' trust in hosts or invisibly shifting from editorial work to commercials and back.

Second, podcast audiences are already engaged in the topic. One of many things that creates such engagement is the intimate environment of a host-audience podcast.

A third reason is the ability to target specific audiences. Because podcasts vary so widely, businesses can choose a show that is very related to the product they want to sell. Can anyone create a podcast? You are empowered to create your own station. But with the podcasting industry still evolving there are very few rules and regulations currently.

There is very little barrier to entry and fewer rules. All you have to ensure you have decent audio quality and not be boring!

If things go wrong, your audience understands as long as you're respecting them and you can explain kind of what happened.

Be confident, creative and consistent! That's one of the biggest parts of creating your own podcast. Identifying your personas The significant aspect of podcasting is building a community and unders...

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Is there anything worse than dry, boring, or stale content being pushed out to social media channels?Well...yeah of course there is, but it's still cringy.

The key is: to blend video content and humour to spark engagement with your audience.And no.You don't have to be a comedian to use humour. What's on Tap? We'll look at ways marketers can break the ice with their audience using engaging video content and humour.

What's on the agenda?

A brief history of Vidyard Getting the right tools. The simple, powerful, and free Vidyard Video and Screen Recorder. Why video is so much more engaging than text. How to get started even if you're camera shy. Finding your own comfort zone with video

A brief history of Vidyard Vidyard started when most firms were still using video minimally, even on websites and in marketing initiatives. And there was no such thing as video and sales at the time.

And, of course, imagine a time when even video conferencing was unavailable. So video and business were still in their infancy.

Of course, YouTube including several consumer companies were already huge.

They believed that as video content became more accessible and less expensive to develop, more marketing teams in b2b businesses in the broader market would invest more in it.

And as the world has become increasingly reliant on online interactions, and they begin to wonder what, if anything, is going to give, video is the finest method to share stories and educate people.

When you can't be there in person, it's the finest method to interact with others.

Vidyard took the opportunity to build that up as a category to establish ourselves as thought leaders and product leaders in the world of video in business. Getting the right tools. The simple, powerful, and free Vidyard Video and Screen Recorder. Vidyard has an opportunity to build a product that lent itself well to that kind of experience with their Chrome extension and a desktop app. With a Vidyard Personal account, somebody can click the button, record or upload, but typically, they're recording a video using their webcam or the screen share.

And then as soon as it's recorded, it's ready to be shared, either via link via email or, you know, posted somewhere as need be. And it's something that they were able to create a really simple user experience around, that was also very approachable for a lot of different people.

For Vidyard, their freemium model is the biggest driver of our enterprise deals today Why video is so much more engaging than text. Video is truly transforming the way organizations and business professionals are sharing information in the new world of remote business.

Video is simply more efficient, more expressive, and therefore more effective than standard text

You can tie your videos directly to the deals they’re helping to influence and you can see which assets are actually resonating based on content engagement analytics. How to get started even if you're camera shy? If you’re just starting out with video, it can be a little scary.

There are a ton of variables to consider and a lot of things to remember in order to make your shoot and production process go smoothly.

How to set up your video production for success

Make sure all your devices are charged the day before Bring backup batteries to the location During your location scout, do some filming to ensure everything looks good on camera Section off your filming areas with tape or traffic cones and let involved parties know the hours you’ll be shooting

Choosing the right lighting for Video Production The importance of shit composition Capture audio for your video Capture more video than you need

Finding your own comfort zone with video If you're camera shy, the idea of being on video can be downright terrifying. Here are a few simple tricks on how to be comfortable on video.

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Do you find that daily life in a remote setting lacks the necessary communication to function effectively as a team?

Having a positive corporate culture is key to any company's success.

When everyone works together to create a better experience in the workplace, it brings better results for the business and the team.

Joining us on this week's Live is our special guest, Kate Went.

Kate is the Marketing Manager at ScarlettAbbott. working alongside the business development team, helping to share the projects and results her team deliver for organizations around the world.

With a decade spent working in marketing and communications for the healthcare, construction, and legal sectors, Kate has honed her experience across the full marketing mix, on and offline. Simple tips and tricks to improve hybrid and remote team building. Try to ask your employees what they want - in which environment they are comfortable?

There are many ways to create online communication such as Linkedin and online forums.

Create a lot of security to ensure all your data is protected online. How to make everyone comfortable in remote environments? A way to make your team comfortable is to ensure that they are connected even if they are working remotely.

Ensure that you are able to notice signs of distress.

Try to focus on outputs, not processes. What is the role of leadership? As a business, ensure you have authentic leadership visibility.

Successful remote leaders understand they need to take a different approach to make things happen.

Ensure you use collaborative, communicative approaches to improve accountability and transparency. Responsibilities of the team Try to delegate proper responsibilities to the team according to their skills and knowledge.

Ensure you have a collaborative approach to work.

It is important to have a rough framework for the year and then try to work around it by understanding the problems of the clients.

Try to simplify that down into the content showcase really easily and quickly what problems we can solve. How culture is like an unspoken contract? Perhaps the most critical aspect of hybrid work is creating a digital workspace that enables all employees to work together from anywhere.

Collaboration is a key cornerstone of hybrid work culture, and it’s a great place to start.

Your digital workspace is essential to making sure remote workers don’t feel isolated from their team or that office workers aren’t getting more opportunities.

All of this equates to happier employees, less turnover, and more productivity — critical foundations for a solid workplace culture. Thats' wrap! We'd like to thank Kate Went for ScarlettAbbott for joining us on this episode of Live at the Hive.

We hope you enjoyed reading the blog. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

How to Sell Complex B2B Solutions and Foster Relationships

Unlocking the Power of Automation to Scale Content Creation

Email Isn’t Dead, The Way We Think About It Is

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Have you ever wondered what goes into the engagement process of the B2B space?The world of B-2-B solutions can be very intricate.Selling in the B2B space is very different than B2C or product-driven spaces. Relationships are complex, every engagement is unique and requires a more complex team of stakeholders.

Joining us on this week's Live is our special guest, Anka Wimbush.Anka is National Accounts Manager at Buckland Customs Brokers, and together we'll be talking about developing relationships in the Logistics space, how they use content to drive engagement, and how social selling can be much easier than you think.It's not only about getting the client, retaining the client relationship is just as important. Anka is going to be giving us her process on how she anticipates potential issues and meets the issues head-on with resolutions.How to Sell Complex B2B Solutions and Foster Relationships with Anka Wimbush of Buckland Logistics. Insights on Sales and Client Management As an account manager, sometimes the roles are split between two sides which are sales and client management.

Because the growth of the company is necessary, it is important to ensure that the transition is nice and that the client is happy and will stay right.

There are many things that hold people back is the complexity of subscribing to additional services. Building Your Network One of the very simple and subtle approaches to building a network over time, taking snackable pieces of content and continuously sharing them in a way that isn't too pushy or pressing.

For example; when you require an online tool or a guide all you have to do is just put in your email address and it'll get emailed to you.

But the marketing team has your email address so they can start email nurturing you by sending a thank you email and that if you have any questions you can reach out to the company.

That's how businesses remove pain points and eventually build a connection with their audiences. How to Foster Relationships? To foster relationships with clients, businesses have to really stay in touch with them, answering the questions that the client has so businesses can understand where are the pain points.

The key thing is to listen to the customer and then provide good solutions.

Businesses have to ensure that they have the right team and that the customer feels that this makes sense and it is going to work right. How often to dip into the content library? As a business, it is important to have a content library and take a dip into it once in a while.

This can be a conversation starter for new users and a helpful guide to your actual clients.

Businesses can share this information for free which in return will have potential clients think how easily the business is sharing the content. How do resolve issues with clients? It's actually retaining a client is more difficult than actually getting the client.

Here's how you can resolve conflicts with clients:

Reassure frustrated customers that they are fully understood. Practice intent listening when interacting with customers. Practice optimism and positivity in communicating with customers. Reassure customers about necessary transfers.

It is important to find out the core problem and fix that problem with a good solution.

Ensure to build trust with your clients and try to provide them solutions fairly quickly, depending on the circumstance. That's A Wrap! We'd like to thank Anka Wimbus from Buckland Logistics for joining us on this episode of Live at the Hive.

Buckland Logistics offers the services of customs brokerage is one of our main components. They provide services all across Canada, US and Mexico.

And they also provide the freight piece of it as well. And it's any mode of transportation via air ocean truck rail.

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You've probably heard the well-worn term "Time is money". With content marketing, a lot of time can be burned on simple or repetitive tasks.That's where the power of automation comes in...Content automation can help your team's workflow, allowing them to focus on vital sales and marketing strategies to bring in those new and returning customers.

Good Marketers should be skeptical of automation Technology is a great enabler, but it's also a restrictive force as well.

Good marketers should be skeptical of, automation and technology in general, because marketing in itself is a really basic fundamental thing that has existed for a long time.

Automation is there to make things easier in the world of marketing.

Automation on the communication side is significant as well.

Few questions to ask before starting automation:

What is your goal? Have you done this manually before? Have you been doing it manually consistently enough?

What are the Pain Points of Content Marketing? Knowing what the pain points are is the important part. It is important to generate original and authentic content.

Focus on creating a content strategy that ties everything together. Truly creating a social strategy based on what's happening Content Creation Strategy Content strategy means:

What's your point of view? How are you creating content? How are you post-producing it? How are you distributing it? How are you gathering analytics?

Marketers never make assumptions about their audience!

Effective Examples of Automation

There are many effective automation tools that we use every day for content creation:

Google Drive to store your content Zapier for tracking systems Air Table to organize content Slack for communication

The really important concept in the world of automation is that it's not about complexity.

It’s about how you can automate things, which your team has done a dozen times a day. That's Wrap! We'd like to thank Stephen G. Pope for joining us on this episode of Live at the Hive.

Stephen G. Pope is the Found & CEO of SGP Labs. He helps companies & brands efficiently repurpose and distribute content across multiple marketing channels daily.

Using a mixture of business expertise, inbound content marketing, workflow, and tech/automation—He has developed the ONLY plug-and-play media company/system so that you can make more impact with your target audience.

And that means you’ll grow fast.

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You've probably heard that nasty rumour that email marketing is either dead or on the decline. Spoiler alert, it's not!

Hundreds of thousands of small businesses harness the power of email marketing every day.Statistics prove that email marketing remains one of the best ways for businesses to engage with their audiences.

Let's dive in and dispel the myths around the effectiveness of email marketing. No. Email is not dead. Not by a long shot.

Why Email is Still One of Your Most Powerful Marketing Channels

Email marketing when done right allows you to convey your message to your audience by giving them snackable content.

It remains one of the best ways in which you can communicate nuggets of information to engage with people.

Email is able to give you the data you need to see how people are engaging with your brand so that you can nurture their loyalty.

Compared to traditional newsletters, creating an email will help reduce your workload, saving you time and giving you better results.

Why You Need to Ditch Newsletters to Create Behavioral Segments to Create Engaging Content People often don't have time to sit and read an entire newsletter to get to the important information they are looking for.

With email marketing, you can get right to the point by addressing important information in short-form content.

Behavioral segments allow you to remove people from your database if they no longer engage with your content.

You can also create segments to reinvite or win back those same people by making useful content to re-engage their interests.

Content Tips and Tricks that Will Give You Double-Digit Open Rates When creating an email, treat it like you're having a one-on-one conversation with someone in public.

Map out a conversational flow with your audience and invite them to engage with you and your brand.

Cut down the fat and excess of a lengthy email and stick to meaty content that you want to deliver to your audience.

Focus on a singular pinpoint, challenge, or update and an engaging CTA that will keep their attention.

Ask yourself, "what will opening this email do for me?" Offer your audience an incentive to open your email.

Uncovering Hidden Revenue Opportunities in Your Email Lists You have the ability to turn subscribers into customers by building a good relationship with the right nuance.

Through email marketing, you can redirect an audience to your website and products to engage them in sales.

Actively reach out to customers on your list and nurture that relationship with them to retain loyalty and show value.

How to Keep Your Email Lists Lean and Mean Segmenting your email lists gives you the opportunity to organize your audiences.

Clean up your email lists and thin out those who are no longer engaging with your content to remove the deadweight.

Removing inactive members from your list will help boost your open rates and engagement.

If open rates are low, it might mean that some people did not give you their consent to be on the emailing list.

That's a Wrap Email is alive and well, remaining one of the best ways for businesses to engage with their audiences at low-cost effectiveness.

We'd like to thank Emily McGuire for joining us on this episode of Live at the Hive.

Emily McGuire is the Customer Evangelist at AWeber and Owner and Chief Email Marketer at Flourish & Grit, an email marketing and automation studio. She helps businesses uncover hidden revenue in their email lists by pairing customer journeys with high-converting email campaigns. With lessons learned over a decade in tech and e-commerce, sending thousands of email campaigns, and earning clients over $80 million in email campaign revenue, Emily loves sharing the time-tested strategies of email marketing done well.

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Are your digital marketing campaigns missing that creative spark in driving engagement?

There's a solution for that!

With time being an important factor in everyone's lives, they are often too busy to hold attention for very long. That's where providing a hook comes in!

By creating engaging graphics and videos, you have an opportunity to maintain retention and keep your audience engaged. What's Working?

Sparking Your Creativity Whether creativity comes naturally to you or not, one can utilize many practices and resources to gain inspiration.

Start with a goal in mind, and work your way through it. Ask yourself:

What emotions do I want to convey? What elements do I want to have? What is the desired outcome of my work?

Finding Inspiration Now that you have a goal in mind look for inspiration!

Our favourite resources include:

Pinterest Dribbble Designspiration DeviantArt TikTok Look at what other creators are doing, and find what stands out.

Development of Graphics and Videos: 6 Best Practices People retain the memory of content when visual representations are used with copy and audio.

Use captivating imagery and videos to drive engagement toward your content.

Tell a story with your graphics and clips!

Video Tip 1: Create a 4-Second Hook

Be genuine Directly involve the viewer Ask questions they seek answers to Provide humour

Video Tip 2: Get Straight to the Point / Don’t Drag People Along

Know your audience Provide instant value Address pain points Keep it short

Video Tip 3: Use Pattern Interrupts

It brings attention back to the content Improves retention and watch time Keeps content interesting It helps to stand out - brand recognition

Design Tip 1: Keep It Consistent Consistency is critical in your social strategy because it’s:

Well-balanced and appealing Creates a strong visual message Easily recognizable

How do you achieve brand cohesion?

Use custom templates Create hierarchy Use brand elements such as typography and colour codes

Design Tip 2: Keep It Clear and Concise Keep your messaging clear and straightforward.

Be tasteful with text length Choose typography wisely Ensure legibility Include whitespace

Design Tip 3: Include a CTA Define the purpose of your post not only in your caption but on your graphic too!

Some CTA examples:

Install Now Register Today Leave a Review Comment Below

Whatever your goal is, ensure it’s clear to your audience.

Top Creative Strategies for Digital Ads It is essential to strategize your Digital Ads campaigns to elevate your business’ growth.

It is also important to bring creativity into campaigns to stand out from the crowd and make them more engaging.

Here are some creative strategies for the Digital Ads campaign which can help set you apart from your competitors.

Add Countdown a Timer to Google Ads This ad customizer inserts a countdown timer in Google Ads.

It is a nifty little feature that can increase the visibility of your ads and communicates a sense of urgency to your call-to-action.

The countdown function can be placed in any text ad and counts down by day, hour, then minute as the event time draws near.

Lead Gen Forms To Build Email Marketing List Facebook Lead Ads can help you quickly add targeted people to your email list.

Conversion happens within Facebook. Add people directly to your email list. Reporting and statistics provided by Campaign Reports

With the built-in Facebook lead form feature, you can add custom questions and fields to your form and use it in a lead generation ad campaign.

Use Interactive Video Throughout Your Funnel Interactive Video creates a “choose your own adventure” style of video interaction.

You’ll be able to learn more about your visitors, and that information can create personalized ex...

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Over the past couple of years, all events have been virtual; now that things are opening up, many businesses are opting for Hybrid events.

Why?

There's an added flexibility for your customers and prospects who may not be able to attend in person. It also adds a new revenue stream for lower-cost virtual attendees if your events are paid.

The challenge is, getting and keeping the attention of your audience. Especially in the noisy social media world we now live in.

Today we'll be talking about driving interest and registrations to your webinar, hybrid or live event. What's working? Promoting your events effectively can be the make or break of a successful outcome.

We'll take you through our See, Think, Do, Care strategy to help you take control and build your desired event.

Let’s dive in! Webinar Promotional Timeline - 2 Sides to a Coin 4-6 Weeks Before Event:

Generate buzz via organic and boosted social media posts, announcements, reminders, promotions, etc. Confirm existing ticket holders and nurture new registrants to avoid attrition

1 Week to Event:

Keep the energy going- send reminders to registrants leading up to the event Announce once the event is live

Post-Event Follow Up:

Gage outcome with follow up emails Share photos & memorable moments

Promotional Email Marketing Plan (Leads) Make an offer that directly benefits your audience.

Send out an email Reminder 24 - 48 Hours before the event.

Send another email that the event is live.

Create quality social media posts to increase awareness and remind people about the upcoming event. Social Lead Engagement Nurturing – 4-6 Weeks Before Event

Upload your leads and create custom audiences

Boost relevant and “nugget” style content on social for engagement Nurture and convert leads into your custom audience with Calls to Action Create first send off emails with engaging CTAs Offer incentive and urgency for attendees to join your event

Lead Nurturing Email – 1 Week Before Event

Send reminder emails to the unregistered people Offer Exclusives Show Off Your Best Event Details Promoting on social media with incentives (contests, live streaming) Accept on Day Registrations Offer value to people who registered

Lead Nurturing – Post Event: People Who Attended So your event went great; now what?

Continue the conversation by following up with attendees and those who couldn’t make it!

1. Thank everyone involved

Ask for event feedback
Send a round-up email to those who couldn’t attend
Offer coupon codes for future events
Create social media highlights

Lead Nurturing – What About People Who Didn’t Attend?

Don’t give up on them! Follow-up with an On-Demand version Provide a flexible way for your leads to consume valuable content Create snackable social videos from your event Promote and boost your social media audiences we discussed earlier This keeps your content and engagement fresh (and can reactivate cold leads)

Further Nurturing With Continued Use of These Channels Continue to use these channels to ensure you’re getting:

Engagement Retention Referrals Reviews Additional Sales

You can start to create custom audiences and boost content and offers to your existing customers.

Paid campaigns and Facebook Boosted Videos that will increase awareness and retention. That’s a Wrap! Ensure you’re nurturing your leads from start to finish.

Provide them with an intro offer that they want and follow up continuously with pain points and solutions.

Have your webinar planned out ahead of time with exclusive content throughout the journey.

Remember, this is only the beginning. Keep on nurturing.

We hope you enjoyed learning about Promoting Live, Hybrid, and Virtual Events Effectively in a Social World. If you're looking for more great content,

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How can social media help businesses grow their reach across multiple channels while maintaining an active presence?

The vast majority of users on TikTok are in the United States, with almost half using it daily.

A recent study found that people spend 8 out of 10 minutes playing around and engaging with content from other users within this app.

Let's dive into how you can unleash the power of TikTok for your business. Generating Real Business on TikTok On TikTok, one of the things that made it unique so much was how short videos were on average.

It's perfect for posting an idea or thought and then getting feedback from others immediately - without sitting through a long video just waiting around!

The 30-second variety is excellent, too because if someone runs into your post while scrolling through their feed.

They'll have enough information at hand without needing any more info upfront to get what you're saying across effectively.

The 10-minute TikTok is perfect for businesses and professionals alike.

You can convey a lot in just 10 minutes, but you must do so with short content nuggets, making them easy to digest! Dispelling TikTok Myths Many people have misconceptions about TikTok, which can be a challenge when trying to run your business.

Many people still believe one of the biggest misconceptions is that TikTok only has music and lip-syncing apps.

However, as it turns out, there are almost 200 million active users on this platform from a statistical perspective which means they're everybody!

You can see ads during sporting events such as ESPN, where you will find videos instead of vertical slideshows now replacing traditional commercials while tuning into our favourite shows.

Another biggest misconception about TikTok is that it only caters to younger audiences.

The platform has 200 million active users, with a tiny percentage who create their content here.

Everyone else lurks around and enjoys what others post instead of getting involved themselves!

Whatever your industry, if you put yourself out there on TikTok and start creating content aimed at attracting potential customers who may not be using the app yet, they will eventually come across it. What are the Benefits for Business on TikTok? Understanding your niche is just as crucial to a business's success.

To have the right audience, you should focus on those who will be most engaged with what you offer and care about it deeply - not for having a vanity number.

But because this smaller group can help grow awareness around products/services through word-of-mouth marketing.

It has been shown time after again benefits companies directly without any additional effort needed!

Getting Started on TikTok To get started on TikTok, You need your camera set up over there and then maybe have an HD or 4k cam running on the other side because we're going for quality here!

Take the time to condense all of that information down into one, two or three sentences so they can easily understand what you're saying.

Structure in the opening hook and call-to-action (CTA), you can get your point across quickly while still providing value that will keep them interested enough for more content from you!

Use simple language and integrate visuals where possible because this will help keep your viewers engaged! Growing on TikTok. The TikTok community is an excellent place for small businesses to grow their fan base.

In this competitive and ever-changing digital world, it's refreshing when someone can find inspiration from other users who share similar interests as them.

The platform promotes collaboration between these diverse groups by allowing everyone without feeling too pressured by one another.

On TikTok, the user is more connected with their audience. In contrast to that on YouTube or Twitch, there is a collective hive mind.

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Looking for ways to increase your sales on your Shopify Store? We've got you covered!

We'll show you many unknown features of eCommerce that will help boost your sales!

Let's dive in! What's Working?

Integrating Facebook with Shopify Steps to begin integrating your shop:

Step 1: Install the Facebook Channel

Step 2: Select Facebook Shop as the first feature that you want to set up

Step 3: Connect the required Facebook assets

Step 4: Select or skip your data sharing settings

Step 5: Accept Facebook’s terms

Running Your Facebook Shop Through Shopify Running your Facebook Shop through Shopify allows you to:

Synchronize your Shopify collections directly to your Facebook Shop Sell an unlimited number of products and receive regular sales reports Manage orders and shipping through the Shopify dashboard Advertising, gathering, and promotional tools are readily available

Facebook Shop Features Features of the Facebook Shop:

Showcase your product in collections and customize them to your branding Add custom audiences to your ad campaigns Get key insights on the performance of your shop Respond quickly to customers through messenger

Integrating TikTok With Shopify Steps to begin integration with Shopify

Step 1: Set up a TikTok for Business account

Step 2: Install the TikTok channel on your Shopify store through “Add App”

Step 3: TikTok channel will appear in your Shopify Admin Dashboard

Step 4: Complete Install

Running your TikTok Shopping through Shopify Running your TikTok Shopping through Shopify allows you to:

Easily set up conversion campaigns to promote your products Target your audience with a mix of demographic, location and behavioural variables Generate tons of customized creatives Snapshot of all your important campaign performance data

TikTok Shopping Features Features of TikTok Shopping:

Showcase your product catalogue on the TikTok storefront Promote products by linking them to any TikTok video Create ads that don't feel like ads Easily collaborate with influencers through the creators' marketplace Live stream shopping events to attract more audiences and create brand awareness

TikTok Live Stream Shopping TikTok Livestream shopping allows you to:

Gain visibility and increase brand awareness A great option to increase the engagement rate Keep up with the needs and wants of their customer segments Inspires impulse buying Develops authenticity instead of over branding

Integrating Snapchat With Shopify Snapchat has made it open for any brand to set up shoppable catalogues and AR filters, allowing customers to browse and purchase items in the app.

Companies are able to make a business profile (Public Profiles for Businesses) which acts as a hub for product discovery.

Once this is done, they can deploy the Snap Pixel and start targeting new and existing customers.

Snapchat AR Filters Now that you’ve set up your business profile and deployed Snap Pixel, you can start setting up your products and campaigns!

AR Filters are great ways to introduce new products, have the public try them on, and make them available for purchase.

Not only are they fun to use, but they give customers insight as to how your products will work for them.

Integrating Instagram with Shopify Instagram Shopping can be set up as the first feature when you install the Facebook channel, or it can be added from the Overview page of the Facebook channel at any time.

From your Shopify admin, click Facebook sales channel > Overview. Click Set up to start in the Instagram Shopping section. Connect the required Facebook accounts to the Facebook sales channel. Review and accept the terms and conditions, then click Request approval.

Instagram Feed Post Shopping A great way for followers to discover new (and cur...

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Are your social posts not getting the attention you hoped for?

We can show you how to make the best out of your social media engagement with these hacks.

Let’s dive in! What's Working?

Reposting Your Content Properly Reposting your content is a free way to increase its ROI, get more traffic, and save time.

You can repost to other platforms, but you need to ensure that it’s modified to fit your audience there.

Reposting Other’s Content Properly One tactic for building a strong visual presence on social media is to curate your feed by reposting content created by other users.

Always give credit Ask if it’s OK to use Don’t pass other content off as your own Don’t dramatically alter the content Appropriately tag the user

Reposting Tools To Start Using Today You can make your life even easier when reposting content using these tools:

Repost for Instagram

InstaRepost

DownloadGram

RePost Pro

Reposting on TikTok By reposting content on TikTok, you can train the algorithm. If a video went viral in the past, it might have a high chance of going viral again if it’s reposted!

Add Hashtags to your videos Hop on Trending sound effects Dabble in some duets and stitches

Consequently, if the video goes viral again, it’ll lead to more followers, views, and engagement. Incorporating Trending Sounds Music is a key part of TikTok, as many viral trends come from songs and funny audio clips.

Consider using a sound that the community is already loving! You can browse for trending audio and playlists and see how others use them effectively.

Let it spark your creativity!

Filters and effects on TikTok are tools that help you upscale the visual impact by fusing it with your creativity.

Just like audio, filters can go viral as well.

They allow you to showcase your brand personality, participate in trends, and are great ways to connect with your audience.

Using the Discovery Page How do you find these trending sounds and filters?

If you are looking for something specific, head over to your Discover Page, and you’ll see a list of popular assets such as filters, audio, hashtags and other creators’ profiles.

Using Search Filters Now that you’ve navigated the Discover page, you can further filter your results.

After using the search bar, click on the dots on the right. From here, you can choose filters for the videos shown to you.

For example, “only show me videos that have been made this week.”

Reposting Using Green Screens IG Reels and TikTok have a neat feature called the Green Screen Effect!

There are many backgrounds to choose from that can put a fun spin on your content.

Reposting with Green Screens can be useful for highlighting positive comments, discussing topics that relate to your area of expertise, and reacting to content. Reposting on Instagram Effectively While there isn’t a native tool for reposting within IG, “regramming” is still possible.

Here’s why you should repost content:

Allows you to post more consistently, and build a community If you have content that has proven to be successful, why not reuse it? Reposting user-generated content that’s aligned with your audience builds credibility and trust Helps connect your IG to the Shopping Catalog Reposting IG Reels boosts organic reach

Reposting with IG Reels How do you increase views and engagement? Repost on IG reels!

Reels have become a key frontier for organic reach on the app. Here are some tips:

Reels that feature people perform well Audio can make a big difference Add trending hashtags

The more people you reach with your Reels, the higher your chances that your follower count and engagement rate will grow.

Posting YouTube Shorts YouTube Shorts are hot for engaging viewers with short-form content.

You can:

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You wouldn't ask someone to marry you on the first date, would you?

Then why do some businesses ask for a sale before they've built trust?

We can help show you how to provide a service to go above and beyond with lead gen by engaging your leads.

Let's dive in! What's Working?

Example Scenario

Dave and Jen are married with 2 kids. They are both millennials with high-paying jobs. They want to be financially stable when they retire. Currently, they don’t have anything set up.

Engage Your Leads with Storytelling Stories create experiences!

Good storytelling helps build trust and transparency. People love images! Deliver an authentic story with visual representation. Stories can invoke hype through emotion to spark people’s interests. Your story can influence decisions by creating an experience.

A good story can showcase investment opportunities to help people retire with ease. Address Pain Points and Objections Addressing pain points that your prospects may have is a great way to ease their concerns and nurture them into a lead.

What objections could they have? Prospect: “I don’t have enough money to invest right now.”

Let them know you’re here to take care of their concerns. “If you invest with us, you can put as little as “x” down, and we’ll take care of the rest!”

Offering solutions to issues before they arise is a great way to ensure you’re nurturing leads. Ideas for Engaging CTA’s Your CTA should captivate your leads into engaging with your business. Here are some ideas!

Identify with your audience; use their language. Make it fun! Use humour if it fits your brand. Give your readers instant gratification when they click (ex. immediate downloads). Make it clear in your CTA that you’re more than willing to help (add contact info).

Repurposed Social Posts There are leads on all social channels, but there are unique ways to interact with each.

Repurposing your content helps get the word out and can help you get awareness on all channels.

Investment opportunities are great, but they will differ for your LinkedIn and Instagram audiences. Free Q/A Live Video People feel a closer connection once they’ve asked a question directly and received your thoughtful answer.

By being accessible to your prospects in real-time, you can give them what they want and begin to build customer relationships.

Make sure to schedule and train If nobody shows up, involve friends and family! Be prepared for questions Have 20 questions prepared

Email Sequence 10 things you can do today to start an investment portfolio in a bear market; this can be done through email, providing 1-on-1 communication through a 5-day sequence.

Each email can provide a tidbit of useful information, leading to an end goal. Lead Magnet Building a lead magnet is a solid and engaging way to follow up with your prospects.

A lead magnet can help them fully understand ways you can help and teach them something they may not already know.

Show them your expertise to help them feel confident in investing with you. Pre-scheduled or Live Webinars Webinars allow you to offer your audience value right away.

With webinars, you can build a better brand image and nurture the leads you already have.

Create mini webinars Ensure it's further down in the funnel Warm your leads before getting them to register Always have a moderator to monitor the chat

Free One-on-One Sessions Free one-on-one sessions carry no pressure and require little time and an excellent opportunity for targeted leads.

It's a chance to show how good you are. It's a great way to develop a personal, one-on-one relationship.

It allows you to demonstrate how you can help your prospects by helping them for free.

Free Consulting Hour Give your leads the option for free consulting.

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Imagine you’re cleaning out your home, refreshing the space for spring, only to find some old clothing or piece of tech that hasn’t been touched in an eternity. Now that they’ve outlived their usage, do you throw these items away or find a creative new use for them?

If you’re prudent, it’s the latter. Ditto for marketing.

Today, marketing requires fresh content to be created on a regular publishing cycle. For many marketing departments, this can tax resources to the breaking point.

Repurposing, however, saves you a considerable amount of resource allocation, allowing you to reiterate your message in new and creative ways – plus it safeguards your team’s sanity. But how exactly do you do that?

Let's dive in! What's working?

Create Your Long-Form Content First things first, select the format for your long-form content that would have the highest impact on your audience.

You can create:

Livestream Webinar Long-Form Video Screencast Tutorials Audio Podcast Influencer Interviews

Repurpose Your Long-Form Video Into an Audio Podcast This is a great way for people to consume your material while on the go. This opens a door to new audiences!

Start by:

Export your audio. Uploading to podcast platforms like Blubrry. Adding descriptions, titles, etc. Distribute your content!

Repurpose Your Long Form Video or Audio Into a Blog Post Turn your video and audio formats into blog posts to drive traffic to your site:

Upload your video or audio to programs like Otter.ai Edit the transcription for any typos. Upload the copy and embed your video and/or podcast into your blog post Use video thumbnails for custom blog post graphics

Repurpose Video Into “Snackable” Social Media Videos Video content is the fuel behind your social media channels.

Use a video editor to export 15 second, 30 second, and 1 minute clips to post on social media. Look for:

Useful Tips and Tricks Important Stats Memorable Quotes

Don’t forget to add captions! You can use a tool like wavve.io, wave. video or the native platform itself (i.e. Instagram Reels.) Repurpose Video Into a Social Media Series Group together short clips from your video that covers the same topic to create a series.

These can be distributed on:

TikTok Instagram Reels and Stories YouTube Shorts LinkedIn Your Website (listicles)

Once posted, group them together using features like Playlists, Instagram Guides, Highlights, and others. Repurpose Video Into YouTube Shorts Take your full-length video and create snippets. Add them to your YouTube channel as Shorts for snackable content!

They’ll get more reach and views, are easy to digest, and you can link back to the full blog post on your website. Repurpose Transcription Into Unique Graphics Create content that incorporates:

Direct Quotes FAQ Carousel Posts

Video Tip Carousel Posts

Educational Infographics

Thought-Leadership Posts (unpopular opinions, hot takes, trending issues.)

Repurpose Transcription and Graphics Into a LinkedIn Article You have the copy.

You have the graphics.

Now put them together on LinkedIn Articles and post directly to the channel.

LinkedIn favours content posted in its own formats instead of linking to a blog post-off-site.

You’ll drive more followers and engagement this way.

Repurpose Video Into a Lead Magnet Would your video make an excellent onboarding guide for your new customers?

Does it answer the most commonly asked questions about your services?

Does it give step-by-step instructions on how to achieve a specific goal?

Create a free downloadable PDF and offer it to your customers!

Repurpose Video Into an Email Automation Series (Bootcamp) Embed your video clips in an email automation series that links back to the full-length blog post.

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You've built your online store, made sure that your mobile experience is strong, and developed a social media presence;

by all accounts, you are doing everything right, so why are your customers not converting?

One of the number one reasons is a lack of consistency across all your channels.

With an omnichannel approach, you can create a unified customer experience that supports sales no matter what touchpoint your users interact with you. What's working?

What is an Omnichannel Strategy? Omnichannel strategies help you create a seamless experience for your audience across multiple platforms.

Creates a tailored strategy to engage with your audience Keeps your business cohesive across each platform Maintains customer experience consistency

Step 1: Consumer Journey Take some time to identify your audiences and determine how your omnichannel marketing strategy will meet their needs.

What channels are they most active on? What makes them convert? Which patterns occur? How do we solve the challenge areas?

Understanding how a customer navigates your channels is key in providing person-level insights and allows you to adapt your strategy to their needs. Step 2: Setting Up Your E-Commerce Store

There are 5 things to remember when setting up your e-commerce store:

Select the right platform for your business model Make sure you have the proper tools in place to optimize Ensure the shoppable experience is user-friendly and simple Offer customer support (live chat, 24/7 support) Look to trends and compare search volumes of products to recognize promotional opportunities

Step 3: Customer Relationship Management Managing consumer information is a crucial part of running an eCommerce business.

CRM software enables your company to manage and store current and prospective customer data in a centralized location.

A CRM platform can help benefit your online store in many ways:

Allows message personalization Retains current customers Aids in understanding customer habits

Step 4: Social Integration It's not enough to have a great website - you need to be active on social media.

People will try to reach you in different ways, and social media is one of the handiest methods today. Social media makes it easier to deliver a fantastic customer experience and offer seamless interaction with your clients.

Step 5: Paid Advertising and Remarketing Audiences Create different ad experiences on various advertising platforms and place them along a singular user journey.

See: Discover your brand for the first time. Think: Think about your brand's offerings Do: Willing to purchase from you Care: Loyalty for your brand

Wrapping It Up Marketing in 2022 requires being active across many channels: social media, email, your website, advertisements, and more.

An omnichannel strategy will strengthen your marketing funnel and smoothly guide people from just browsing social media to loyal repeat customers.

We hope you enjoyed learning about the 5 Dos and Don'ts of Social Media. If you're looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

5 Dos and 5 Don'ts Of Social Media For Small Businesses

The Future of Digital Advertising – What You Need To Know

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While there’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s, there are some things you shouldn’t do on social media.

So if you are a Social Media Manager or running your small business account, how do you ensure that you provide an enjoyable and informative experience for your audience?

You follow our list of the 5 Dos and 5 Don’ts of Social Media!

Let’s dive in.

What’s working?

Do: Introduce Yourself Take the time to introduce your brand and your employees! It’s a great way to showcase your brand’s personality.

Re-introduce the team every 2-3 months so that new followers know the face(s) behind the brand.

Some topics you can cover are:

How the business started
Company values
Your background, previous experience
Your favourite thing about your job

Don’t: Misuse Automated Messaging Bots are a great way to provide quick answers at busy times; however, it is never good to rely on them for everything.

You must be transparent with your bots and let people know when interacting with an automated service.

Talking to a bot can feel impersonal and sometimes frustrating; it is important to use them when needed.

If you require them, let your customers know that you’ll contact them soon if they need to have a person-to-person interaction.

Do: Listen to Your Followers Engagement is a two-way street, and you mustn’t close any doors with your audience.

Does a follower have a content request? If so, try your best to fulfill it! This shows that you do listen and that you value input.

This back and forth interaction promotes conversations and is the key to being SOCIAL on social media.

Don’t: Obsess About Numbers. It can be easy to forget that brand awareness and growing your network are long-term endeavours.

While having a lot of followers can be a good indicator of success, it’s not the only metric that matters.

Focus on QUALITY over QUANTITY. Provide your audience with engaging content instead of pressing them incessantly for likes, follows, and reshares.

Do: Separate Personal and Business When building a business brand on social media, you must keep your personal and professional pages separate.

While it’s great to be personable, some content may only be appropriate for friends and family (i.e., pictures of your dog, home renovations).

Maintaining a divide also prevents confusion over who you are as a business and what you’re trying to sell.

Don’t: Overly Brand Your Page Over branding comes off as inauthentic.

While some posts will require heavier branding, you need to have a nice content ratio. We recommend focusing on an 80-20 practice where 80% of your posts are fun and educational, while the remaining are for branding.

Good branding is about generating the right amount of curiosity.

Do: Designate a Social Media Time for Engaging Once you start creating larger engagement, learn your audience is most active times.

You must involve yourself with your audience: like their posts, answer their questions, reshare content, etc.

Dedicating time each day (ex. 1hr) will allow you to make a habit of being social on your platform.

Engagement allows you to showcase your personality!

Don’t: Spam Post Posting too much at once can drown out your authentic content and engagement.

Not only is it annoying for followers, but it can also come across as pushy and unprofessional.

Creating content that provides value is one of the most important aspects of social media.

Do: Batch Create Your Content Content batching is one of the most effective ways to create social media content.

It helps you save time, post consistently, and repurpose your ideas across platforms.

You’re able to focus your creative energy without jumping from task to task, and you can plan content weeks — creating a more cohesive approach to your strategy.

Don’t: Abuse Hashtags. Don’t turn every word in a post into a hashtag or cram unrelated hashtags into your post.

If you excessively use hashtags, your posts can come across as spammy and will become ineffective.

Use 5-10 appropriate hashtags to bring visibility to your page.

Hashtag usage can vary depending on the channel, so it is important to be familiar with each platform’s standards.

Final Word Platforms and their features are constantly evolving, but it is important to know posting standards.

Following our list of the 5 Dos and Don’ts of Social Media will help you grow your social platforms to become a place of value and positive engagement!

We hope you enjoyed learning about the 5 Dos and Don’ts of Social Media. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

The Future of Digital Advertising – What You Need To Know

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We are in the middle of a significant evolutionary jump in the world of Digital Advertising.

There has already been a battle with Ad Blockers, Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention, App Tracking Transparency, and changing regulations regarding data privacy.

With Google’s announcement that it would phase out third-party cookies in Chrome within two years, Advertisers took another hit.

So is this the end of Digital Advertising as we know it?

Not. Even. Close.

Digital Advertising will have to change, become more innovative, and proactively be relevant to consumers to deliver ROI to advertisers.

Let’s dive in and break down what’s coming for the future of digital advertising.

What’s working?

AI & Machine Learning We often think of AI as self-driving cars and creepy bots. In reality, AI is made up of hundreds of tools and apps that operate all around us – right now.

These behind-the-scenes tools are making our lives simpler with automated tasks. You can expect to see:

Targeted marketing
AI-Driven Content Marketing
AI in CRM
Identifying Audiences with AI Tools & Platforms

First-Party Data Strategy Most brands aren’t yet harnessing first-party data’s full potential despite its apparent benefits. It’s time to put first-party data strategy front and center!

Five ways to start collecting first-party data:

Tailor to customer objectives
Offer value in exchange for data
Invest in tech and organizational enablers
Test and learn to determine activation
Refine and validate with measurement

Customer Data Platforms & Audience Management * Audience management tools are the primary need to get an insight into your customer. * Few audience manager platforms to consider – + LiveRamp + Segment.com + Lotame + Salesforce DMP

New Google Ads Features and Formats * Google is updating Smart Shopping and Local campaign to Performance Max Campaigns. * Performance Max uses Google’s automation to help advertisers reach shoppers by browsing for things they love — online and in stores. * You can reach users on YouTube, Gmail, Search Network through one campaign.

Google’ Privacy Sandbox Google is updating its platform to accommodate changes to third-party cookies with a set of application programming interfaces (APIs); this includes FLoC, SPARROW, Turtledove, FLEDGE, and Dovekey. Advertisers can use these to:

The prevention of spam, fraud, and DoS
Conversions
Ad targeting
Attribution
Federated logins

Google PPIDs The Publisher Provided IDentifier (PPID) allows publishers to send Google Ads Manager an identifier for use in:

Frequency capping
Audience segmentation and targeting
Sequential ad rotation
Audience-based ad delivery controls across devices

PPIDs are based on your first-party data; they won’t be affected by the third-party cookie deprecation.

Social Platform Updates Due to Change in Apple’s IDFA Social Media Advertising Platforms such as Tik Tok, Pinterest, Snapchat had to update the following to adjust to the reject changes by Apple

Target iOS 14.5 users for app install ads will be through iOS 14 dedicated campaigns
Update your Mobile Measurement Partner SDK
Send all events to the platform via MMP
Complete the Conversion event configuration in their MMP interface

New Updates: Facebook / Meta * iOS 14 Updates: Meta is constantly updating its policies to meet iOS requirements and all other platforms that use third party cookies + Domain Verification + Track Up to 8 Unique Events + Conversion API * Facebook has been and will continue removing some of the Detailed Targeting options such as sexual orientation, religious practices & groups, political beliefs and so on.

The Future of Social Media Some of the new ways that social networks are going to help us reach audiences:

Video remains a prominent format
Continued pushing of authentic content
More of a focus on live streaming and live shopping
Automating social ad production

Omni-Channel Marketing Omni-channel marketing is the integration and cooperation of the various channels used to interact with consumers, to create a consistent brand experience.

Third-party analytics such as segment.io and Kochava (mobile) enable Omni-channel marketing with First-Party Data.

Shorter Video Content Shorter video content is becoming increasingly popular for several reasons:

Easy to digest
Higher levels of engagement
Easily shareable
Allows creators to be innovative
Budget-friendly
Enables authenticity

With the growth of shorter video content, social media platforms have altered their algorithms to favour it; this is something that marketers can take advantage of when creating content.

Final Word It’s a fact that 3rd party cookie data and identifiers are going away.

Businesses and Advertisers have to adapt to the changes as quickly as possible to achieve their marketing goals.

First-Party data is the future of digital advertising.

We hope you enjoyed learning about The Future of Digital Advertising. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

Shoppable Livestreams for Ecommerce

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🎵 I see it 🎵 I like it 🎵 I want it 🎵 I got it 🎵

Well, Ariana must have known the future of eCommerce all along!

As brands large and small look for new and engaging ways to connect with their audience, Livestream shopping is shaping up to be the next massive trend in e-commerce.

We now have new ways to reach and engage customers, combining interactive, entertainment and instant purchases into one unique shopping experience.

Successful shoppable livestreams are all about leveraging traditional marketing skills like researching your audience, building a community, and choosing the right amplification tactics.

What’s working?

Why and how can brands benefit from a shoppable livestream? Amazon Live has been around for more than a decade, but it is still hidden from view.

Amazon Live can be highly beneficial for brands since it is a self-service platform, just like Amazon’s entire platform.

It is easy for users to go live and stream whenever they want.

Amazon Live is an impressive platform, however, its users have few guidelines regarding the best ways to stream live.

There are, however, many other ways to get started for small e-commerce businesses.

There is something unique about the growth of live selling, where customers can ask questions directly to a product expert while still shopping through a computer or phone.

This is why consider dabbling if you’re a small e-commerce business looking to get started!

Building a brand and an audience takes time, so don’t be afraid to start small.

Here are a few places where you can start apart from Amazon Live:

Shopify – Instagram integration
Facebook
Youtube Live
Pinterest

How can small businesses and eCommerce shops integrate livestreaming into their marketing mix to increase sales? It’s essential to build a sense of community and authenticity.

Even though it is challenging to compete against huge brands, people generally want to speak with someone they can trust.

Therefore, engage your audience!

If you have just started, you may want to address your viewers by name and talk to them as you would do in person.

Furthermore, the conversation should be relatable without becoming too personal.

The hardest thing to do is stream live to no one. Invite your family and friends to start.

But with an increasing audience, it is also necessary to deal with negative remarks and trolls.

You can usually block certain users and hide comments on most platforms. Try not to respond to something inappropriate and concentrate on your livestream instead.

To help someone with a problem with a tool or product, try to educate them with your information.

Ultimately, viewers and consumers who watch the stream are reasonable enough to know trolls.

Although in starting, it can be tough to deal with trolls, in the end, your loudest critic can be your biggest champion.

Another thing to consider is that you have to get used to being in front of the camera.

In light of the current pandemic, many people are still working in virtual spaces every day.

In this case, it makes the story more relatable, especially if there are any memorable moments.

When scheduling your livestream, you should think about what is reasonable for you, who you are trying to reach, and when they will be available to watch a livestream.

The most important thing is to be consistent and announce holidays and days off in advance.

On the other hand, you can also livestream events such as product launches or flash sales at specific moments.

Your livestreaming programming can be based on your livestreaming goals, which can include sales, product education, and so much more.

People always seek answers, so format your stream as a question/answer, a product feature, and repurpose some of your content across other areas.

You can consider repurposing by taking an entire stream and then cutting it into segments or crafting a post.

Many software programs can edit your videos and make it easy to repurpose them.

You can connect your live stream on multiple platforms using OBS studio and Restream software.

How to overcome roadblocks on the path to livestreaming success? Alternatively, you can also begin streaming on Amazon if you sell your products there.

Start where it’s easiest, and then grow from there.

When you’re just starting, it’s okay to use your phone to stream. Once you grow, you can also expand technologically by using different OBS (Open broadcasting software) and streaming on other platforms.

It’s only natural for people to feel nervous and self-conscious when they start livestreaming for the first time.

However, nerves are normal, and you shouldn’t let them hold you back.

The significant challenges you will face while streaming is from the technological end.

And because live streaming is new, the audience is forgiving. And in this saturated world, authenticity is essential.

So don’t get overly crazy on the tech side if you are not comfortable with it.

The difference between influencers and live stream hosts An influencer is commonly referred to as anyone who creates content and appears on camera.

Still, a real influencer is creating highly educated and curated content, and it is supposed to feel like UGC, and that’s what influencers do.

You can drive traffic and generate brand awareness using great influencers, and this is an invaluable type of content.

If you’re going to livestream, these two skills are crucial – first, be comfortable in front of a camera.

It doesn’t mean that every Instagram influencer will be a tremendous livestreamer.

Another thing is that whoever hosts your livestream will want to be a product or brand expert – if people ask questions that your livestream host cannot answer, there is no point to it.

Livestreaming has grown in popularity, and influencers give products education and live, so businesses might want to outsource that talent.

You can also use a sales agent if your business is of medium or large size, as they know your products more than anyone, so you don’t necessarily need to hire someone or pay them if you’re starting.

Businesses should focus on live streaming efforts rather than influencers because it is consistently important for success.

Influencers have become so saturated that viewers and consumers have become savvy.

The audience knows that the content is edited and filtered, but your audience and consumers recognize something more authentic.

Anything you can demo to your audiences, such as beauty products or hardware, can be live-streamed. It doesn’t have to be the same every time; you can tweak it a bit every few weeks when you go live.

Tips for companies getting started Live Streaming The first tip to getting on live streaming is – Being Consistent.

It is predicted that digital sales through shoppable live streams will increase this year. So if you are going to start live streaming –

Promote your show with an Instagram post
Offer a discount
Let the audience know what value is added for them

Once a month, it’s exciting to have either additional partners or collaborations complementing the business.

There are many platforms on which you can start live streaming and add your Shopify site:

Bambuser offers an end to end solution for live streaming to business
Firework is the short-form web story video platform that lets you Live Stream with shoppable video, to sell more to your customers on your own website.

If you repurpose your live stream into YouTube shorts based on specific questions or products that have competitive search terms, you’ll rank higher in search. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

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How to Make Content that Drives Conversions and Leads

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Creating content is great, but it needs to have a purpose for your audience.

Is it going to provide them with something useful?

If you want conversion and leads, the content has to be right.

Want to know how to make content that drives conversions and leads?

Let’s dive in!

What’s working?

Understanding the Persona A representation of your ideal client or target audience.

With a clear picture of who you’re marketing to, it’s much easier to develop effective, targeted content that speaks to your ideal buyer’s goals and challenges.

What is their demographic profile?
What does a day in their life look like?
What are their pain points?
What do they value most?
What shopping experience are they looking for?

What Topics Lead to Sales? Once you’ve decided which prospects you want to target, you have to give them a compelling reason to download your Lead Magnet.

Instead of trying to create something you think they could want, figure out what they already need and deliver that.

Find a common problem that your buyer persona faces and provide a quick solution to that problem.

Leads: From Cold to Hot Turning the heat up with cold leads is critical to moving them along your sales pipeline.

Here are a few ways you can go from a cold to hot lead through email marketing and nurture them:

Remind them of their prior interest.
Promote new products and offerings
Personalize your interactions
Provide something valuable

Examples of Lead Magnets Creating content that drives conversions means that you have to stand out from your competition, build relationships, and be of value to your desired audience.

How do we do this?

Offer informative and engaging pieces of content that helps your customers in their purchase and decision making journey.

Ebook for First Time Homeowners Ebooks are one of the best lead magnets you can offer – provided they give true value.

They give your leads something more valuable and informative than just a simple checklist or infographic.

Ebooks can be used all over the web to grow your email subscriber list and generate brand awareness.

About Ebook for First Time Homeowners Buying a home can be a difficult and emotional experience especially when it’s the first time purchasing.

It is essential to establish what you need versus what you want before you begin your home buying journey.

The Guide to First Time Homeowners helps in making your home buying experience simple and smooth.

Guide for Retirement Planning The key with all Lead Magnets, but especially guides, is specificity!

A guide shows your audience what can be done to achieve a certain goal.

Your lead magnet guide should be able to provide the user with more knowledge and ways they can better themselves.

About Guide for Retirement Planning Planning for retirement is no easy task and most people are thinking about it.

The pain point here is not having enough money for retirement.

This guide provides the user with ways they can begin their financial journey to a comfortable retirement.

Checklist for Event Planning Everyone can benefit from a checklist, no matter the industry or area of concern. They are easy to digest, practical and straightforward.

Reasons people enjoy checklists:

Solves problems
Helps accomplish goals
Provides value with little effort

About Checklist for Event Planning The pain point here is that event planning can be chaotic.

This checklist simplifies the process and aids users in the right direction by breaking down tasks according to their timeline and category.

Webinars * Webinars offer educational video content that is highly engaging to the audience. * Your audience has a chance to ask questions in live Q/A sessions. It’s a more personal engagement talking one on one. * Often when leads attend a webinar, they are already highly engaged in the content and have a higher chance of converting.

Calculators Calculators help users solve complicated equations and evaluate their standing in a particular situation.

Adding a calculator to your site can be a great aid for a positive user experience and increase the chances of them returning.

How to Develop the Funnel By understanding your funnel, you can influence how your prospects move through it and whether they convert into paying customers.

Step 1: Analyze Your Audience’s Behavior:
- The more you know about your audience, the more effective your funnel becomes.
Step 2: Capture Your Audience’s Attention:
- Develop content for your target audience. Post content across all of your platforms.
- Diversify with infographics, videos, and other types of content.
Step 3: Build a Landing Page:
- A landing page should steer the visitor toward the next step.
- Create a bold CTA that tells them what to do, (downloading a free e-book or watching an instructional video.)
Step 4: Create an Email Campaign:
- Market to your leads through email by providing the content.
- Build up to the sale by educating them and providing valuable information. (Additional webinars. etc)
Step 5: Keep in Touch:
- Continue reaching out to them.
- Thank them for their purchases
- Offer additional coupon codes,
- Involve them in your social media sphere

Let’s wrap it up! Build your personas to discover the type of topics that your audience will want.

There are many unique lead magnets you can use that drive conversion and leads.

Each one depends on your audience and if it will provide them with the value they are looking for.

We hope you enjoyed knowing about How to Make Content that Drives Conversions and Leads.

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Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Honeydew.

Honeydew who?

Honeydew, you wanna dance?

OK, so it’s not the BEST joke in the world, but we bet you got a SMILE on your face or possibly a good eye roll or two.

Laughter truly is the best medicine, and it’s also one way you can drive engagement on your social media content.

It helps pull your users in by breaking through the feed and makes your brand more relatable and more.

What’s working? The right kind of humour can easily make or break your video content.

Let’s break down humour in video and where/when to best use it.

The Importance of Humour in Video Humour isn’t specific to just one type of business; everyone can benefit from using it in their video.

It brings joy to many people and allows you to create a more relatable and happy space with your consumers.

Not all videos need to be funny; there’s a time and place.

Constructing Videos Across Multiple Platforms Here’s how you can create compelling video content:

Choose a video purpose
Choose your tone
Choose a video topic that’s guaranteed to get traction
- Blog Content
- Customer Questions
- Hacks, Tips and Tricks
Write a script and rehearse
- Relate
- Rile
- Reveal
- Release
Choose the correct format
- Portrait or Landscape
- Identify the social media channel

Example 1 – Robb Nash The Robb Nash Project is a team dedicated to spreading hope through music and storytelling, providing a voice to the voiceless.

Why does this work?

Robb is genuine when he talks and has animated body language.
It has a great storytelling flow.
The audience feels connected; becomes a part of the experience.
Perfect for social media; only a minute long.

Example 2 – Vidyard Vidyard is an online video platform for businesses that allows you to increase leads, accelerate your pipeline and delight your customers.

Why does this work?Vidyard used humour in this video to bring more attention to their blog post.

Not only does it provide some useful advice, but it shines a light on the company’s culture, creating a more welcoming environment.

Example 3 – Dollar Shave Club With Dollar Shave Club, everything you need in the bathroom – from razor blades to grooming products – is automatically delivered to your door. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Why does this work?

Utilizes humour through shocking dialogue.
Keeps you engaged in a product that may not be interesting to some.
Quick transitions that keep you focused on the speaker.

Example 4 – Sales Feed Sales are highly competitive, mentally exhausting, and what works today may not work tomorrow. Sales Feed is here to help sellers stay sane and get ahead with fresh perspectives, timely insights, and comic relief

Why does this work?

Highly relatable to those in the industry; makes it shareable.
Clever use of narrative; making it a highly engaging story.

Example 5 – Engaged Inc Create listings on the Bridesmaid and the Groomsmen app so your business can be discovered, explored, and part of the wedding adventure. No matter the date or time, your business will be listed for engaged couples to browse.

Humour can be an effective way to grab your audience’s attention, but there’s also happiness!

Seeing a bride share her special day restores a little bit more faith in humanity.

With so much negativity in our world, a truly happy video encaptures the viewers.

Example 6 – Duolingo Learning is easier when you’re having fun, which is why Duolingo’s free, bite-sized lessons feel more like a game than a textbook

Why does this work?

Turns the pain point of learning a new language into something fun
Removes the dry approach and takes modern steps
Is relatable
All in all, their techniques keep people entertained, coming back for more

Example 7 – Super Bowl Commercials The Super Bowl is an enormously popular sporting event that takes place each year to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion. Broadcast in more than 170 countries, the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world, with elaborate halftime shows and new commercials adding to the appeal.

One great thing the Super Bowl brings is the commercials!

Some people tune in just to see what these companies will do.

Most, if not all, use humour to grasp the attention of the viewers.

People respond to humour well and are more likely to remember the content within.

How to Construct a Video

Make TikTok videos with viral potential:

Get to the point
Use trending sounds or songs
Add trending hashtags
Tell a story through your video
Leave a little mystery… keep users coming back for more

Video Content Strategies – TikTok

Videos are the heart of TikTok.

Send the Right Signals to the TikTok Algorithm: Loops, Video Completions, Shares, Comments, and Likes.

Set up the reveal right at the beginning.

Compile a List of Trending Sounds for Future TikTok Videos.

Video Content Strategies – LinkedIn

LinkedIn video can bring authenticity and engagement.

The videos are cropped to a 1:1 (square) aspect ratio in the feed, so get your video as close to 1:1 as possible.

Include a clear, keyword–focused title and description when uploading your video.

Let’s wrap it up!

Humour is an effective way to create a connection with your audience. But you have to remember when is the right time to use it.

And whether it’s subtle or in your face, humour will do the trick. Treat each platform differently.

Know your demographic and cater your video content to them.

We hope you enjoyed knowing about Driving Content Engagement With Video and Humour. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

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You’ve worked hard to create your website, investing time and energy in keeping the content up-to-date and relevant for your audience.

If you’ve chosen WordPress as a platform, awesome!

It can be a secure platform and is one of the most popular CMS options in the world.

You’ll need to put in place additional essential security features in place to keep your hard work, customer data and other sensitive information from “bad actors” with malicious intent.

Let’s dive in

3 Things in Password Management to Protect Yourself Password authentications consist of three things:

Something that you KNOW
Something that you ARE
Something that you HAVE

Any combination of two of the above three will make a good, strong password!

Don’t Gloss over Security; Stay Protected! Keep in mind that everything is cloud-connected, which is why it is important that you NEVER EVER send the password via email or chat of any kind.

Although it takes milliseconds, when you share passwords via email, it hops through different severs and may leave traces and get captured.

Moreover, it is necessary to have end-to-end encryption and keep it at the top of mind.

While Working from Home, Use a Password Storage System Instead of writing down your passwords on a Google Sheet or a Notepad, use a password storage system to secure your passwords.

Some of the Passwords Storage systems are:

Passpack
1Password
Lastpass

Supply Chain Attacks; What is it? Supply chain attacks are an emerging threat that targets software developers and suppliers.

The risks associated with a supply chain attack have never been higher due to new types of attacks,

To prevent such attacks here’s what you can do: Not use FREE Wifi.

If you are a small business or working from home, do not connect with any unknown free wifi network to get internet.

Let’s talk about WordPress WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) used for all sites because of its flexibility.

This flexibility, unfortunately, also attracts cybercriminals to exploit the platform’s vulnerabilities.

Here’s how you can prevent your WordPress website from getting hacked:

Cheap Webhosting: Be Cautious To secure your WordPress website and business, you must have a reliable web hosting server.

Especially if you are hosting the website yourself.

Make sure your server has anti-virus and is updated to the latest version of PHP.

Keep your WordPress Server Up to Date If you have a website with updated features but your server is outdated, it does not matter.

Your website and your server are both at risk without even you knowing about it.

This is why it is necessary to layer up your website with security features and minimize the risk gap.

Shared Hosting: Let’s Avoid It Shared hosting carries a certain amount of security risks that could lead to a hacked site.

If this happens, hackers can use your website to spam your customers, display unwanted content, and redirect your visitors to unknown sites.

How to prevent cyber attacks in shared hosting: While the most straightforward option might be to never go for shared hosting, if you do, you can layer up your website with security features.

The Cost Does Not Outweigh The Loss of Being Hacked; Secure Yourself While selecting the web hosting server, you mustn’t look at the cost to save a few dollars.

Make sure that the server features all the security layers

One day of the website being down can lose thousands of dollars in business.

Also, you must find out where your website is being hosted and check if it is of the latest version of SQL.

Cybersecurity; It’s Not As Expensive As You Think With new businesses emerging in the digital world, cybersecurity is not as expensive as you think and is accessible to everyone.

Within a business budget, you can get vulnerability reports that give you a detailed assessment of your website’s security features.

Act Fast When You are Hacked The first thing to do when you notice that your website is hacked: Take it down immediately

There are many authorities out there where if your website is hacked – they will block you, damaging your business reputation.

Here’s a tip for small businesses – Create a landing page on Unbounce as a temporary replacement for your website when hacked.

Plugins and How They Should be Managed

When updating your website, do not have more than you need.

If you have too many plugins, your website is going to be slow and can be prompted to crashing

While selecting plugins, do your research as there are thousands of plugins that are free and easy to download

However, you need to look at the plugin itself to check the review count, comments, and the type of community they have. Then you will know that the plugin is safe

if you see a plugin is not updated for the last 2 years, do not install that plugin.

Manage your Plugins You mustn’t install too many plugins, or your website will take minutes to load.

Here’s a suggestion to manage your plugins: If you have got courseware or woo-commerce transactions happening, split them into subdomains.

That way, you can have a series of subdomains working together for a specific purpose instead of everything on your website.

Don’t Focus Just on Plugins There’s an excellent service called Cloudflare, a web application firewall.

The IP address coming from one server gets proxy into another IP address; hence hackers cannot identify who the website’s server is due to protecting your website.

And the best part; It’s FREE!

Final Word No matter how much work you’ve put into launching your site, it can always find itself in harm’s way, even though you might have done nothing wrong.

This is just how the internet works and how random attacks are carried out.

As a result, it is necessary to follow the best practices to ensure that the website is secured and safe.

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Grabbing the top position in Google is a world of struggle.

No matter your field of business, you need an advanced tool to monitor your SEO through every step.

This is where SEMRush comes into the picture.

SEMRush is a robust platform that allows you to look into your competitors and help you stay on top of the rankings.

But how exactly can you do that?

Let’s dive into some valuable tricks you can start using today!

1. Finding low competition, high-value queries with the Keyword Magic Tool * Start with your seed keyword * Set Match Modifiers * Filter for Question Words * Total Volume and Average Difficulty * Intent (Information, Navigational, Commercial, Transactional) * Filters (Exact Match / Broad Match) * Find SERP Features Opportunities * Related Keywords * Broaden Scope of Keyword List * Uncover New Profitable Keyword Ideas for Content

2. Finding your competitors most highly-trafficked pages (and how to identify your opportunities) * Click Traffic Analytics * Choose the Top Pages tab * This feature will show you a list of pages that received the most traffic on a competitor’s domain.

3. Using keyword gap to find high-value search queries * Comparing Your Domain’s Keywords to Competitors * Keyword Type: Organic, Paid, PLA * Find Top Keyword Opportunities * Keyword Overlap * Keyword Table: 5 Main Intersection Types * Filters: Position, Intent, KD, and Advanced

4. Finding organic search rankings you’ve lost and how to get them back * Verify your market’s recent traffic trend and compare it to your website * Check how many keywords you were ranking for historically * Audit your content to see if it’s engaging enough * Analyze the technical health of your website * Discover new niche competitors you were not aware of

5. Finding your competitors ads and landing pages and how to beat them * Search your competitors in the dashboard and export their rankings. * You can see the landing page that it goes to. * Use the research tab to find out what ads your competitors use.

6. Managing and disavowing toxic backlinks to keep your backlink profile squeaky clean * Set up weekly reports on new links to quickly spot and remove toxic backlinks. * Use the Backlink Report Tool to get a list of all of the potentially toxic backlinks. * Export them to the Backlink Audit Tool’s disavow list. * Blacklist the specific URLs or the entire domain before exporting into Google’s disavow tool.

Wrapping it up SEMRush is an all-in-one tool suite for improving online visibility and discovering marketing insights.

Tools and reports to help marketers with:

SEO, PPC, SMM, Keyword Research, Competitive Research, PR, Content Marketing, Marketing Insights, Campaign Management.

We hope you enjoyed knowing about 6 Cool SEMRush “Tricks” To Unlock Your Marketing Potential.

If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

14 Incredible Free Apps that will Unleash Your Content Creation Superpowers

Using Canva to Streamline Creative Production Workflows

10 Google My Business Tactics Businesses & Entrepreneurs Can Use to Succeed

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Are you looking to step up your content creation game?

Thankfully, there are now a bunch of tools out there to make these jobs easier for us all.

But how do you choose the best apps to meet your marketing efforts?

Truth be told, there are a few elements to consider: features, prices, and purpose.

From choosing the perfect image to representing your point of view to creating the perfect content for blogs to making a video for TikTok, we’ll look at some of the best tools used for content creation.

What’s Working?

Jarvis Highest quality AI copywriting tool.

Jarvis makes it fast & easy to create content for your blog, social media, website, and more!

Photopea Photopea is a FREE web-based graphic editor that is an alternative to Photoshop.

The editor runs without plugins and lets you edit images, make illustrations and even design web pages.

The editor supports PSD, AI and Sketch files.

PlaceIt PlaceIt is a powerful online mockup, video and design template generator.

Create digital branding and marketing assets directly from your browser.

A subscription gives access to all of PlaceIt’s mockups, design templates, videos, logos and unlimited downloads.

Offers several tutorials on their website that covers each category.

Wave.Video Easily create and edit videos.

200M stock videos, images and audio clips.

Customize templates, style your videos, add captions, embed on your blog, look into video analytics and more.

Adobe Premiere Rush The free mobile and desktop video editing app for creativity on the go.

Easily shoot, edit, and export videos from any device.

Tailor transitions
Customize titles
Share anywhere
Get colourful
Adjust speed
Add audio
OpenShot Simple drag and drop video, audio, and image files into Openshot to get started.

Openshot can read and write most image and video formats.

You can render 3D animations powered by Blender inside Openshot.

You can also trim your videos, add effects, and titles with ease.

It’s a quick and easy tool that is completely free and open-source.

DaVinci Resolve It’s an all-in-one software tool for editing, colour correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio post-production!

You can work with camera original quality images throughout the entire process.

It’s like having your post-production studio in a single app.

High-end professionals working on feature films and television shows use DaVinci Resolve more than any other solution!

SnapTik Download TikTok’s easily!

Snaptik is an application that allows you to download videos from TikTok without the watermark.

With Snaptik you can backup your videos outside TikTok and repost your TikTok video to other social networks.

Mojo Offers hundreds of animated templates to create eye-catching stories.

You can add photos and videos to any template.

Share directly from the app to any social platform.

The app is free to install and does not require an account to use it.

Mojo Pro gives you access to all the designs and advanced features in the app.

MixedCaption Automatically transcribe your videos and get accurate video captions.

Most people will view your content on mute, so add captions to ensure your content is seen.

This app is available only on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Hemingway App A free tool to improve your writing.

Hemingway helps you write with power and clarity by highlighting adverbs, passive voice, and dull, complicated words.

The Hemingway Editor cuts the dead weight from your writing. It highlights wordy sentences in yellow and more egregious ones in red.

OmmWriter Think, Contemplate, Write.

OmmWriter is a tool that makes it easier for you to concentrate.

The application has an ideal setting for focusing solely on your words, thanks to its minimalist design and its having only the basic functions required for your writing.

SparkToro Searches and finds websites, social accounts and hashtags that users browse and visit.

Let’s you engage with your audience where they frequent.

You can find podcasts, websites, and social media that couldn’t be found through keyword searches.

The database is updated monthly.

Sheer SEO Free online SEO software that automates your SEO efforts, including rank tracking and link building.
All in one, website SEO software
Easy and Automatic
On-page & Off-page Optimization Tools
Reliable rank tracking
SEMRush Helps grow your online visibility.

50+ tools on SEO, content marketing, competitor research, PPC and social media marketing

Get instant insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your competitor

View any company’s online performance
Full analysis of your keywords
Provides keywords for your campaigns
Site audit

Wrapping It Up Content creation can seem intimidating but with the help of these free tools, you’ll have no problem building your own stellar content.

From video editing to captions generators to content improvement, you’ll have all you need to produce your best content.

We hope you enjoyed knowing about 14 Incredible Free Apps that could unleash your content marketing superpowers. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

2021 Digital Marketing Trends in Review and What’s in Store for 2022

13 Holidays Social Ideas to Stand Out From the Crowd

Using Canva to Streamline Creative Production Workflows

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Is it just us, or did 2021 go by really fast?

We are excited to share new digital trends that alter how we market our products and services each year.

That excitement didn’t stop because 2021 was no exception to just how quickly the industry could evolve.

With 2022 right around the corner, we will count down new trends to help businesses build competitive strategies.

We will also look back at 2021 and the trends that occurred.

Let’s get started!

2021 Predictions Here’s what we predicted for 2021:

Shoppable Social Media
Lead Generation
Bootcamps
Calculators
Brand Awareness (Snackable Video)
Email
Facebook Groups for Engagement
Chatbots & Messaging
Gamification
Voice Search

What Trends Occurred? The effects of the pandemic will continue to impact marketers in 2022.

Pandemic-Based Shift in Consumer Behavior
Continued Digital Transformation
More Live Videos and Webinars
Digital Ad Spend Spike Continues
Doubling Down on SEO

What’s in store for 2022! Augmented Reality AR uses digital technology to overlay information in video, text or image format onto everyday objects in the real world.

Benefits of AR for Digital Marketing

Brand Awareness
Rise in Engagement
Improved Customer Experience
Bringing Digital into Real World

Headless Commerce Headless commerce separates the back-end infrastructure from the front-end of an e-commerce application.

You can build new selling opportunities anywhere; all managed from a central location.

Benefits include:

Helps build better customer experiences
Saves time on user interface changes
Offers simplicity to access and updates
React to marketing trends quicker

Hybrid Events Hybrid events will be the new normal.

Such hybrid events are also handy solutions when many of your attendees typically attend in person can’t.

Benefits of Hybrid Events:

Increased Attendance
Enhanced Content Engagement
Increased Sponsorship Value

Rise of Short-Form Content Short-form content is often more shareable. It stands out from long-form content because it promises value with a smaller investment in time. That’s appealing to readers.

Benefits of Short-form content –

Increased Shareability
Mobile friendly
Improved readability
Better engagement

Growth of First-Party Data First-party data is at the top of the agenda for marketers in 2021 and 2022.

Marketers know that first-party data garner the highest return on investment of any data type.

Benefits of First-Party Data

Improve performance/ROI
Accuracy and data quality
Lends to more precise targeting
Improved measurement and attribution

Visual Search Google Lens & Pinterest lets users recognize objects and landmarks through a camera app.

Here’s what you can do when you take a photo of the following items:

Apparel and home goods: Find similar products and where to buy them.
QR Code: Use a barcode to find info about a product, like where to buy it.
Business card: Save the phone number or address to a contact.
Event flyer or billboard: Add the event to your calendar.

Content Creation and Repurposing We believe that content repurposing will increase in importance across various channels.

Short-form videos content is increasing in popularity; with the rise of TikTok and the introduction to YouTube Shorts in 2021,

Not only does repurposing reach new audiences, but it is also beneficial for people who absorb information in different ways: videos, podcasts, infographics, etc.

Storytelling > Advertising Advertising will continue to shift to a more personal approach where companies become increasingly transparent and authentic with their audiences (rather than a BUY NOW approach).

How might companies do this?

Offer behind-the-scenes content, demonstrate their values, increase community involvement.

Not only will this increase trust amongst potential customers, but it will also help build relationships and offer a valuable experience for everyone.

Mass Adoption of Blockchain Technology Blockchain is a system of recording information that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system.

Green blockchain initiatives
NFT expanding beyond online art
More countries adopt Bitcoin and national cryptocurrencies
Blockchain and IoT integration
Blockchain in vaccine manufacture and tracking

More Trends! Apart from the above trends, here are some more trends:

Cookieless World and Zero Party Data
TikTok and Twitch
Conversational Marketing (Live Chat, Interactive Video)
No Code Software Development

Wrapping It Up We’re excited to see what 2022 has in store for advancements in marketing and technology.

Let us know What are your predictions for 2022?!

We hope you enjoyed understanding blogging is essential for growth. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

13 Holidays Social Ideas to Stand Out From the Crowd

10 Google My Business Tactics Businesses & Entrepreneurs Can Use to Succeed

5 Scroll Stopping Creative Ideas to Use For Black Friday

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The holiday sales season is here!

It’s time for that generic holiday post that we see every year.

Let’s steer clear of that and take a look at some fun and engaging ideas you can do to spice up the holidays.

Feature New Products You can give your audience an insightful experience through Facebook and Instagram Stories by giving them a behind-the-scenes look at your products.

This is an opportunity to:

Showcase products in action
Demonstrate “how it’s made”
Display the benefits of your product
Offer Express Shipping Benefits The holidays are stressful enough – so alleviating some of the hassles of last-minute shopping will significantly help your customers.

Offer express shipping so that:

Customers receive orders before holidays
Generate more sales
Clear your shop’s inventory
Increase customer satisfaction

3. Consider Charitable Giving By supporting a local charity, you show your support for your community and help you build a strong social presence.

Campaign Idea: Post that you’ll match every dollar donated from your community. Reinforcing your support and that you care about the welfare of others.

Be Accessible with Live Chat You want customers to shop with you 24/7 while providing excellent customer service around the clock.

Offer live chat support for customers inquiring about questions, recommendations, or anything else they need assistance with.

Being accessible throughout these stressful times will set you apart from competitors.

5. Host a Contest or Giveaway Engage and excite your followers with an opportunity to win some exclusive new products or services before the holidays!

Run UGC contests with existing customers such as:

Photo / Video contests
Hashtag contests
“Enter to win” contests
Product review contests

6. Run a Flash Sale Create a sense of urgency – let your customers know about your exclusive holiday deals and when they will expire!

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways
Bundle Campaigns – Overstock/older products paired with core products
Collaborate with aligned brands

7. Create a Virtual Advent Calendar This is a unique way to increase engagement and have your audience interact with your page daily!

These advent calendars can:

Unlock prizes
Reveal exclusive deals
Incorporate games (puzzles, quizzes)
Release secret promo codes

8. Run a “This or That” Story Post This is a great way to have your audience interact with you while promoting your business through their page.

Users must repost the blank template you create on their story with their answers circled.

Increases page traffic
Increases engagement

9. Post Story Polls Polls are another fun way to engage and interact with your audience. Not only are they fun to participate in, but it’s interesting to see which answers gain the most votes.

Polls are great for casual questions and product-related questions to gain some insight into what your potential customers prefer.

10. Share Your Holiday Gift Guide Gift guide infographics or snackable videos are great ways to promote your products while helping customers find perfect ideas for their loved ones.

They can include:

New product promotions
Favourite products from small businesses
Partnerships: Teaming with local businesses to create a local shop guide
Share Your “Year in Review.” This is an opportunity to be transparent with your community! Share how much you’ve grown with them along the way.
Share a roundup on social media of your best-selling products this year
Highlight the years’ popular trends
Showcase your milestones
Share your predictions for next year

12. Post a Holiday Message In addition to the unique holiday ideas we’ve discussed, everyone still loves a good old-fashioned message.

Creating a personalized Christmas message for the period leading up to (and after) the holidays will create excitement and joy amongst your audience.

Livestream Another opportunity to be transparent with your audience allows you to showcase your products in action while being available to answer any burning questions.

Being candid with your audience allows them to feel a sense of authenticity, and the personal approach could be that extra push needed for your next sale!

Wrapping it up Wrapping up your year with these unique social ideas will be a great way to increase audience engagement and bring joy to your channels this holiday season!

We hope you enjoyed understanding blogging is essential for growth. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

Using Canva to Streamline Creative Production Workflows

How To Use Reels and Stories To Grow Your Business

10 Google My Business Tactics Businesses & Entrepreneurs Can Use to Succeed

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Did you know that there’s a difference between graphic design and production design?

The production design is when you develop an effective creative workflow that streamlines building and editing graphics and video for social media.

Seem impossible? It’s easier than you may think!

Marketers have long loved Canva because it is fast and easy!

With Canva, agencies of all sizes can efficiently streamline the creative process.

When it comes to getting ahead of workflow inefficiencies, removing roadblocks and scaling your output, Canva may be the right fit for agencies.

What’s working? Collaboration is a wonderful thing, but it’s not always easy.

Things can get a little hectic (not to mention time-consuming) when you have various people weighing in on the same project.

How do you ensure that quality work standards are met while saving time, energy and resources?

Let’s talk about it.

Work Smarter! (Not harder)

Canva is a great tool to ensure your team is on the same page when producing content.

Canva can help with:

Creating cohesive content
Team collaboration
Comments
Proof Sharing
Last-minute revisions

Create Your Brand Kit Ensure your designs are cohesive and avoid confusion by developing your brand kit.

You can add design rules such as:

Official fonts
Official colours and palettes
Company logos

Explore Templates Canva is a great platform to get your creativity flowing.

It offers a collection of thousands of free templates to choose from that are ready-to-use for your projects.

Whether you need a design for social media, video, presentations, or printing, Canva has a wide selection of templates for each platform.

Personalizing Templates Personalize your template to suit your business by giving it flair and personality. You can use Canva to create your own custom branded template for future use.

You can upload your own elements into Canva’s templates and publish them for other users.

One-Stop-Shop You never have to leave Canva! They make it easy to:

Create designs for any occasion
Edit photos, remove backgrounds, etc.
Store your assets

Everything from fonts to stock photography and videos can be found on Canva!

Storing & Sharing Assets Canva is great for collaboration for various reasons:

You can share designs via email, links and folders
Folders are a great way to stay organized
Retain control over who can view and edit designs

Work From Anywhere Assets get stored in the cloud which is great for many reasons:

No need to waste time sending large files to your team
Work from anywhere, anytime
Easily start a project at work and pick up right where you left off at home

Edits & Tweaks Aside from a stress-free design process, Canva is also great for those needing last-minute edits.

No need to hunt down your design team when a minor revision is needed
Edits can be made in the blink of an eye
Allows various members of your team to have access and be able to collaborate or update as needed

Time Saving Tools & Plugins Common Production Design Tasks include:

Background Removal
Basic Image Retouching
Image Enhancements
Mock-Ups

Canva Effects and Plugins enable a Production Design team to edit and produce content quickly. Providing your design team more time to focus on more complicated projects.

Wrapping It Up When it comes to increasing productivity and saving time, Canva is a powerful resource.

It’s user-friendly, which makes it not only enjoyable but a great asset for your team.

We hope you enjoyed understanding blogging is essential for growth. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

10 Google My Business Tactics Businesses & Entrepreneurs Can Use to Succeed

5 Scroll Stopping Creative Ideas to Use For Black Friday

How To Use Reels and Stories To Grow Your Business

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Did you know that 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else?

The sweet, simple days of yellow pages and phonebooks are long behind us!

For small businesses, it’s no longer a nice perk to have your business in an online directory; it’s a must-have!

Unfortunately, many companies overlook one of the most potent tools to achieve this and other core business objectives: Google My Business Profile.

Google My Business is like a virtual phonebook!

Not only does Google My Business make your business easier to find on Google, but it also helps you to reach potential customers that would otherwise not know how to find your business.

So whether you’re considering creating a listing for your business or looking for the best ways to boost your local presence, Google My Business is well worth your time!

What’s Working? Google My Business is a valuable tool to help businesses gain exposure.

But you may not be using GMB to its full potential.

Here are ten things that you can do to make your profile more effective.

Let’s go!

1. Why is a Google My Business Profile Important? Google My Business has replaced Yellow Pages has become the must-have online directory.

The users are highly motivated in their searches. As a result, we get a considerable search intent.

There are thousands of keywords you could optimize for using Google My Business, and various tools come along with it.

2. What Makes a GMB Profile Successful? Google My Business is one stop where you can provide quality information to reach your audience.

By Optimizing your Google My Business Profile, you are sending Google signals which will help you rank higher in the searches and increase visibility among your audience.

MetaData – What is that? Your Google My Business Listing is an important ranking signal to Google’s local algorithm when it comes to being found in the Google map pack, Google maps, and localized search results.

As a result, you must give as much information using Google My Business Profile metadata to rank higher in Google.

Metadata can be an image description of the photo you uploaded on Google My Business, Or the camera you took pictures with!

Understanding Your Local Rank Using Local Falcon It is fine having a Google My Business profile, but unless it ranks in the Google Map 3-pack, you have zero visibility in local search.

Appearing in Google Maps drives an insane volume of enquiries online.

Local Falcon understands the importance of ranking higher in Google Maps search.

Local Falcon is a local rank tracking tool for local SEO Analytics and delivers live organic results.

Optimize Images for Local Search It’s an SEO fact that photos create more engagement, reach and click-throughs for you Google My Business.

When consumers are looking through your business profile on Google, it is essential to optimize your business photos.

Invest in high-quality photos that can set your business apart from your competition and help entice consumers to visit your business.

Also, don’t forget to update the image’s alt tags!

Adding Products to your GMB profile Optimize your listing using the products feature.

Google My Business features products now and product collections complete with images, details, pricing, and related products.

This feature is an awesome way to keep customers engaged without leaving your GMB profile.

It lets users view more information about your products and services.

7. Adding Services to your GMB profile It’s important to remember that Google My Business is essential to a thriving local marketing strategy.

By adding services to your Google My Business Profile, your business will be able to capture new leads and convert searchers into customers.

Keep your services specific to showcase the range of services you offer.

Call and Calls history With the ‘Call History’ feature within its Google My Business, business owners see and respond to missed calls from Google Search and Maps.

The Call History allows you to:

Keep track of phone calls from customers on Google Search and Maps
Respond to missed calls and stay engaged with customers
Keep your calls from Search and Maps in a single place
Messaging – So Customers can chat directly with you! Looking for a convenient and easy method to engage with your customers?

Visitors can message you directly from your business listing on Google Search or Google Maps with Google My Business Messaging.

They’ll no longer have to search through your website for a way to connect you.

Building Citations to Increase Your Google Local Rank Citations are any mention of your business mane across the web, even if those mentions are not linked directly to your website.

These citations can include local listings, review sites such a Yelp and your listing on Google.

Creating consistent citations, meaning your business information such as your name, address and phone number, si the same across the web is important because it shows Google that the information on these sites is trustworthy.

There are several auto-submit software to create citations, such as Bright Local.

Wrapping Up Google My Business is a powerful tool that can boost your profile and make it more effective, so take advantage of it!

We hope you enjoyed understanding blogging is essential for growth. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

5 Scroll Stopping Creative Ideas to Use For Black Friday

The Importance of Social Media to Boost Sales This Holiday Season

Content Marketing – Blogging For Growth

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Have you ever aimlessly scrolled through Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and gotten sucked into watching someone’s video?

We’ve sure been there before!

Moreover, when it’s a video from a brand, you have to wonder how they made such an eye-catching engaging video?

Creating video for social media isn’t an exact science!

You can use some tried and tested best practices to elevate your videos across all social channels.

With Black Friday just around the corner, now is the time to use creative ideas that will get your audience to stop the scroll and look at your content.

But before that, let discuss

What’s new? What’s new in Marketing?

Instagram will shut down its companion app Threads by year-end – Existing Threads users with an in-app notice, which will direct them to return to Instagram to message their friends going forward.

Google signs a 5-year deal to pay for news from AFP – Google will begin paying Agence France-Presse for its news content as part of the broad five-year partnership.

Introducing More Control for People and Brands in News Feed – Instagram announced plans to collaborate with third-party partners to develop a brand suitability verification tool.

Facebook tests tool to allow users to manage the content they see – Facebook is testing a feature allowing users to control how much content they view from friends, groups and public figures.

Snapchat Launches Multi-Format Ad Placements to Help Maximize Reach and Engagement – Snapchat will enable advertisers to incorporate multiple video ad formats within a single ad set, with its new ‘Multiple Formats’ delivery option launching this week.

Gemini Raises $400 Million To Build A Metaverse Outside Facebook’s Walled Garden – After seven years of funding their Gemini cryptocurrency empire out of pocket, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are in the process of signing the last documents on their first round of capital.

Google Launching November 2021 Broad Core Algorithm Update – Google is giving everyone advance notice that a broad core algorithm update will be released.

What’s working? Black Friday is fast approaching and, with that, the busiest sales time of the year.

So how are you going to “stop the scroll” and get people to engage?

Let’s take a look at some creative ideas for grabbing attention – and sales.

Understanding the Why What should your Black Friday Creative look like?

Firstly, Before opening Photoshop or Canva, ask yourself:

What are my goals?
Which channels and ad formats will be used?
Which pain point will be the focus?
What emotion are you trying to evoke?
What kind of visual would convey your message well

Design Tools When creating and optimizing your designs for Black Friday, there are several tools for you to consider, both free and paid.

Be sure to use the features in the apps themselves because not only is it easier, the algorithm favours in-app features.

Paid Tools:

Adobe – Photoshop, Illustrator, Rush, Spark
Stencil – Online graphic design tool
Mojo – Great for stories and light video editing

Free Tools:

Canva – Graphic design platform with a premium version
Photopea – Online photo editor very similar to Photoshop
Tezza – Photo and video editing
Unfold – Great for stories and video posts
Record It! – Useful for recording how-to’s
SnapSeed, Lightroom, Foodie – Fee photo editing and filters

How to Create A Style Guide It’s essential for every marketer producing content to have a style guide!

They ensure brand consistency for every piece of content, no matter who created it.

Don’t Forget to Personalize Your Creatives You don’t need to reinvent the wheel for each one of your designs. Furthermore, many tools come with pre-set templates that you can customize using your style guide for efficient, consistent production.

Some customization options are…

Uploading your images and videos
Setting your custom colour palette
Uploading brand fonts and logos
Establishing preset filters and photo edits
Using preset video transitions and lower thirds
Specific guidelines for stock photo and video sourcing

Scroll-Stopping Creative Ideas: #1 Make Them Laugh Craft your own memes and gifs intended for sharing to tap into new audiences and gain maximum reach.

Use tools like iLovelMG.com, Kapwing Meme Generator, and Quickmeme to easily craft your memes.
Memejacking – Jump on trending memes to ride the wave of excitement.
Make your memes relatable. The hilarity of your meme doesn’t mean it’s going to work for your audience.
Meme challenges. Choose an image that works for your business and ask your audience to caption it.

Scroll-Stopping Creative Ideas: #2 Add Scarcity Build Anticipation. Showcase Excitement.

Purchase countdowns – This defines the scarcity parameters.
Sale price countdowns – This presents how much time is left before the sale price ends.
Low stock notices – This displays how much inventory is left.
Purchase Notifications – Demonstrates the popularity of the item.

Scroll-Stopping Creative Ideas: #3 Doorbuster Deals A great deal can stop one of your VIP customers in mid-scroll.

Put the deal front and centre with special or exclusive products, VIP imagery, and giveaway incentives (like the first 50 purchases also get free shipping.)

Adding a countdown timer to your creatives can encourage your subscribers to take action right away.
Giveaway Incentives such as ‘Priority Access’ or ‘ First 30 orders will get free shipping’ give them a compelling reason to purchase.

Scroll-Stopping Creative Ideas: #4 Partner with an Influencer

Take advantage of the new content collaboration tools on social media platforms and find yourself an influencer or creator to develop content like:

Product Reviews and Comparisons
Account Takeovers for FAQs
How-To Videos
Video Challenges
Inspirational Video
Results “UGC” Style Video (for instance, I used this service and here is what my site traffic looks like now)

Scroll-Stopping Creative Ideas: #5 Carousel Posts Image Posts Are Not Dead.

Carousels (or multi-image ads) allow you to guide the user through your product or services’ essential information and let you showcase product bundles.

Pro Tip: Tap into the aesthetic your audience loves when choosing your photo props and filters.

Developing Your Marketing Kit

Share business updates and highlights.

Create custom posts and social posts from reviews and updates.

Customize posts you can share today.

Change the style, colours, and more on your marketing materials to match your business needs.

Share your story with a personalized video.

Share business names and some questions for a quick and easy video to share on social.

Printable posters to kick off your marketing.

Download your in-store kit and receive printable posters, signs and stickers for your business.

Wrapping It Up Taking advantage of creative design tools can help turn your ad into a customer magnet.

You can add a personal touch to your designs to give your brand an authentic personality through storytelling.

We hope you enjoyed understanding blogging is essential for growth. If you’re looking for more great content, check out some of our other reads below:

Kicking Off the Holiday Season With Winning Black Friday Strategies

The Importance of Social Media to Boost Sales This Holiday Season

How To Use Reels and Stories To Grow Your Business

Digital Marketing from the Trenches Live at the Hive: Recent Episodes

Dan Nedelko