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Marketing Insights & Strategy

Oct 08
It's Q4. What Does Your 2015 Marketing Look Like?

It’s Q4. What Does Your 2015 Marketing Look Like?

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

It’s Q4 2014. With the holidays coming, you have very little time to decide what your 2015 marketing outlook is if you haven’t already done so.

But let me tell you one thing that you can take to the bank. In 2015 more of your consumers will be connected than at any time in the past. They will be online, using social media, looking for the products and services that they want to buy and relying on the information they find online to inform their decisions.

If you are reading this while sitting next to a truck load of cash, then go enjoy your money. This isn’t for you. But if you want to give your business a fighting chance in 2015, keep reading.

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Oct 07
3 Marketing Tropes To Eliminate From Your Tactical Toolbox

3 Marketing Tropes To Eliminate From Your Tactical Toolbox

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Have you read the story about Marriott International’s “The Envelope Please” program?

It’s stirred up a bit of controversy and got me thinking about dumb things done in the name of marketing. Turns out, dumb marketing is not only the domain of big companies. Even small businesses sometimes fall into these traps.

Here are three of the most head-shaking mistakes and why you should avoid them.

PS: If you haven’t read the Marriott story, I include a link at the beginning of my article. Let me know what you think!

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Oct 06
Who Gets SEO In The Divorce?

Who Gets SEO In The Divorce?

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Ralph and Carol Lynn, Search Marketing

In today’s podcast episode, Ralph throws me under the bus, we talk divorce and for the first time ever, I don’t end up with my mic muted.

Today’s episode gets off to a bang as we tackle the subject of SEO, inspired by an article written by an industry-leader that reads like one big contradiction.

Search is important for a lot of businesses that rely on it for leads and customers but it’s also one of the least forgiving areas when it come to the “try – test – measure – try again” approach. Listen in as we share our thoughts on SEO, the dos, don’ts and definitely nots. We also talk email marketing and more.

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Oct 01
Forget About Content Being King. Forget About Contact Being King. Let's Talk About The Queen.

Forget About Content Being King. Forget About Contact Being King. Let’s Talk About The Queen.

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Something is king.

I’m not sure what, but every day it seems to change.

One day Content is King. The next, it’s engagement. Then it’s disruption. A few days ago, my nemesis (and good friend) David Deutsch of SynergiSocial wrote an article proclaiming that “contact”, not “content” is king.

Ok, so what is King?

The answer is simple. There is no king.

Here’s a different way to think about marketing.

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Sep 30
The Difference Between Magical Thinking And Actual Marketing

The Difference Between Magical Thinking And Actual Marketing

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before:

If you want to promote and grow your business, connect with influencers.

You can’t go a half-mouse-click without someone telling you how to connect with influencers and why you really, really, really need to do that.

I’ve discussed this in detail before but suffice it to say that trying to “connect with influencers” is the sort of magical thinking, right up there with “write epic content” and “just make it go viral”, that will hinder and even kill your true marketing success.

If you want your business to succeed, here’s a better way to market.

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Sep 23
My Credit Card Or Yours? Your Marketing Relies On Smart Financial Decisions.

My Credit Card Or Yours? Your Marketing Relies On Smart Financial Decisions.

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Guess what? Your marketing company can make things really simple for you.

They can pay for your hosting, your domain renewal, your email software, and your social scheduling software. They can itemize all of those expenses for you and then send you one bill.

Easy peasy. Lemon Squeezy.

But I want to share two stories with you that illustrate the downside of the easy-peasy-one-bill method so you’ll see why it’s so important to know who owns your accounts and services.

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Sep 18
Business Card Marketing: Titles Don't Matter Except When They Do

Business Card Marketing: Titles Don’t Matter Except When They Do

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Are you a Firestarter?

How about a Ninja? Chief Fun Maker? Executive Content Czar?

When it comes to the titles that people put on their business cards, I’ve seen some pretty interesting things. But the big question is: does that help or hurt them?

Read or listen to today’s blog to find out.

Even if you think you know the answer, I bet you’ll be surprised by some of the ideas that you can try on your own to find out what title suits you best.

Find out how to make a title work for you.

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Sep 16
Here’s Why Hello Kitty Is Your Biggest B2B Marketing Ally

Here’s Why Hello Kitty Is Your Biggest B2B Marketing Ally

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Yesterday we premiered the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast. Today we’ve got something a little different, too. It’s a blog post and it’s also got an audio version so you can read AND listen. Your choice.

Visit today’s blog to read or listen.

In the blog, I share a lesson learned from an email that I sent to our mailing list last week. If you received it, you may recall that Hello Kitty played a starring role. Well, she also has something to say about B2B marketing so visit to find out what that is. Because sometimes it’s great to talk theory and strategy and big ideas, but sometimes it’s much more helpful to read about something practical, something tested that WORKED.

Intrigued? Visit to read or listen now.

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Sep 15
Ryan Hanley, Shut Your Big Fat Face!

Ryan Hanley, Shut Your Big Fat Face!

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Ralph and Carol Lynn

This is it!

The first episode of the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast.

It feels like we’ve been planning it forever and thanks to the help and encouragement of some great people, we’re finally up and running. It’s also thanks to readers like you that we were inspired to go farther and wider to spread the message that marketing isn’t about secrets, gimmicks, ten-steps or simple tricks. It’s work, but it can also be fun, personally rewarding and most importantly profitable.

So join us on our journey to debunk some common marketing myths and to talk about things that really matter to your success. In this first episode we talk a little bit about how we got here and say a lot of thank-yous. We also throw in our marketing two cents to get the conversation going.

I’d love it if you would listen and then leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you would like to hear in future episodes.

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