My Blog My Blog

Why You Should SEO-Optimize Your Content, Even if Your Goal Isn’t Organic Traffic

SEO Strategy
March 19, 2020/by
Why You Should SEO-Optimize Your Content, Even if Your Goal Isn't Organic Traffic Nowadays, you can't conduct a successful content marketing strategy without incorporating SEO methods. Neil Patel explained it well when he wrote: "Good SEO ... means consistent output of content. Consistent output means that you're doing content marketing, and you're doing it right. There isn't any way around it." I can imagine you might be thinking — "OK, but my goal for content marketing isn't just SEO. It's also creating thought leadership content, and lead generation, as well." Of course, every marketer should consider more than organic traffic when analyzing success metrics. After all, SEO isn't the only component of a successful marketing strategy. But SEO efforts don't just help you reach organic traffic goals — they can also help you achieve your brand awareness and lead generation goals, as well. Here, let's explore how SEO can help you meet all your marketing goals, even if those goals don't require organic traffic. How SEO Can Help You Reach the 3 Main Content Marketing Goals Before we dive into how marketers can use SEO strategies to reach their content marketing goals, let's take a short detour and refresh ourselves on three of the primary reasons for doing content marketing: Lead generation. If you have salespeople ready to close sales but need to fill their pipeline with more qualified leads, the primary goal for your content marketing is probably lead generation. Lead generation is the process of converting people...
Read Full Story

A Marketer’s Crash Course to Hyperlocal Marketing

local marketing
March 17, 2020/by
A Marketer's Crash Course to Hyperlocal Marketing A couple of weeks ago, I was planning a trip to New York. I'd never been, so I was excited to start planning and figure out my itinerary. Once my hotel room was booked, I started looking for things to do during my time. I wanted to stay close to my hotel so I could find my way back after a long day of exploring. This goal of mine meant that most of my Google searches would have "near greenwich village, NY" in the queries. When I was planning out places to get food, for example, my query was "vegan restaurant near greenwich village". The results Google picked for me based on this search weren't by guessing or magic — most likely, the restaurants used hyperlocal marketing efforts to optimize their businesses for "near me" searches. Hyperlocal marketing targets audiences who have similar researching methods to mine — those who use "near me" in search queries in hopes of picking out a business to try out in person based on the business's location. For my New York trip, I didn't want to spend a lot of time commuting, so finding places near my hotel was essential. I knew I was going to see a Broadway play during my trip, and I found similar results for "shopping near broadway". If your business is struggling locally, or you're looking for a way to boost foot traffic, you may benefit from hyperlocal...
Read Full Story

HubSpot’s Guide to Building a Killer Marketing Team

Marketing Jobs
March 17, 2020/by
HubSpot's Guide to Building a Killer Marketing Team We all know the age-old expression, "There is more than one way to skin a cat." Though I've never tried, I'm going to guess they're right about that. Likewise, there are many different ways to build a high-performing, growth-focused marketing team. However, in my experience, I have found that there are six absolute must-have positions that the majority of best-in-class B2B companies employ. Particularly if you're at a small business or startup, it's important to think about building your team with these six roles first. Let's go through how to build a marketing team, what these roles are and where to find the right people to fill them. How to Build a Marketing Team Before you can hire anyone, it's important to have a strategy in place for building your team. For instance, you should have a clear understanding of your organizations hierarchy. Think about how the Acquisition and Content teams will work together. Consider how the roles within these teams overlap. Once you have a clear understanding of your marketing department's teams, you can start to write the job descriptions and begin recruiting. You can post jobs on your website, or on job boards like Indeed. When the applications begin rolling in, you can start to interview and vet your candidates. It's important that the people you hire mesh well with your team, so don't hesitate to ask marketing friends for referrals. Additionally, pay attention to LinkedIn connections while you're...
Read Full Story

How to Create an SEO Strategy for 2020 [Template Included]

SEO
March 14, 2020/by
How to Create an SEO Strategy for 2020 Here's a cliche among digital marketers: Search engine optimization (SEO) isn't what it used to be. Here's a true statement you don't hear as often: Your SEO strategy for 2019 shouldn't focus on keywords. These days, most businesses understand the basic concepts of SEO and why it's important. However, when it comes to developing and executing a sound SEO strategy for your business, just creating content for the keywords your customers are searching for is both arduous and, well, wrong. What is an SEO? Search engine optimizers (SEOs) are people who optimize websites to help them show up higher on search engines and gain more "organic traffic." In essence, an SEO is a highly specialized content strategist, and helps a business discover opportunities to answer questions people have about the industry via search engines. Here are three types of SEO that an SEO strategist can focus on: On-page SEO: This SEO focuses on the content that's "on the page," and how to optimize that content to help boost the website's ranking for specific keywords. Off-page SEO: This SEO focuses on the links that are directing to the website from elsewhere on the internet. The number of "backlinks," and the publishers carrying those links, that link to your website help you build trust in the eyes of a search engine. This causes your website to rank higher as a result. Technical SEO: This SEO focuses on a...
Read Full Story

How to Use SEO Data to Make Better Marketing Decisions

SEO
March 14, 2020/by
How to Use SEO Data to Make Better Marketing Decisions As marketers, we know that search engine optimization (SEO) is necessary. It helps webpages rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs). After all, 67% of all clicks go to the first five organic search results on Google. So for traffic, SEO is a must. But have you ever considered using SEO practices for, say, informing marketing decisions? Or creating networking opportunities? Only using SEO for traffic purposes is closing the door to different ways you can use the skills you already have to inform decisions in other areas. To get an idea of the different ways to use SEO, we're going to explain the types of SEO data, and a short list of how SEO data can lead to better marketing decisions. Types of SEO Data Organic traffic — Organic traffic refers to the visitors that come to a website from the search engine results as opposed to paid ads. Organic traffic is important because it indicates whether or not your website has the answer to search queries that audiences are looking for. Organic impressions — Impressions are when digital content appears on the screen of the user, and organic impressions are when that happens without a paid ad. Impressions don't suggest the user took action, but does suggest how far your reach is. Organic rankings — You might have noticed that Google ranks ads at the top of SERPs, and more rankings below. The...
Read Full Story

Everything You Need to Know About Ecommerce Marketing

Ecommerce Marketing
March 14, 2020/by
Everything You Need to Know About Ecommerce Marketing With nearly every marketing operation now taking place online, it can be tough to distinguish between the various types of digital marketing people use today. For example, take ecommerce marketing — what is it and how does it compare to practices like social media, content, search engine, and email marketing? Ecommerce marketing and digital marketing are not mutually exclusive. Ecommerce websites can use all of the above digital channels to promote a product and grow their business. This ecommerce marketing guide will explore all of the digital media available today. Ecommerce marketers can use social media, digital content, search engines, and email campaigns to attract visitors and facilitate purchases online. Before we dive into more detail about what ecommerce marketing is and how to implement a strategy of your own, let's review the definition of ecommerce advertising and advertising's parity with marketing for an ecommerce business. Ecommerce Advertising In similar fashion to the way advertising falls beneath the umbrella of marketing, ecommerce advertising falls beneath ecommerce marketing — and when used in tandem, you have the ability to more effectively reach your audience members to boost conversions and improve brand awareness. As mentioned in our definition above, ecommerce marketing is about driving awareness and action towards your product or service. Meanwhile, ecommerce advertising includes the methods through which you actually promote your product. In terms of online or ecommerce marketing and selling, these ads may come in the form...
Read Full Story

How to Stand Out on Amazon, According to a Former Amazon Executive

Amazon Marketing
March 12, 2020/by
How to Stand Out on Amazon, According to a Former Amazon Executive Nowadays, Amazon is the largest retailer in the world. Additionally, in September 2019, over 150 million mobile users accessed the Amazon app, making it the most popular shopping app in the U.S. By comparison, Walmart was in second place with a mere 76 million users. However, if you work for a smaller ecommerce business, you've likely struggled against the Goliath that is Amazon. If your products or services don't rank at the top on Amazon, it's easy to get lost in the mix — but avoiding Amazon altogether isn't a good strategy either, since the majority of consumers turn to Amazon first when shopping online. To help you boost sales and exert brand control on Amazon, I sat down with James Thomson, former Business Head of Amazon Services who now consults brand executives on how to optimize their distribution strategy on Amazon marketplace. Thomson spent over five years at Amazon, and recently published the book Amazon Marketplace Dilemma: A Brand Executive's Challenge Growing Sales and Maintaining Control. Here, let's dive into Thomson's advice for selling "on" versus "to" Amazon, how small brands can succeed in the crowded marketplace, and the biggest lesson he learned as an Amazon executive. 1. In your book, Amazon Marketplace Dilemma, you mention this dilemma most brands face — to sell "on" or "to" Amazon. While I know it's a complex topic, could you start by providing me with a sense for...
Read Full Story

40 Remote Work Stats to Know in 2020

Office Culture
March 12, 2020/by
40 Remote Work Stats to Know in 2020 In 2020, workplaces are embracing remote work options more than ever before. This is definitely apparent at HubSpot, where we have a quickly growing fleet of more than 300 full-time remote employees as well as partial remote options for those who work in our offices. As someone who'd never really understood the perks of remote work, my time at HubSpot has allowed me to embrace this work style. While I primarily work in office, I usually spend one or two days a week working from home. During this time, I'm able to build out content strategies, take time for analytics reporting, and churn out hefty blog posts with limited interruption. I'm not the only one who's discovered the benefits of working from home. In fact, nearly half of my incredibly talented team works from a different state. This enables them to live closer to their families or stay in a state they love without relocating for work. As a team, it enables the in-office employees to benefit from the diverse ideas of out-of-office colleagues that we wouldn't have had if our company didn't allow remote work. But, despite the perks and countless remote work testimonials, the idea of remote work can seem scary at first. Like with any emerging work style, those who've had more traditional, in-office job experiences might feel skeptical about remote work. This skepticism is understandable. As a manager, you may wonder what your employee is doing...
Read Full Story

Integrated Media Planning: What It Is and How to Adopt it In Your Marketing Strategy

Media Planning
March 12, 2020/by
Integrated Media Planning: What It Is and How to Adopt it In Your Marketing Strategy A few months ago, while I was driving to the airport, I saw a billboard for Kim Kardashian’s company, SKIMS. Then, a week or so later, I was watching Instagram stories, and I saw some influencers posting reviews for the new shapewear. The next week, while I was watching E!, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" came on, and Kim was shown modeling for a SKIMS photoshoot. I had one of those moments where I thought "SKIMS is showing up everywhere!" That’s because the company has an integrated media planning strategy. A few months after these events, when I was shopping for shapewear for my wedding, guess what brand I thought of? (Spoiler alert: it was SKIMS.) That’s why, as a marketer, having an integrated media plan is important for your marketing strategy. In fact, 90% of customers expect consistent interactions across channels and 87% of retailers agree that an omnichannel marketing strategy is critical to their success. Below, let’s dive into what an integrated media plan looks like and how to adopt it in your marketing strategy. Integrated Media Planning If you’re creating a marketing campaign, you know that success relies on knowing your audience so you can reach them on the right platforms and deliver the most effective messaging. That’s where integrated media planning comes in. Essentially, integrated media planning is the process you’ll go through when you’re considering various media platforms...
Read Full Story