Saturday, November 30, 2019

Weekend Favs November 30

Weekend Favs November 30 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape



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Friday, November 29, 2019

Digital Marketing News: Twitter Test Tweet Scheduling, Google’s Dynamic Gmail Refresh, Facebook’s Lookalike Changes, & Snapchat Grows

The post Digital Marketing News: Twitter Test Tweet Scheduling, Google’s Dynamic Gmail Refresh, Facebook’s Lookalike Changes, & Snapchat Grows appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.



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What Would Shakespeare Say About Modern Marketing? 7 Quotes from the Bard Content Creators Can ...

What would William Shakespeare, the Immortal Bard, say about modern-day marketing and content creation? Short of discovering how to time travel, we’ll never know. However, his works might give us some idea or at least a little inspiration.

 

  1. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”

As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7

Marketers each have their own roles and responsibilities, but they have to be prepared to wear many hats. A content manager might act as a writer, editor, publisher, and project manager. But who then edits the editor? How about another marketer? Is anyone available? Who else has an eye for copy? The designer? Marketing manager?  Be sure to check around. Your marketing team is going to have talents you never knew.

 

  1. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5

Many people are born with talent, but use is talent if you never hone it? If you never practice or get try to get better? You might have someone on the team with a keen eye for design. They just seem to know almost intuitively what works on an email or landing page. But are they keeping up with industry trends? With the competition? Are they challenging themselves with new designs and trying to see how those designs work with copy? Content marketing is not the work one of person after all; it is the work of many: the writer, editor, designer, and anyone who has a stake in the project. Does your designer know how to work with a team? Keeping your skills sharp and knowing when to put your ego aside and being a good teammate is you can achieve greatness in content creation.

 

  1. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1

We are all mortal, and we are all people, so marketers can relate to their target audiences. Your customers have wants, needs, and preferences. Your marketing is offering them information and a solution (sometimes to problems they might not even know they have yet). In short, you, the marketer, are trying to make their lives and jobs easier. We all have dreams we want to achieve, and the marketing automation solution you offer, the digital analytics platform, or just the insights you can provide into their industry or the B2B or B2C world can help come just that little bit closer to helping them achieve their goals and ambitions.

 

  1. “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2

How much is too much? In the era of digital marketing, you might only have so much space to make your point. Emails don’t tend to be more than a couple of paragraphs, if that. A social post will probably only be a line or two. A blog can be longer, but you don’t need to write a novel. Even with any guides, pdfs, or how-to’s you create, you don’t want to overstay our welcome. You want to make your point as succinctly as possible, as to not waste your audience’s time. Get to the point. Make your marketing only as long or short as it needs to be, especially when you are considering mobile. And also consider that you don’t need to send email after email, and post on social all the time. Find the right amount of emails to send and social posts to do and blogs to publish per week that works for you. Just don’t go overboard.

 

  1. “There are more things in heaven or earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

No marketer knows everything. No person does. Thankfully, though, you have data that you can work with that at least gives you some of the answers or indicators of what they might be. What do your audiences want? What are their interests and preferences? The answers might be things you never thought of, but the data will tell the tale.

 

  1. “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within the stars, but in ourselves, that we are mere underlings.” 

Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2

It is important that marketers have a plan in place. What should a marketing plan consist of? It should at least have messaging, an understanding of your audience and product, a content strategy and calendar, and clearly defined roles and responsibilities for everyone on your team. If you don’t have viable plan in place, you can’t blame anyone but yourself when thing don’t go your way. You can’t rely on luck or random chance. You have to rely on yourself and your team to achieve success.

 

  1. “Nothing will come of nothing.”

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1

Of course, you actually have to sit down and do the work. Look at the data and analyze. Formulate a plan and get started. Create the email, guide, or case study. Shoot the video.  Send it out at the optimized send time. Promote your asset on social. Take in feedback, and have it inform the next project. Things don’t always just happen; you have to make them happen.

                                                                                                                       

Your marketing doesn’t have to be Shakespearean, but it should strike a chord with your audience. The best way to do so is to work off the data you have to see what resonates with whom you’re targeting. A customer data platform is a good place to start with that. See how you can “Do More with Customer Data Platforms.”

Go to the guide.



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Thursday, November 28, 2019

Grateful and Glad: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For

What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For in 2019

What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For in 2019 For centuries, American families and friends have come together on Thanksgiving Day to feast and give thanks for all of life’s beautiful gifts. But I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again—Thanksgiving isn’t limited to one day in the TopRank Marketing realm. Every day, I see attitudes of gratitude. To date in 2019, our team has typed the words “thank you” in Slack communications a whopping 7,737 times, and “thanks” 4,113 times. via GIPHY As is TopRank Marketing tradition, I’ve asked team members to share what they’re most thankful for in work and in life. Here’s what many had to say.

What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful for in 2019

Lee Odden

CEO The B2B marketing industry brings together an amazing collection of disciplines, technologies and people from the analytical to the creative. When marketing works to connect people with the right solutions, it really can have a positive impact on the world. I am very thankful to be a part of that industry and especially to be a part of the team at TopRank Marketing. The level of talent, focus and professionalism as well as awareness, empathy and curiosity amongst our team is something I am truly privileged to experience. The frequent kudos from our clients, influencers and community I hear about the work that our content, influence and search marketing teams are doing is a constant source of pride. I appreciate the opportunity we have as a team to create meaningful experiences that inspire others in so many ways and look forward to our focus on creating impact in 2020. 

Annie LeumanAnnie Leuman

Content Strategist and Project Manager I feel very thankful to work with amazing colleagues, clients, and mentors. I truly believe I work with and for some of the best marketers in the game, and we're constantly elevating our skills.  Whether it's learning from each other or learning from experience, we're growing our agency into a hyper-specialized team of marketers and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. I'm also thankful to TopRank for allowing me to spread my wings and take on new responsibilities. We've learned and grown a lot together in this past year and I can't wait to see where we go in 2020.

Keith Widerski

Account Manager I’m very thankful to be surrounded by the brightest minds in influencer and B2B marketing – and learning from these folks every single day. We have such an incredible team here at TopRank and I consider myself very fortunate to be a part of it. I cannot wait to see what 2020 has in store!  

Josh NiteJosh Nite

Senior Content Marketing Manager I'm thankful for the team that makes sure the work gets done: All our project managers, Annie on task management, and Caitlin on team management. There's nothing more draining at work than a pile of unprioritized, vague tasks. I love having order, organization and direction in my workday, and that's all due to their hard work.  On a personal note, I'm thankful for my wife, Jess. My best friend, best co-parent, and best partner in crime.

Ashley Zeckman

Senior Director of Digital Strategy I’m thankful for many things, both big and small. Professionally, I’m incredibly grateful that I have the opportunity to walk in the doors of TopRank Marketing each morning, where I’m given the space to learn, challenge the status quo, and collaborate with an amazing team to create meaningful experiences for our clients, their customers, and our stellar group of influencers.  I’d also like to give a special shout out to my mentors, clients and marketing friends, who have always given me something to aspire to, and provided me with so much more wisdom and direction than I would have ever been able to manage on my own. Thank you especially to Lee Odden, Ann Handley, Judy Tian, Garnor Morantes, Chris Penn, Tim Washer, Robert Rose, Michael Brenner, Cathy McPhillips, and Katie Martell. You’re all amazing.  Lastly, I’m thankful for my amazing boyfriend who is always my number one supporter and my misfit troop of naughty dogs (and cat) that always keep life interesting. 

Birdie Zepeda

SEO Strategist I am thankful to have joined the TopRank Marketing team in early 2019. I get the opportunity to work with so many amazing clients. I couldn't have asked for a warmer welcome to the Midwest. 

Jack Fitzpatrick

Influencer Marketing Strategist I’m thankful for Instagram phasing out “likes”. I’ve had my fair share of “like-envy” in the past, and it is never a great feeling. It was a bold decision of their leadership to remove such an integral feature, and I’m interested to see if it fosters a healthier culture on the platform. I’m also thankful for my newfound hobby of making bread. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but the bread-making process, in particular, makes me feel more in touch with nature and the food I create.

Tiffani AllenTiffani Allen

Associate Director of Search & Analytics I’m especially thankful for the search team at TopRank Marketing. We have such amazing opportunities to work with awesome clients, and really push the boundaries when it comes to strategic search marketing that gets serious results. But, of course, we couldn’t do any of it without the support of the entire TopRank team; a team of super smart marketers that we have the privilege of working with are a constant source of support and inspiration!

Elizabeth Williams

Senior Account Manager I couldn't ask for more from a workplace. I've been surrounded by such amazing mentors who have supported me and helped me stretch myself professionally. I think 2019 has been one of my biggest years for professional growth. Thank you! In my personal life, I am most thankful this year for the lifestyle transformation our family has made. From prescriptions to essential oils and homemade tinctures, and from hefty meat-eaters, to organic, to vegetarians—and onward to veganism! I'm so thankful for the improved health and energy we've all gained! 

Debbie FriezDebbie Friez

Influencer Marketing Strategist I’m thankful I have I fully embraced emojis this year, because they make my writing pop with visuals, which also makes me thankful that we have a fabulous design team at TopRank Marketing (because I would be an awful designer). As I reflect back on the year, I am reminded how important it is to stop and smell the roses, and take time for work-life balance and professional development. I’m thankful for an organization that realizes this is a priority. via GIPHY

Lane EllisLane Ellis

Social and Content Marketing Manager In 2019, I'm especially thankful for my wonderful family, friends, and associates. Celebrating 18 years of marriage with my amazing wife Julie Ahasay tops my thankfulness list, along with the joy of having my parents Konnie and Bob in my life, as well as my astounding and always-inspiring 102-year-old grandma Lilly Haldorsen. I’m thankful for over 35 years of using the Internet, which recently turned 50 as I wrote about here. I’m thankful to still be able to run, mountain bike, and ski the beautiful trails of Duluth, and for our three kind cats — ZuSu Pitts, Phineas Faustus, and Kukla Francis Oliver. Now is the time to reach out and give the world and its endless opportunities a warm autumnal embrace, so here’s a big virtual hug to all of you I’m lucky enough to know, lovely family and friends. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving From the TopRank Marketing Team

Thank you clients, influencers, followers, and team members for coming together to drive personal, professional, and brand success. Happy Thanksgiving! Sincerely, The TopRank Marketing Team TopRank Team Boat Day 2019

The post Grateful and Glad: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.



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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Back to basics: Understanding your paid search metrics

Learn how to interpret what’s happening in your paid search account with your traffic, conversions and sales data.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.


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AWS makes it easier to add machine learning prediction models to your martech tools, dashboards

No need to write complicated code to apply predictions to your CRM lead scoring models, for example.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.


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Think CCPA doesn’t apply to you? You should probably think again

Some can technically avoid the law, but probably shouldn’t say these experts.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.


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Preparing college students for the marketing profession takes commitment and planning

Internships can help launch well-prepared talent into the workforce after graduation but mentoring requires engagement from professionals.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.


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What Brands Need to Think, Do, and Say to Stand Out

What Brands Need to Think, Do, and Say to Stand Out written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Ron Tite
Podcast Transcript

Ron Tite Headshot

Today’s guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is a speaker, author, and founder and CEO of the agency Church + State, Ron Tite.

Tite is an award-winning advertising writer and Creative Director who has worked with clients such as Kraft, Air France, Hershey, Fidelity, and Volvo.

His book, Think Do Say, is a guide for brands who don’t know how to stand out in today’s marketing landscape (and really, who does)? With ads coming at consumers from every which way, it’s hard for them to know who’s worthy of their attention.

Rather than trying the latest marketing trick or hanging your hat on strategic jargon, the secret to standing out is really “think, do, say.” What’s the driving belief behind your brand, how do you behave to back up what you believe in, and how do you talk about your central purpose?

Questions I ask Ron Tite:

  • Do we have to state what we believe in order to connect today?
  • What does Times Square have to do with the modern marketing landscape?
  • What should we be doing today that we’re not yet doing when it comes to marketing?

What you’ll learn if you give a listen:

  • Why you need to create a brand belief that goes beyond just your product.
  • What a “pitch slap” is (and why you don’t want to be someone who does it).
  • What the problem is with modern marketing communications.

Key takeaways from the episode and more about Ron Tite:

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by SEMrush.

SEMrush is our go-to SEO tool for everything from tracking position and ranking to doing audits to getting new ideas for generating organic traffic. They have all the important tools you need for paid traffic, social media, PR, and SEO. Check it out at SEMrush.com/partner/ducttapemarketing.



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Transcript of What Brands Need to Think, Do, and Say to Stand Out

Transcript of What Brands Need to Think, Do, and Say to Stand Out written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Back to Podcast

Transcript

John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by SEMrush. It is our go-to SEO tool for doing audits, for tracking position and ranking, for really getting ideas on how to get more organic traffic for our clients, competitive intelligence, backlinks and things like that, all the important SEO tools that you need for paid traffic, social media, PR and of course SEO. Check it out at semrush.com/partner/ducttapemarketing. And we’ll have that in the show notes.

John Jantsch: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch and my guest today is Ron Tite. He is the Founder and CEO of an agency called Church+State. He’s also the host and the executive producer of a very short-run podcast called The Coup and the author of Think Do and Say, a book we’re going to talk about today, how to seize attention and build trust in a busy, busy world. So welcome Ron.

Ron Tite:  John, thank you for having me.

John Jantsch: So we’re recording this in mid November, depending upon when people listen to this. This may or may not make sense, but I think that I’m going to close my office on Black Friday. Are you with me?

Ron Tite: Yes, I think you should.

John Jantsch: So, you tell a story about, and I’m a huge fan of this, of REI and I’m a huge fan of what they did with this. And so why don’t you, because I think that, well, you gave this story so much space very early in the book. So I’m going to at least assume that, to you, it sort of frames kind of the entire book in a lot of ways or at least the point of the entire book. So, you want to kind of unpack the REI Black Friday story and kind of contextualize it for Think Do Say?

Ron Tite: Yeah, it is such a great example of the model and it’s a great example of the model delivered in that first launch spot in 30 seconds where you get to know everything about the organization within 30 seconds. And so the model of Think Do Say is that the ‘think’ side is that… Well, sorry, I’ll back up. Given the world that we’re living in, people don’t know who to trust. They don’t know where to look and they don’t know who to trust. So with that, and that’s at all levels of the organization, that’s consumers, that’s B2B clients, they don’t know where to look, they don’t know who to trust. So how do you respond to that and how do you bubble up to the surface where you can win attention, sees attention and build trust along the way for having a business with longevity?

Ron Tite: Well, I thought REI did such a great job of that in that on the ‘think’ side, what do they think? Well, they believe in something that goes beyond what they sell. Because what they sell is outdoor equipment, hiking boots and tents and stuff like that. And other people sell that stuff. It’s not like they can claim to have the best sleeping bags, the best hiking boots. Other people sell that stuff. So they have to believe in something that goes beyond that. And the original CEO of this initiative says this line, “We believe that a life lived outside is a life well lived.” So they believe in something that goes beyond what they sell. Secondly, he doesn’t just believe it, but he actually acts with intent. He takes decisions that reinforces that belief specifically.

Ron Tite: So one of the things that REI did was they closed their store and all eCommerce channels on Black Friday. So we believe this, this is how we behave to support that belief. And then the third part is if we believe in something more important and we behave in a way that reinforces that belief, that’s not only worth talking about, it’s something that people want to hear about. But so if we are going to talk about it, then we should talk about it in a really authentic way. And they do that. They talk about it in their own unique voice. And so that initiative of #optoutside started in 2015 but it still exists today. They will be closing this Black Friday. And it has grown. They’ve increased other partners. But I think it’s such a great illustration of this is what we believe, this is what we do to reinforce the belief and this is how we talk about it.

John Jantsch: And I think it’s even maybe a little deeper, because it’s what their clients believe. It’s what their customers believe too. I think.

Ron Tite: Yes. And what’s really interesting about that is that, I mean, we can say it’s their customers. I think what’s important about it, it’s who conceivably would be their customers. Because if you just say what you believe, what your customers believe, then well, that’s a little opportunistic, right? That you’re aligning your beliefs with the people who give you money opposed to saying we’re going to align with people who share our values and our belief. We know that enough of those people will convert to being customers. And those that don’t, that’s totally cool because that’s not where our alignment is. But I think there has to be a confidence that when you align on values and beliefs, enough of those people will convert to being customers and clients.

John Jantsch: Over the last couple of years, and I know you do a lot of work in retail, but over the last couple of years, REI is really transitioning their business. they still sell the clothes and the tents, but they seem to be moving just kind of headlong into travel and experiences. And would you see that, and maybe you’re not aware of that, but would you see that as a transition of retail for them or do you see that as an expansion of where they think the world’s going?

Ron Tite: I think that what it is, is it gives them the opportunity to diversify their portfolio in a way that still reinforces their brand belief. So if you’re General Motors and all you do is sell cars and your brand belief is that you should make the best car in the world, that’s amazing when people are buying cars. But with ride sharing and autonomous vehicles, well, now what do you do? Your product-focused brand belief is useless and doesn’t protect you from the dynamic forces of the economy or from cultural interests.

Ron Tite: So when REI were saying, “We believe in a life lived outside is a life well lived,” that immediately set themselves up to broaden their horizons, diversify their portfolio because the new services of travel and they’re also doing classes of teaching people how to canoe, that still reinforces their belief. So yeah, I think, I mean in culture a great example is Lady Gaga who doesn’t believe in being the best singer in the world. Because if she did, she’d never be an actress. But she believes that people should be free to express themselves. And she lives that through acting, through music, through choreography, through visual arts, and now through a fashion line.

John Jantsch: So one of the threads that runs through your book, and quite frankly a lot of books over the last couple of years, is this idea of, tell people what you believe. Do we have to state what we believe in order to connect today? I mean, is that just we just have to get over it and do it?

Ron Tite: No, I think that what’s getting confusing is that brands and leaders representing those brands are thinking that we have to align corporate purpose with social issue. And that’s just wrong. Now in some cases-

John Jantsch: That sort of leads people to doing stuff that sounds good, doesn’t it?

Ron Tite: It really does. And they go, “Well, what is everybody talking about?” “Oh, they’re talking about the environment.” “Okay, yeah, yeah, we believe that too.” Which is fine if it’s strategically aligned with what you sell because what you sell is your do. So if you’re Nike and you say that everybody’s an athlete and your purpose is to support those athletes in their pursuits, you’re morally obligated to run that Colin Kaepernick ad. But if you’re Pepsi and you say that the world should come together in unity and you hire Kendall Jenner to be a spokesperson, you’d be like, “What does that have to do with pop? There’s nothing strategically aligned there.” If you’re Audi and you say that the world should… we should experience gender equality in the workforce, that’s not why you may need cars. I mean, come on. It’s not that those issues aren’t important.

Ron Tite: But I don’t think so. I think if you do a good enough job like REI to say, we believe in this thing, which is strategically aligned with what we sell but is elevated, then I don’t think you have to say that whether you’re a Trump supporter or not or whether you support Title IX, whatever, all those things, all those public policy things, which can be divisive. So no, I don’t think they have to.

John Jantsch: I was in New York recently and I was speaking at an event that was right in Times Square. I stayed in Times Square. I hate Times Square by the way. But you actually have a quite lengthy explanation of, or kind of using Times Square as sort of a metaphor for our times today in the marketing world. So you want to kind of unpack that.

Ron Tite: Yeah. I think I agree with you that if I’m in New York and I have to stay in Times Square, something has gone wrong, but I certainly have done it. There’s two sides to Times Square that I think represent the modern marketing landscape. The first side is up top and up top there’s nothing but promotion and it’s really expensive to be there. And it is filled with legacy brands who have big budgets, who can afford the billboards and the video boards and they’re really slick and they’re polished. Of course, they’re really slick and polished. They had to spend all that money to buy their space. Of course, they’re going to make it absolutely perfect.

Ron Tite: And so it’s filled with opportunity. 400,000 people walk through Times Square or drive through Times Square every single day. It’s really expensive and everybody wants to be there. But to the consumer, to the person that that entire ecosystem has been built for, they have no idea where to look. They have no clue where to look. Nothing catches their attention because everything is screaming. And so all those brands up top are paying a lot of money to just contribute to the noise. Now, that’s one on level.

Ron Tite: The second level is down street level. At street level, that’s a whole other type of entrepreneur. That entrepreneur, they don’t have the funds to live up top, but they can be more nimble, and they can be more authentic, and they can be more aggressive, and they can be more targeted, and they don’t have the baggage of those big legacy brands, but they also don’t have the credibility of those big legacy brands. And often they have new business models. You’re not exactly sure who’s making money, what, where, right?

John Jantsch: Yeah, those guys handing out like the tour pamphlets, I’m always leery of them.

Ron Tite: Yes. Yes, so you’ve got the pamphlet guys, you’ve got somebody else selling you a fake Gucci, you’ve got somebody telling you the end of the world is coming. You have someone selling street meat, you’ve got someone selling watches. And the street meat guy, that may be the best sausage or hot dog you’ve ever had in your life, but he’s stuck down on this entrepreneurial level with all these nimble folks where you’re not exactly sure who’s valid and who’s not.

Ron Tite: So up top you don’t know where to look, down below, you don’t know who to trust. And so in the middle of marketing is the sweet spot that can we bring with us and dial up legacy aspects of credibility, responsibility and history with the nimbleness and the authenticity that a customized and personalized delivery can bring us. That to me is the sweet spot where most brands and most leaders need to live.

John Jantsch: Okay. It sounds exhausting. We’ll get back to that. There is a term that you use throughout this book and you kind of said that you didn’t make it up and you weren’t sure who did. So I coined the term pitch slap just so you know.

Ron Tite: It was you!

John Jantsch: It was me. So what the heck is that?

Ron Tite: A pitch slap is any overt or subtle pitching of your product when the sole focus of a piece of communication or a series of communications is to actually pitch your product or your service. And often we can smell this coming. It’s the person who connects with you on LinkedIn who says, “Oh John, you’re such a brilliant person. I’ve been following you for years. I read all your books. It must be so enlightening to just breathe the same air as you.” And in your brain you’re going, “I know where this is going. You’re blowing smoke up my ass because you just want to pitch me your thing.” Right? And so opposed to, “Look, John, I’m going to connect with you and I’m going to add value over time until it gets to the point when you like what you hear and you ask me how you can hire me.” Those are two very different things.

Ron Tite: Now, I think a pitch slapping is the result of people gaming the system because the promise of digital communications was that we’d be able to put the right products and the right services in front of the right people at the right time by being able to produce communications never before, cheaper than we’ve ever been able to do it and distribute that in ways to people all over the globe. And what we’ve done or what a lot of people have done is they’ve tried to game the system by going, “Screw it! I’m not going to customize this. I’m just going to blast a million different people and I’m going to pitch slap everybody. And I don’t care about the innocent bystanders who are offended or who get frustrated or who hate me for doing it, because two people are going to convert and that’s fine for me.” And I think that’s the problem with modern marketing communications. This was supposed to be the promised land and instead it’s a wasteland.

John Jantsch: So, correct me if I’m wrong, but you do some standup don’t you or have?

Ron Tite: Well, yeah, I spent 20 years as a standup and then hosted a comedy show up until the point that my wife and I had our first child just close to two ago. But it’s weird. It’s speaking… There’s this diversion of standup when I do about 70 keynotes a year. So kind of.

John Jantsch: And obviously it comes through in your writing as well. In fact, I didn’t realize what a literary researcher that you were and you turned up some new quotes from Confucius and John Rockefeller that I really was not familiar with. So listeners, you’re going to have to get the book to enjoy those. But let me ask you to share, since we’re kind of picking on the people’s use of some of the digital tactics, you spent a lot of time talking about LinkedIn in general, so you want to go through some of the various characters that we might mean on LinkedIn.

Ron Tite: Oh, I would absolutely love to.

John Jantsch: Like the gopher for example.

Ron Tite: Yeah. Yeah. Well, there’s a… I’m going to call them up here because I want to make sure that I do them justice. So the groper. Yes. The groper is the person who right out of the gate, it’s like they’re all over you, right? They’re all over you with that invite to connect [crosstalk 00:16:03]-

John Jantsch: Yeah, I was going to say, I actually get some invitations that they don’t even wait for me to accept. It’s like in the invitation they’re pitching me.

Ron Tite: Yeah. Yeah. They’re saying like, “Are you available for call next day between 12:00 and 14:00?” And you’re like, what? I mean that is just so aggressive and I don’t know who is teaching this.

John Jantsch: My favorite or actually least favorite is the ones that always have in there somewhere, “I’d like to learn about your business.” I’m like, “If you don’t know everything about my business that has been on for 20 years online, then you’re not trying very hard.”

Ron Tite: Yeah. What I love about that is, what I call in the book the Howdy Partner, right? Which is the, “Not only do I want to know about your business, but let’s partner John. I mean I’m a real estate agent and I can send clients your way and you can send clients…” Like, “What? I don’t partner with well-established organizations because there’s not a fit. You think I’m going to partner with some random person. That’s ridiculous.”

John Jantsch: Unless there’s synergies.

Ron Tite: No, no. The other one that I think is really funny is what I call the Stumble Upon because I don’t know if you get this a lot, but it just seems like every third invite is people going, like, “I stumbled upon your profile and thought that we should connect. And like, “Really, you just stumbled upon my profile,” and it’s like, “I think I want to connect to people who are a little bit more targeted in their browsing. Go home and StumbleUpon you’re drunk or you’re supposed to be on [inaudible 00:17:36].”

John Jantsch: I used to love to StumbleUpon then. I don’t know if you remember that app.

Ron Tite: Yeah.

John Jantsch: It was in the early days of the internet. You’d basically say, “Show me your website.” But things have changed.

Ron Tite: You know what though, I think we’re in need of [inaudible 00:17:52]. Don’t you think StumbleUpon should make a return, but it should be StumbleUpon for TV shows, right? StumbleUpon, here’s a Netflix show that you never thought… We need that curated experience.

John Jantsch: Yeah. Well, that’s a good point. I actually got a pitch from somebody who’s creating an app for podcasts that that’s kind of the idea where they’re going to, based on your interests, curate a whole bunch of stuff and then just give you like one minute snips so that you can decide. I thought that was clever.

Ron Tite: I was chatting with our friend Jay Baer last week and we were discussing this thing of like, “Oh yeah, jeez and me, where do you go for stuff because there’s so many shows and so many good things?” And I said to Jay, “I think we need to start a magazine called TV Guide.” Like, we could just find out what the heck is on all the different streaming services.

John Jantsch: Yeah. It’s amazing, I’ll go out to dinner with somebody and they’ll say, “Oh yeah, we just started watching this show,” and it’s like, “I never even heard of it [crosstalk 00:18:57].” All right. So we got knocked off course here a little bit, but I really wanted to come back with the money question. What should we be doing that we’re not doing today?

Ron Tite: What we should be doing is I don’t think we’re putting enough emphasis on the foundations, especially on the two ends of the spectrum. So really, really large organizations where kind of the bureaucracy has come in and said like, “Let’s just check a box. Let’s just check a box and say that we did the thing and see if we can pursue those metrics even though it has no foundation to growing our business whatsoever.”

Ron Tite: The second thing is that, within entrepreneurial mindset, where people are like, “I want to get to the thing that allows me to beat my chest and say I’ve got the thing.” And often that means we’re chasing these vanity metrics and we need to play the long game. We just need to play the long game. And this is not rocket science. If we believe in something more important that allows us to diversify our portfolio and be nimble and pivot and all those things. And then we actually focus on what do we actually do to reinforce it. And that can be products, but that can also be based on who we do it for and what they want us to do. What problems can we solve for people and how do we acknowledge who we do it with?

Ron Tite: And then the third part, I’m like, “Look, let’s just talk about it in an authentic way. Let’s have real conversation with real people.” There’s nothing that’s brilliant about that. There really isn’t. But it takes a commitment and it takes focus on business foundations and slowly over time you will build the business. You will build your profile.

John Jantsch: It’s in the subtitle, but we haven’t really talked enough about it. I mean, I think the real game that we’re all involved in, maybe always have been, but it’s gotten harder and messier, is trust, isn’t it?

Ron Tite: It most certainly is. And as marketers, marketers have spent a lot of time, and I’m just as guilty by the way, of saying, “How do we cut through the noise? How do we cut through the noise? How do we get people’s attention?” It’s a goldfish universe above all those things and it’s like, look, if you just want to gain attention, kill a puppy. Just kill a puppy. You’ll get attention. People will talk about you. But if you want to grab attention and build trust so that that new business cost, that acquisition cost decreases over time, then that is about trust. And trust is based on actually delivering. And it’s actually delivering in a way that people in one way expect because it aligns with your beliefs and another way don’t expect because it goes well beyond what they’re used to getting from brands.

Ron Tite: And when you can do that, I think you know what, you’ll be good. You will continue to grow the business. If you’re a thought leader, you will continue to grow your influence. Now, are you going to get that massive spike in traffic? Maybe not, but incrementally you will continue to grow over time and where it should be the long game or in Simon Sinek’s new word, The Infinite Game, that we really should be focused on.

John Jantsch: Amen to that. So Ron, where can people find more about Think Do Say and some of the other work you’re doing there at Church+State?

Ron Tite: They can go to the Church+State website, churchstate.co. They can go to thinkdosay.com or rontite.com because I’m an equal opportunity URL giver.

John Jantsch: I’m assuming you’re in Toronto today?

Ron Tite: I’m in Toronto. I’m on my way to New Jersey and then to Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and then Arizona. No, back to Toronto and then Arizona.

John Jantsch: But the book is available in both Canada and the United States. Isn’t that an amazing world we live in?

Ron Tite: It’s part of the North American Free Trade Agreement or whatever we’re calling it now.

John Jantsch:  It’s certainly not that, I’m sure. Ron, great catching up with you. Hopefully we’ll run into you soon out there on the road.

Ron Tite: That was good, John. Thanks so much and thanks everybody for listening. Really appreciate it.



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Here’s what to expect in paid search, email marketing, spending and more during the BFCM stretch

We’re entering the busiest shopping week of the year, with an expected $30 billion to be spent during the next five days, according to Adobe.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.


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John Jantsch on the Local U Deep Dive Podcast – The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

John Jantsch on the Local U Deep Dive Podcast – The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

John Jantsch sat down with Mike Blumenthal and Carrie Hill, hosts of the Local U Deep Dive Podcast, to discuss local marketing, reviews, and his latest book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur.

Jantsch gives an overview of his career—he founded his own marketing firm 30 years ago and has developed a system for small businesses marketing—and segues into why he chose to write his latest book specifically for fellow entrepreneurs.

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur is designed to help those running their own business develop a trust in themselves and their work and find greater purpose in their work. To learn more about the book and hear the whole interview, check out the link below!

Listen: John Jantsch on the Local U Deep Dive Podcast



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Persistence Arises from Gratitude

If you ask virtually any working artist how they developed a creative career, they’ll mention a dedication to their craft...

The post Persistence Arises from Gratitude appeared first on Copyblogger.



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5 Smart B2C Tactics To Boost Your B2B Brand

Upward-pointing arrow formed of people.

Upward-pointing arrow formed of people. B2B marketing is swiftly embracing techniques that were once only for B2C, and we’ve got five smart B2C tactics to add to your B2B plans for 2020 and well beyond. Influencer marketing, engaging interactive content, awards events, chatbots, and podcasting are just some of the ways that today's savvy B2B marketers can add a healthy dose of the B2C experience to your business marketing efforts.

#1 - Influencer Marketing

Jumping Businessman Even though influencer marketing is still largely associated with the B2C world, you’ve likely noticed that it’s being increasingly used by smart marketers as a highly successful go-to B2B tactic. Influencer marketing has already accounted for over $2 billion in annual marketing spending in the U.S. alone, and annual growth rates are predicted to from 41 percent all the way to 95 percent. (AdAge) Influencer Marketing Hub Growth Chart B2C influencer marketing has relied heavily on celebrity influencers, a combination that has faced a growing backlash and played a part in diminishing trust in marketing. B2B influencer marketing, on the other hand, incorporates industry experts who have a genuine two-way relationship with a brand, a partnership that respectfully serves both parties equally well, and boosts trust. While influencer marketing may have had its ups and downs in the B2C landscape, influencers in the B2B world may just be a perfect match. [bctt tweet="“Invite people to be in your program first and then do some brainstorming with them and see what they like, how they like to interact or what they like to do for companies.” @AmishaGandhi" username="toprank"] Amisha Gandhi is vice president of influencer marketing and communications at SAP*, and she recently shared her B2B influencer marketing insights in one of our new Break Free B2B video interviews, including creative and fun ways that add sizzle and build brand credibility. Watch and learn from Amisha in “Break Free B2B Series: Amisha Gandhi on Global B2B Influencer Marketing.” [bctt tweet="If you don’t tie your influencer marketing to business objectives, you can quickly lose track of what you’re trying to accomplish. @Konstanze" username="toprank"] Konstanze Alex of Dell* is another leader in B2B influencer marketing, and along with Amisha and Dell's Janine Wegner at the most recent MarketingProfs B2B Forum conference, she explored some of the latest trends shaping influencer marketing, in "Tales from the B2B Influencer Marketing Trenches with Leaders from Dell & SAP #MPB2B." [bctt tweet="“Influencer marketing presents an opportunity to tap into the established credibility and connections that people in your industry or niche already have with their own audiences.” @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"] Our own senior content strategist Nick Nelson and senior director of digital strategy Ashley Zeckman have also explored the subtle nuances of B2B influencer marketing, taking "A Journey Through Always-On Influencer Marketing with Ashley Zeckman #MPB2B." [bctt tweet="We pride ourselves on cultivating and nurturing long-term relationships with our influencers … which means we are always looking to establish a ‘give to get’ exchange where all parties come out ahead. @ranimani0707 @adobe" username="toprank"] Rani Mani, head of social influencer enablement at Adobe* is another leading B2B influencer marketing expert, and she has shared a number of her unique insights in "B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Rani Mani, Adobe." Trust in marketing has been a growing concern among marketers — one that B2B influencer marketing is squarely seeking to improve —  and here are five of our most recent articles that explore how marketers can build greater trust:

#2 - Engaging Interactive Content

Group of Businesspeople Interacting B2C brands have spent heavily on bringing consumers engaging interactive online content as a major part of many marketing campaigns. As the B2B landscape continues to speedily depart from its dusty Boring-To-Boring roots, business customers are expecting content and experiences that are increasingly similar to what B2C efforts have long provided, and engaging interactive experiences exemplify the type of content B2B firms need to offer if they wish to successfully compete. What could be less interactive or engaging than a hundred-plus page purely text industry white paper? Today’s B2B customers expect to have access to all of the relevant information that white paper contained, but brought to life through an online interface that’s not only easy to search and navigate, but also chock full of user experience features that make interacting an entertaining experience. [bctt tweet="“You may need to take baby steps with your audience to get them warmed up to the idea of interactivity.” — Caitlin Burgess @CaitlinMBurgess" username="toprank"] Engaging and interactive content marketing is a subject near and dear to our hearts at TopRank Marketing, and here are five of the most recent pieces we’ve published to help you learn more about building your own:

#3 - Awards & Best-Of Pages

Woman By Sunny Lake Image As B2B efforts become more like those in B2C, business marketers are increasingly looking for places to showcase their best work, and industry awards events can be a powerful way to share and celebrate cutting-edge work. Whether it’s physical red carpet award programs where industry professionals gather to honor the top B2B marketing work, or purely digital events that show off lists of winning campaigns, the benefits of highlighting great B2B marketing efforts can be far-reaching. LinkedIn* recently announced the winners of its "Best of LinkedIn Pages 2019," taken from submissions to its annual contest — a list that shows how building great content can lead to widespread industry  recognition. We’ve examined the power of award-winning content in the following articles, including several examples from the Cannes Lions event:

#4 - Chatbots & AI-Infused Customer Interaction

Chatbot Image B2C companies were some of the first to actively offer chatbots to consumers, however there’s been swift adoption in the B2B world, and with studies showing that people like interacting with powerful chatbots when they can quickly get the answers they seek, more B2B organizations are likely to begin using chatbot technology in 2020 and beyond. 2019 February 22 Statistics Image For a deeper look at how chatbots, artificial intelligence, plus augmented and virtual reality can work to your B2B marketing advantage, here are five recent articles we’ve published:

#5 - Podcasting

Podcasting Woman Image Just a few years ago the idea of podcasting in a B2B context would likely have been seen as preposterous by most business consumers. Now however, as podcasting’s popularity has skyrocketed in general — over 62 percent of podcast listeners say they listen to more now than a year ago — more B2B firms than ever are either starting their own or studying how to do so in the near future. B2B podcasting is ripe for business marketers, with some 13 million households already including avid fans of business podcasts, and 52 million households including casual fans of business podcasts, according to Nielsen podcasting data. Our senior content marketing manager Joshua Nite recently made the case for B2B marketers to take a serious look at podcasting, and presented “B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Marketing Case.” [bctt tweet="“B2B marketers who are creating any kind of audio content should consider podcasting as a channel to earn attention, deeply engage an audience, and ultimately drive measurable business results.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"] When it comes to B2B podcasting, making the leap from consideration to implementation can be a hurdle, however Josh has written an insightful guide to help marketers with the process, in “10 Crucial Steps for Launching Your B2B Podcast Into the Wild.” More B2B podcasting help and examples of top marketing podcasts can be found here:

A Brighter B2B Future For 2020 and Beyond

As we’ve explored, by using influencer marketing, engaging interactive content, awards events, chatbots, and podcasting, B2B marketers can add new life to once-stale campaigns, and we hope that 2020 brings you an abundance of B2B marketing advancements to be thankful for. * Dell, SAP, Adobe, and LinkedIn are TopRank Marketing client.

The post 5 Smart B2C Tactics To Boost Your B2B Brand appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.



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