Actionable Marketing in Minutes

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: how a digital marketing agency can help your business.  Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @DirectiveGroup or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: Artificial intelligence and marketing with CEO of DirectiveGroup, Lisa Maier and Isaac Adejuwon of Metricsflow. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. In this episode Eric speaks with  Isaac Adejuwon of Metricsflow and Lisa Maier of Directivegroup about all things related to AI and marketing. If you are interested in our program, click  here to learn more about our review management program. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with … Continue Reading

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: Review management with 16th Street Dental a popular Yuma Dental Office. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. In this episode Michelle speaks with Dr. Brandon Schmidt from 16 Street Dental Care in Yuma about his review management program. Dr. Schmidt shares his results and why he feels review management is his #1 marketing program. If you are interested in our program, click  here to learn more about our review management program. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.  

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: the power of review management. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. This is our 2018 kickoff and we started with a bang. In this episode, we introduce Eric Clare and bring back a regular Michelle Keyser to discuss the power of review management in one of our new podcast formats. If you want to know what your #1 marketing initiative should be in 2018 and why, listen to this short 10 minute discussion on review management. If you are interested in our program, click  here to learn more about our review management program. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: Marketing Audits. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Being a business owner means having to wear a lot hats at once to grow your business. It takes a lot of time and effort to deal with vendors, manage sales and constantly be on the lookout for new opportunities.  In between managing your jam-packed schedule and making business critical decisions, marketing efforts are often pushed to the back burner.  But if you want to see conversions and continued growth for your business over time, you need to address pain points your target audience has with a complete inbound marketing strategy. With so many channels available these days, inbound marketing is incredibly powerful. And for the same reasons, it can be intimidating. But the good news is, it is actually quite simple to get all the pieces working together if you understand the fundamentals. Consumers no longer want to be sold to, they prefer to be educated so that they can make smart and well-informed decisions. Inbound marketing is designed around attracting audiences using personalized, relevant messaging and content that speaks directly to their needs. Inbound marketing can be broken down into three major phases- 1. Attracting audiences, 2. Converting audience to leads, 3. Nurturing leads to sales – each phase builds off the last. Attracting Audiences Different Inbound marketing techniques can be used to attract audiences, increase reach and build brand presence. Let’s look at some of the more common tactics that can be used to accomplish this: Web Optimization– Your business website serves as the digital face of your brand and a one-stop source of information for your target audience. Optimizing your site for search by working on on-page SEO, technical SEO, improving web design usability, and creating content for conversions and lead Generation, helps search engines notice and display your website at the top of search results organically. This directs more users to find the information they need, which in turn means higher traffic for your website. SEM– Many businesses use search engine marketing (SEM) methods like PPC or AdWords to show ads to prospects. When a search query includes specific keywords related to your product or service these paid ads are shown. It can get quick results and instant audience. Social Media Marketing– Create business pages and social media groups in various platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn group, Twitter and get your message out about your product or services. If your content is well received, you can easily build a large following. Content Marketing– Your site must hold the attention of your audience. For that to happen you must create a steady stream of content to educate, problem solve, inspire or entertain your existing readers and attract new users to your site. To keep your customers engaged with your brand you need to offer different content types from blogs, ebooks, case studies, webinars, white papers, workbooks, videos and more. Converting Audience To Leads Once your site starts getting more traffic, you need to focus on audience aggregation through channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, forums, community sites and e-mail. Capturing the attention of a group of people with similar interests makes it easier to promote your content and engage with them long-term. You need to get into the mind of your audience and understand user behavior, key metrics and performance indicators so that you can create the right content. Then you can modify your calls-to-action and optimize landing pages; use shorter forms and smarter Thank-you pages in order to convert audiences into valuable leads. Nurturing Leads to Sales To encourage leads to become customers and increase sales, you need to send out the right e-mail with the right marketing message at the right time. E-mail marketing can help in prospecting and lead scoring, nurturing and developing relationships all the way through to completing sales transactions and asking for referrals. Benefits Inbound marketing can help you create a voice that people love, which will ultimately help you generate and increase sales for your business. But for Inbound marketing to be applied successfully, it requires specific expertise and experience. Don’t be afraid to reach out for assistance and hire outside help! We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: Marketing Audits. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Are you finding it difficult to keep on top of all your marketing efforts? Has your marketing plan become buried under the day-to-day marketing activities and processes? How do you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your marketing campaigns? What steps can you take to protect against making costly mistakes? How can you maximize your return on marketing investments? These are common dilemmas for every entrepreneur or small business owner. To truly empower your business and stay ahead of your competition, you need a fresh pair of eyes to look at and audit your marketing strategy at regular intervals. So when was the last time you had a marketing audit done? Marketing audits are absolutely vital in future planning for your brand. A marketing audit aligns your marketing practices with the values, culture, message and tone that are consistent with your brand values. It improves the effectiveness of all communication, external and internal. Marketing audits also help you gain clarity down the line about what practices work and what isn’t effective. It provides direction and focus on all other actions and choices. There is no hard and fast rule about the ideal time to conduct a marketing audit because the timing depends on the goals of your business. The main idea is to be proactive about performing your marketing audit to avoid tedious crisis management later. No matter how timeless your brand is, your marketing strategy cannot remain unchanged. To keep up with the evolving business environment and practices, it is important to perform complete marketing audits at least annually. To decide on when you want to schedule your marketing audit for your business, you need to factor in the complexity of your industry and the growth it has experienced within a specific time. It would be absolutely criminal to wait for a marketing crisis to schedule your marketing audit. If you’ve started to notice that your marketing efforts are no longer effective and your sales are going down then you’ve left it too late. A little preventative maintenance is a far better and more cost-efficient than rushing to fix bigger problems later. Marketing audits can identify any shortcomings in strategy, process and implementation to prevent any costly mistakes that could be detrimental to your business. When done right, marketing audits can save you thousands of dollars and ensure that your marketing strategy supports your revenue goals. If you haven’t already, get your marketing audit done to discover something valuable about your business. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “Fundamentals For A Powerful Inbound Marketing Strategy”        

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: How To Increase Your Conversion Rate. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: You have propped up a website to hawk your product or service. You are spending money to drive visitors to your site but maybe you are not doing enough to capitalize on your ads and traffic.  If that is true, then you are likely to have an impossible time clinching the proverbial sale from visitors. Most websites just let the all-important visitors slip right through their virtual clutches, by not focusing on some simple rules that govern sales and website conversions online. You can generate more revenue on your site simply by leveraging the traffic you already receive. If you think of your website as a shop front at the mall, then you want customers who enter your ‘online store’ to buy something or take a desired action. All it takes is smart marketing and a few tweaks to optimize your site’s conversion rate so that more users take a desired action on your site. While there are different ways to go about improving your conversion rate, you can pick the conversion actions that are most appropriate for your website audience. Split Test- To know how visitors act on your site and learn about different components of a site that can drive more leads, you should test two distinct variants of the exact same web site pages. For instance, A/B testing or split testing can help you find out what headlines drive more sales, where product images should be placed on your site or what color buttons lead to more click-through’s and so much more. Knowing what works best can help improve your site’s sales conversions. Improve User Experience On Your Site- Your site design and layout should be a fine balance between both aesthetics and functionality. You should minimize design friction points on your page that keeps a visitor from moving forward towards signing up or purchasing. Leverage easy-to-read font styles and colors, a clear navigation structure, section content carefully between above-the-fold and below-the-fold so that people don’t get bored and click away. Reduce the number of fields in your submission forms to see more conversions. Properly asses and fix any issues with your site’s loading speed and browsability to see conversions. Answer Questions: Visitors to your site are likely to have questions that they want answers to before making a purchase. If you can anticipate common questions and provide contextually relevant information within the content of relevant pages and detailed FAQs, then you will see a rise in conversions. You can also create interesting content around your most frequently asked questions for your blog. Benefits Site views are great but if they doesn’t convert into tangible profit for your company it’s all been for nothing.  Competition and user choices have increased substantially so you have to constantly monitor and make changes to your site in order to boost conversions. Know that conversion rate optimization is not a quick fix but a consistent effort that requires long-term investment. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.      

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Regardless of whether you have a brick or mortar store or solely do business on the internet, surely you are looking to connect to people who want or need your services or products. How will people know who/where you are and what you have to offer? How can you attract customers without any marketing effort?  At the tactical level, the world of marketing is always in a state of flux but broadly speaking there are two main fundamentally different approaches to marketing – outbound marketing and inbound marketing. So how do you pick what is best for your business? For that you definitely need to know about the key differences between inbound and outbound marketing and benefits of each method. Let’s start with outbound marketing, which involves sending messages out to the largest number of people possible. It relies on “in your face” or aggressive methods of advertising that interrupt what the buyer is doing to force attention on the products or services. For outbound marketing campaigns, the subject, timing and channel of interaction is dictated by the marketer and not the buyer. In general, common outbound tactics to reach a larger volume of less-targeted people include: · Television Commercials · Pay Per Click ads · Banner Advertising · Cold-calling · Direct mail lists · Tradeshows · Mass email marketing · Flyers Now, when we look at inbound marketing we see that the process naturally aligns your business with the buyer journey. It does not force information on an audience. Instead it brings potential active customers in the market to your business by making them aware of your existence and providing valuable information and advice. Inbound is all about marketing to prospects with consent and adapting your message as leads move through different stages of the buying process  It gives prospects control of the time and place to engage with your business. Typical examples of inbound marketing tactics that can lead to more opportunities and customers include: · Blogging · Social media · Podcasts · Email marketing · Content creation (ebooks, whitepapers) · Viral Videos · SEO Benefits: Both forms of marketing have their benefits. Look at your specific business goals, products and marketing objectives to determine which method is best suited for your business. It’s is about finding balance between both Inbound and Outbound approaches and using the right tool at the optimal time to get the best results. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.

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In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: How to improve mobile marketing. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Do you check your mobile phone the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night before hitting bed? You wouldn’t be the only one. These days, many of us have our phones on or near us wherever we go. So much so that smartphones have become an integral part of many people’s lives. In fact there are now more mobile devices in the world than people. Nearly half of online searches now come from mobile devices. Mobile phones are utterly pervasive in the lives of many of us. Mobile devices provide marketers the ability to reach and interact with consumers and customers 24/7, whether for shopping, service provisioning, product information or for positive reviews or complaints. However, many companies still struggle to create powerful marketing strategies to reach mobile audiences and to create a high-impact, high-value mobile experience. But the absolute worst thing you can do is do nothing at all! You have to be present and interact with customers on their mobile devices. Having actionable mobile marketing strategies can help you understand customers in context so that you can effectively integrate your products and services with their new mobile habits. For that you need to get the basics of mobile marketing right first though. How? 1. Ensure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly It is absolutely essential to have a site that makes a good first impression and is compatible with all devices, platforms, and tablets, with different screen sizes. You can either use a responsive site design or have a separate mobile site, depending on your specific site requirements. Optimize the user experience by using better organized content, possibly with less text and make sure that the entire site is “touch-friendly” with larger touch buttons and enough space between links for fingers to target, all placed within easy-to-reach navigation areas. 2. Work On Mobile Search Engine Optimization The way people search on the go is different from their search patterns on the desktop. Keep this in mind when working on mobile search engine optimization. Perform keyword research to find terms that users might be using to find businesses like yours. Then add targeted terms with strings of conversational language in complete sentences or in phrases around your core keywords. For example: if your typical keywords are ‘pizza’ and ‘Boston’ then your voice-optimized keyword might be, “Where is the best pizza in Boston?” Create the right pages to show up in local mobile searches. These can include location page with hours and contact information of your brick and mortar store, content posts with keywords pertaining to local topics, such as “How To Find The Best Storage Facility In Colorado Springs?” You can make search more relevant on mobile by adding location data such as contact details, opening hours, price range, reviews, upcoming events, in your sitemap using schema.org markup. 3. Get Customers Involved Through SMS marketing campaigns SMS is an easy two-way communication system for your customers to air their views, give you feedback and more. Prepare content that asks for their opinion and encourages them to reply, like polls and surveys. Understand your customer behavior for evaluating and automating the timing, frequency, and relevance of all marketing messages you send. Offer your users SMS time-sensitive incentives, like marketing coupons as they are more likely to be redeemed. Have a transparent and easy opt-out notification policy for users as well. 4. Build On Your Mobile Email Marketing Since most people now use mobile devices to check emails, they should also be mobile-friendly. Use mobile-responsive email designs to make sure they look and read well on smartphones. Write winning but short subject lines and pre-headers. Include images in your email campaigns to get your message across but make sure they’ll look great when resized to fit on a mobile screen. You can also use mobile data to guide you on how to enhance your consumers’ mobile experience with mobile apps, QR Codes, geo-targeted advertising, mobile content, and more. Reach out through mobile with shake up discounts and deals and run text-to-win contests to generate buzz around your business. Benefits: Building a great mobile presence and engaging users with personalized content with a data-driven approach can help to boost sales, drive conversions and improve the overall user experience. The payoff for businesses that get their mobile strategy right can be massive. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we compare “Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing.”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: Effective Web Design Principles for Usability. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: From simple platforms for sharing content, modern websites have evolved into complex structures, in keeping with ever-increasing user expectations. While we all know that no one likes a website that frustrates them, many businesses still make the mistake of becoming myopically focused on the aesthetics of their site, even at the cost of usability. However, in the vastly competitive digital landscape, where billions of websites are competing to grab the user’s attention, both the design and development process should be focused around the goals and requirements of your prospective users, the folks you are trying to communicate with. Optimizing your website for usability and a seamless user experience ensures ease of use and fosters greater user engagement. Simply put, users should easily understand how the site navigation works, be able to find any information they are interested in, and know how to take appropriate action through clear call to action, otherwise known as CTA. Then – and only then – can you truly accomplish something of value with your website, whether it is brand awareness, driving traffic, lead generation, sales etc. With that in mind, let’s go over four basic usability principles that you should definitely consider during the development of your next website project. 1. Kis- Keep It Simple Principle The simplest solution is usually the best. In mathematics, they call this the concept of ‘elegance’ and it generally holds true in the laws of nature as well. The same principle can be applied to your website to get rid of unnecessary design elements that serve no functional purpose and allow you instead to focus on simplicity in a number of ways, including: · Recognizing that white space is probably your most important design element, and is often the most overlooked. · Be careful not to use too many colors in your site design; certainly no more than five, plus or minus two. Many design experts suggest three. · Use a maximum of three different typefaces in at the most three different sizes. More importantly they have to be legible. · Only use features such as graphics, flash animation, or edge-to-edge videos if they will help a user complete a task or perform a specific function. 2. Follow the 3-Click Rule The 3-Click Rule emphasizes that users generally leave a website if they can’t access a feature or find information they are looking for within three mouse clicks. Going by this basic usability principle, you will create a website with a great intuitive user experience (UX) design and easy navigation. This is why navigation menus should be simple and short, limited to containing only five to nine items at the most. Keep navigation clutter-free to avoid confusing your site visitors. For a large site with many sections and pages, it is better to use a mega menu, drop down menu or sub-navigation. Some other aspects you should consider for navigation are: · Include a search box at the top of your site. · Use breadcrumbs on every page. · Multiple ways to explore content. · Custom 404 Page. · Good internal linking within your page copy. 3. Remember the 4-Second Rule No doubt about it, we are impatient. And – bad news is – we are becoming more so each year. It makes for a better user experience the less you make anyone wait. Slow page load speed is a major turn off for visitors and one of the main reasons for them clicking out. In fact, many studies have been shown that thousands of dollars in ecommerce sales are lost with each millisecond increase in page load time. And Google’s ranking algorithm now factors in this element. For good usability, your site must load the most important visible elements within 4 seconds. This is easily done by following a few simple rules: · compress images, · enable cache, · limit use of plugins, · minify JavaScript or CSS files, · optimize databases, and · most importantly, select a good hosting provider. 4. Pay Attention to the 5 Golden Rules Of Interface Design This set of principles apply to most interactive user systems and web design. 1. Be purposeful in page layout and placement of items to focus user attention on the most important pieces of information and to improve readability. 2. Good error handling and displaying the right error message is a must. 3. Offer informative feedback as an indication of success or failure of your vistor’s actions. If necessary, communicate next steps to reduce frustration for your user. 4. Create a consistent experience and use common user interface (UI) elements to create patterns in layout and design across your entire website to help facilitate efficiency. If people aren’t taking time to learn about your cleverness, they will use that time to consume the information you are trying to provide to them. 5. Don’t hide all valuable content behind forms. Make web forms easy to use and accessible to everyone. And be sure to ONLY ask for information that is truly needed. Benefits: As is obvious by now, usability and design are interconnected. If you keep your site’s viewers at the center of your creation process when building a working website, you will end up with a beautiful site that promotes ease-of-use and functionality. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we go over “How To Improve Your Mobile Marketing Strategy”  

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: 3 Ways To Gain More Instagram Followers. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: Are you using Instagram to promote your business or blog? Instagram marketing can give you effective results rather quickly because it is the fastest growing social network, with high engagement rate as compared to other networks. Despite posting your best content, has your follower count slowed down? Remember that building an Instagram audience of potential customers to promote and sell your services is more important than building a list of random people. In this podcast we tell you about 3 easy hacks to jump-start your Instagram strategy and create a community of loyal and engaged followers. Solution: 1. Get Visibility For Your Instagram Account Be strategic and make it easier for potential new followers to discover your Instagram account. Here’s how- · Cross-promote your Instagram account to your existing followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or any other social network. · Profusely link to your Instagram account on your website, as your email signature, and also in newsletters you send out. This way more people will be aware of your brand online and they can easily find you on Instagram. · Follow other people on Instagram and like their photos and videos to interact with the larger community and be seen · Embed your Instagram photos in your blog posts. · Identify and collaborate with online influencers and brand ambassadors, who naturally compliment your brand, to reach a much larger selection of your ideal target audience and gain you some new followers. 2. Leverage The Right Hashtags Hashtags make a post discoverable by anyone searching for that hashtag. It helps organize and categorize photos and video content to optimize content discovery. · Use relevant hashtags in your captions to help your posts appear to people who are searching for photos related to your industry or product. · Find out which hashtags your target audience use most actively, and then search for posts around that hashtag. Like and comment on posts. · Search for hashtags that have an active and involved community behind them, and then engage with like-minded people to raise awareness about your brand. A good example of this is #morningslikethese or #fromwhereistand. · Create your own branded hashtag to get new potential followers on board, aggregate user-generated content and create a strong sense of community. · Get in on the social media buzz with trending hashtags especially during holidays (#christmas) and other newsworthy moments (#MillionMarch) and post relevant content. · Find and use a mix of topically relevant hashtags along with more popular hashtags related to your product, service, or industry to get in front of the right people. 3. Use Instagram Stories To Be Recommended Instagram Stories are a fun way of creating engaging, super-targeted content to foster meaningful connections with your audience. Instagram Stories are shared with followers at the top of the regular feed and are deleted automatically after 24 hours. The Vogue U.K. account doubled its following to 2 million last year, thanks to how it has used the Instagram Stories feature. Stories are ephemeral so do try and post one story per day but also save it to repost it again as a regular image photo to your profile grid.. The better your stories are and the more they appeal to your specific audience, the greater your chances for Instagram to add your account to the other trending stories at the top of the explore tab. Having one of your stories featured on the “Explore” page can get you a ton of likes, comments and new followers who choose to see more of your content! Benefits: These suggestions just scratch the surface of strategies necessary to build a strong Instagram presence, grow your follower count and maximize your Instagram likes. Nonetheless they are a helpful start for anyone hoping to get loyal Instagram followers. But do remember that it’s not just a numbers game, so the best strategy is to be authentic and social. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “Why the Need for Market Segmentation?”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we consider some of the most Effective Web Design Principles. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: Your website serves as a digital business card and the quality of the web design on your site conveys the legitimacy and trustworthiness of your business. When it comes to designing a website, it is easy to get caught up only on the aesthetics. For instance, should we use light blue or dark blue in the background? Will the logo look good on the top right of the screen? What font should we choose? But besides the visual presentation, web design also involves usability, user interface, the architecture of information, site layout, and navigation ergonomics. A cohesive web design can have a positive impact on referrals, conversions and abandon rates. Solution: To stand out among a billion other websites, you have to follow certain design principles that act as best-practices for successful web design. #1 Easy and Intuitive Navigation Visitors come to your site to look for information or to complete an action, such as make a purchase. Intuitive navigation is all about getting visitors on your site to where they want to be in the fewest number of clicks possible, before they lose interest and leave. To optimize navigation for usability and improve visual appeal, you can simplify the structure of your primary navigation and place it near the top of your page. It is important to keep the main navigation consistent throughout all the pages of your site. Also, use breadcrumbs on every page to leave a navigation trail and add a search box in your site so that visitors can search by keywords. Lastly, remember to stick to simple clear, and exciting words for all your call-to-actions or an internal link, clearly stating where that link is leading to. Some examples might be “Buy Now” or “Let’s Get Started!” #2 Visual Hierarchy Visual hierarchy entails organizing and optimizing website elements so that visitors can naturally gravitate toward the most important topic, content, or block first. Our eye moves and perceives things best in a certain order. The idea is to lead visitors to first view what is most important and then move them onto the others in the most natural and logical way. By modifying the position, color, or size of certain website elements, you can structure your site in such a way that visitors will be drawn to those elements first. Create an order of importance is by placing content, images, and videos, in such a way that the human eye first travels to the content that is most important. Remember, a simple design is most effective so you can consider a grid-based layout where content gets divided into columns, boxes, and different sections or opt for F-pattern design to complement the natural reading behavior of your audience. #3 Content Spacing For your site to effectively communicate information or content with visitors clearly, you must think of content spacing. Too much content with minimal spacing can clutter your page, and put a cognitive load on the users, whereas proper spacing can make your page appear clearer. Whitespace creates a balance between readability, legibility and views. The three aspects of web page spacing are: line spacing, white space and padding. Too little space in between lines can cause the reader to miss sentences and any bigger than half a centimeter can cause your eyes to become lost. White space can be used between and around your content to divide it up into distinct parts, thus making it simpler to process information. It also adds contrast and proportion to a page. Also, padding ensures that there is enough space between the text and the other elements on the web page to make your site readable. Benefits: The three principles we have touched on in this podcast – Navigation, Visual Hierarchy, & Spacing are a good starting point. But effective web design and usability ultimately depends on the preferences of your site’s visitors. So, conducting usability tests, gathering feedback about problems related to design or layout and making necessary changes based on them is what will make your web site great. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “Should You Have a Marketing Roadmap?”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we are going to chat about How to Evaluate Your Content Quality. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: With businesses having to maintain a presence on so many digital channels, there is huge pressure to churn out copy constantly. People expect your brand and website content to deliver insight or entertain, without being overtly promotional. Content is indeed king but only if it produces engagement. If your content quality is poor then it can impact your brand credibility, reputation and even lead to decreased conversion rates and lost sales. So how can you assess your content to find out the missing ingredients? Solution: Here are some guidelines for evaluating and improving your content quality and value. Is your content well-written? – Potential customers can easily identify high-quality and interesting content that are valuable to them from junk content created to trick the search engines. Your content has to be well-structured, coherent and flow smoothly in order to make a favorable impression on your readers. Avoid spelling and grammatical errors, the use of substandard images and inconsistencies in your blog post, infographic or web page as it can result in brand erosion. Moreover, Google will reward you for taking the time to craft interesting content. Is Your Content Fresh? – Whether you publish a blog, update a status, or tweet for your business, the best way to improve engagement among followers is to combine quality content with consistent updates. Avoid wasting people’s time by sharing and promoting old news or content that is out of date. Publishing fresh content regularly sends a signal to search engines to crawl your site again afresh so that your new content can be indexed. This helps build your site’s authority and credibility. Is Your Content Diverse? -To drive traffic between your social media sites make use of diverse platforms. Tweet a link to your blog post or share a video from your YouTube channel to your company’s Facebook page. And make the actual content media-rich. Diversify your content styles and incorporate photos, videos, audios, graphs into your text content, which will lead to better engagement among your readers and also Google. Can your content be read easily? – Even the most well written content will not get much traction if it is not easy to read. You have to consider the font size, content length, blog template, sentence structure and paragraph format. Text should ideally be broken out into readable paragraphs with headings, subheadings or bullet lists. Think of your audience and play to their reading level. If your target audience is looking for highly scientific terms or very niche-specific terms, you may have more complex text, and if you are targeting a layman audience, then you are likely to have less sophisticated word usage and phrasing. Finally Check Shareability & Feedback – When assessing your content look at social shares, links, comments and feedback from readers. This should affirm whether the piece of content is interesting, useful, insightful and shareable. Consider sending out a survey to your audience segments as a way to weigh up your publishing efforts. You can use analytics or tools like Quicksprout to find your most successful articles and the content your audience spends the most time reading. Based on the feedback you get, you might need to reconsider your content strategy to create more content around the key qualities in your most popular topics or formats. Benefits: There are many other behind-the-scenes analytic factors and on-page content signals involved in driving content success. Understanding those and identifying other performance issues can help in implementing a quality content initiative for a strong impact on traffic and other key metrics that drive your business. Companies that give priority to content quality will definitely see an increase in purchase intent, sales, revenue and customer loyalty. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “Effective Web Design Principles”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about: 3 Ways To Gain More Instagram Followers. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: Are you using Instagram to promote your business or blog? Instagram marketing can give you effective results rather quickly because it is the fastest growing social network, with high engagement rate as compared to other networks. Despite posting your best content, has your follower count slowed down? Remember that building an Instagram audience of potential customers to promote and sell your services is more important than building a list of random people. In this podcast we tell you about 3 easy hacks to jump-start your Instagram strategy and create a community of loyal and engaged followers. Solution: 1. Get Visibility For Your Instagram Account Be strategic and make it easier for potential new followers to discover your Instagram account. Here’s how- · Cross-promote your Instagram account to your existing followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or any other social network. · Profusely link to your Instagram account on your website, as your email signature, and also in newsletters you send out. This way more people will be aware of your brand online and they can easily find you on Instagram. · Follow other people on Instagram and like their photos and videos to interact with the larger community and be seen · Embed your Instagram photos in your blog posts. · Identify and collaborate with online influencers and brand ambassadors, who naturally compliment your brand, to reach a much larger selection of your ideal target audience and gain you some new followers. 2. Leverage The Right Hashtags Hashtags make a post discoverable by anyone searching for that hashtag. It helps organize and categorize photos and video content to optimize content discovery. · Use relevant hashtags in your captions to help your posts appear to people who are searching for photos related to your industry or product. · Find out which hashtags your target audience use most actively, and then search for posts around that hashtag. Like and comment on posts. · Search for hashtags that have an active and involved community behind them, and then engage with like-minded people to raise awareness about your brand. A good example of this is #morningslikethese or #fromwhereistand. · Create your own branded hashtag to get new potential followers on board, aggregate user-generated content and create a strong sense of community. · Get in on the social media buzz with trending hashtags especially during holidays (#christmas) and other newsworthy moments (#MillionMarch) and post relevant content. · Find and use a mix of topically relevant hashtags along with more popular hashtags related to your product, service, or industry to get in front of the right people. 3. Use Instagram Stories To Be Recommended Instagram Stories are a fun way of creating engaging, super-targeted content to foster meaningful connections with your audience. Instagram Stories are shared with followers at the top of the regular feed and are deleted automatically after 24 hours. The Vogue U.K. account doubled its following to 2 million last year, thanks to how it has used the Instagram Stories feature. Stories are ephemeral so do try and post one story per day but also save it to repost it again as a regular image photo to your profile grid.. The better your stories are and the more they appeal to your specific audience, the greater your chances for Instagram to add your account to the other trending stories at the top of the explore tab. Having one of your stories featured on the “Explore” page can get you a ton of likes, comments and new followers who choose to see more of your content! Benefits: These suggestions just scratch the surface of strategies necessary to build a strong Instagram presence, grow your follower count and maximize your Instagram likes. Nonetheless they are a helpful start for anyone hoping to get loyal Instagram followers. But do remember that it’s not just a numbers game, so the best strategy is to be authentic and social. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “Why the Need for Market Segmentation?”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about 3 Different Types of Blogs Post that Increase Engagement – the Rant, the Case Study and the How To. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: If you run a blog for your business, then you most definitely want to write articles that people love to read! But it can be a real challenge to keep coming up with new ideas and different forms of content that attract and engage audiences. When done well, the right type of blog content can draw prospective customers in, help address their problems, and build a relationship with your brand. The trick is to create a spread of awesome goal-driven content for your blog that directly addresses the needs of your target market. So what are some of the new types of content you can experiment with to stimulate your prospects? Solution: You can prevent a content rut with these three types of blog posts – The Rant, The Case Study and The How To! Let me explain what we mean by each. 1. The Rant In the social media world, emotion rules supreme. If you can develop content that engages and connects with your audience on an emotional and personal level then you are more likely to grab their attention. You can pour your heart out onto the page and share your ideas and experiences with the world. People connect with human experiences more than a business pitch. So if you are good at whingeing and writing long-winded rants about what you’ve been through, go for it! Just be warned: Rants can cause controversies sometimes but they are more likely to trigger online debate and discussions. Rant posts work as an outlet for readers also, as it encourages them to communicate how they feel too. From a business perspective, posts like this go a long way in building trust with your audiences, and it can ultimately lead to them buying from you. 2. The Case Study People are more likely to believe what you’re talking about when you illustrate your point with examples. Case studies lend themselves to storytelling. And any story is more relatable when it is about real people. When something is shown to you through the failures and successes of others, it seems to click with audiences. For instance, you can detail the journey of your users who tasted success with your products or services. Make the story about them and not just your product. Case study blog posts show real life examples of a topic that is valuable to your audience and are therefore great for lead conversions. 3. The How To People generally go online to discover how to do something, whether it is learning how to bake a cake, brew home beer, or do DIY decor. They’re looking to acquire information about something or get solutions to their real problems. If you have the answers they’re looking for, then they’re likely to click on the link to your site to read the post. Long textual guides however can be difficult to read, so break the information into smaller detailed guides with images, bullet points, infographics, video, or audio to enrich the post. By sharing your knowledge, you also increase your chances of being seen as an industry expert. No wonder, How To’s are awesome for creating brand awareness and generating leads. Benefit: You obviously have more than the three types of blog posts we have discussed today at your disposal for business blogging. You can never run out of interesting information to share with your audience. So all you have to do is find different ways of presenting content on your blog to spark engagement and achieve audience interaction. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “How to evaluate the quality of your content.”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we discuss the importance of having a marketing strategy as a road map to success. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: Business owners are always on the lookout for different ways to reach out to new and existing customers by providing more value and more services. But unfortunately many fall behind their competition and are in constant survival mode. They typically get so caught up in everyday tactical marketing execution such as redesigning their website, sending emails, placing ads in the paper, tweeting, posting on Facebook, blogging etc, that they have no time to work on the big decisions that can really improve their business performance. And that really is the difference between those who are successful in growing their business and the ones that never gain any momentum. It all comes down to not having a clear marketing strategy or a roadmap aligned with their business needs and target audience. Tactics are more effective, when they are part of a well-designed strategy based on achieving objectives. So do you want to know how having a marketing strategy can help transform your business? I sure hope so, because I have some things to share with you on this topic. Solution: 1. A marketing strategy gives your business focus and direction by identifying opportunities to pursue and equally if not more important, it identifies threats to avoid. 2. If you have a keen understanding of your vision, mission and business goals, it can help you develop relevant marketing activities to fight competition and gain market share. 3. Lack of a marketing strategy compromises your ability to set goals or allocate resources efficiently to reach those goals. It plays a significant role in measuring and evaluating performance and progress in relation to the overall business strategy. 4. Having a marketing strategy can increase your chances for making a profit. How? Well, a marketing strategy starts with marketplace research, which helps streamline the development of product and services keeping in mind customers and clients. This consequently increases your chances for making a profit. It also helps differentiate your services/products from existing competition by identifying your unique value proposition and distinctive advantage. Benefits: If your business growth has stalled, we challenge you to take a little time and develop a marketing strategy, with a realistic and clear focus, as part of your overall business process. Think about who your target customer is and what you can do to generate new ones both offline and online? What is your unique benefit and how does it help you stand out from your competitors? What measures can you take to achieve your marketing objectives? Answering these questions will help you draw up a strong marketing strategy. Get started now to achieve greater results such as brand recognition, market penetration, sales revenue and so much more. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “3 Different Types of Blogs Posts that Increase Engagement”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we share 3 things you can do to get more leads from your blog. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: Irrespective of your industry or whether you manage a big organization or run a start-up, you can use a blog to generate qualified leads and bring in more sales. Running a blog isn’t just about sharing recent company news and events. It rather involves helping people with valuable information, educating your customers about your product or services and answering their questions to creatively establish yourself as an expert in your industry. The idea is to engage with different prospects through the blog, call them to action, and convert them into customers. But before that, you have to first capture contact information, through a process known “lead generation.” The management and generation of quality leads or targets can be really tricky. And well-designed blogs with good content are aplenty these days. So if you want to stand out among the competition, then you have to find productive ways in which you can drive leads directly from your blog. Here are ‘3 Things You Can Do To Get More Leads From Your Blog.’ Solution: Market Your Blog: The success of your lead generation campaign depends on the number of people who know about your blog in the first place. It can be a real bummer, if you publish the best blog content but nobody ever gets to read it. Driving the right people to your blog regularly is therefore just as important as having quality content on your blog. So it is vital to market your blog smartly by focusing only on strategies that can get targeted traffic to your blog. Consider reaching out to social influencers in your niche, inviting guest bloggers, engaging social media networks, advertising and blogger outreach campaigns to drive more visitors to your blog and get them interested in what you have to offer. Simple! Have a Conversion Strategy: A reliable conversion strategy for your blog can help convert ordinary visitors into regular, loyal readers and finally purchasing customers. All your blogging efforts will be in vain, if you do not get visitors interested enough to buy the tangible products or services you offer or at least leave you their personal details. Some of the easiest ways to bump up your lead collections are – 1. Have well-written and updated calls to action on your blog and website with the most relevant offer 2. Place well-configured and integrated opt-in forms into your web pages to collect visitor emails 3. Offer an incentive to move blog visitors to action. This can be anything from a free trial offer or a discount, to a free gift or a truly useful resource such as a guide, report, eBook, that can help them in any way. . People are much more likely to part with their personal information if they get something tangible in return. 4. Use links to your sales page or landing page from your blog 5. Subtly integrate your services into your blog posts Track Changes And A/B Test: Perform minor edits and track their performance to find out if you should continue to leverage them as part of your lead generation strategy. Run A/B tests to take most precise decisions on what works best. Identify what your buyer personas respond well to, as this will help you increase conversion rates and generate more leads. For instance, you can first, try changing the wording of your CTA from something generic to more persuasive and personalized. Then test it to find out the best option before making any other changes. Benefits: These are just three efficient lead generation strategies that can help build your prospect list and increase conversions. Remember that the more leads you have, the more opportunities for marketing and connecting with your audiences, which in turn will lead to business growth and expansion. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we discuss “How to Evaluate Your Content Quality.”

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we discuss the many benefits of social media marketing. Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: I don’t think it is a great surprise to many people that social media platforms account for more traffic than any other category. That is great, but what is the benefit to you? People are constantly posting pictures of their children or some cute animal, liking the latest comment from a friend, and retweeting their favorite celebrity quotes, but how does that translate into a return for your business? Solution: Social proof and reviews are the primary driver behind purchasing decisions for many people in this day and age. Nearly everyone reads reviews for products they are interested in, many younger folks poll their friends on Facebook about a big purchase or brand decision, and a lot of people spend time combing through various blogs to get opinions about a particular item they are interested in. Like it or not, the days of many people purchasing an item in a less social way are long gone. In a world of so much variety and so many choices, users are looking for validation and proof that they are making a wise choice, and that is exactly what social media marketing aims to accomplish. By building your brand’s social media presence, you are expanding your identity, establishing greater trust, and you are enhancing your brand image and reputation. You now are able to share stories, thoughts, and opinions as a relatable, transparent brand. Users can see that you are answering common questions, that you are adding helpful content to the community, and that you are actively and earnestly responding to customer complaints. Benefits: When your brand is active in social media channels, users can tell. People that like your brand will like or follow your social platforms. They will see what you are doing and engage with your brand directly. As users engage with your brand, friends of those users will see this and it will open that internal dialogue. Fans of your brand will share your content and promote your posts, often times with no direct cost to you! By doing this you will slowly develop relationship capital, you will build a bond with your user base and you will begin to generate fiercely loyal users that will constantly champion your good or services. And be proud to do so! While this process isn’t immediate or without effort, it is one of the most powerful ways to build an engaged and loyal user base that will grow organically as you continue to publish content that establishes your unique POV or style directly to your customers on your social channels. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.

In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk about strategies & assessments, and how they can help you be successful! Use the player below to listen to this episode, or the download link to load it on your device for listening later. You can also find our RSS feed by clicking here, or subscribe by email in the sidebar to the left. Download our Marketing To Millennials eBook here! Not able to listen? Why not read the episode transcript below: Problem: Have you ever had an idea and, while it sounded great in your head, it fell to pieces during execution? I’m sure at some point in our lives that has happened to all of us. If not in your professional career, then surly in your personal life. So, what happened to that “great idea”? If I had to guess I would say it was a victim of poor planning. Solution: To bring your ideas to life and to get your business to where it needs to be, you need goals, strategies, and tactics. Start by asking yourself, what are our business and marketing goals? A goal is your primary outcome. What do you hope to achieve? The goal should be measurable. By starting with the goal, you can work forward building marketing campaigns that will help you ultimately reach that goal. With a strong and attainable goal in place you can then start building a strategy. Strategies are the WHAT of the plan. What are you going to do to get to where you need to be? What are the programs you are going to put in place? Solid strategies do more than support the goals. They give direction and can help to minimize resistance by directly supporting the organizations goals. A good strategy is focused and has key performance indicators that show whether it is successful or not. We recommend that you always look back to see if your outcomes match up with your goals. Your marketing strategy should be a fully-integrated solution that addresses every need for your business. Ok, so we’ve talked a lot about strategies, but what about assessments. Well, assessments are the bookends. You need to start your strategy work with an assessment of your current situation. This includes your competitors, your customers and your target market. Assessing your current market situation helps you go into your strategy work with your eyes wide open. As you work through your goals and tactics you should be considering how you are going to assess their success upon completion. Some might call these Key Performance Indicators. And while KPIs are part of the assessment it’s not the whole picture. Just like you needed to assess your competitors, customers, and target market at the start of your strategy work, you should also assess them upon completion of your marketing programs to see how your efforts changed the landscape. Benefits Benjamin Franklin once said “by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail”. So, that great idea in your mind will fail to execute beautifully if you do not prepare for its launch. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @LocalDirective or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us for an upcoming episode where we talk about the importance of ongoing marketing.