Tuesday, May 26, 2020, was an important day for social media. It began with two tweets by President Trump (@realDonaldTrump) conveying his disapproval of mail-in ballots. He specifically called out California because Governor Newsom signed an executive order to send registered voters a mail-in ballot for the November election. In …
In times like these, a little inspiration goes a long way. As Tara Zirker of Successful Ads Club recently conveyed in a podcast interview, some business owners will need to deconstruct their businesses down to the bare bones and think about a different way to serve their clients. As the …
According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 69% of US adults use Facebook, 37% spend time on Instagram, and 22% use Twitter. If you believe in the four principles of marketing–Product, Price, Promotion, and Place–the audience reach alone of social media makes it an essential component in the successful …
At the beginning of April, I set myself a challenge. For one year, I decided to create a daily post on our company’s Instagram page. The post could be an image, video or carousel, but it had to be custom-created and relevant to our industry–digital marketing. To keep it simple, …
Social media content is rapidly evolving. Back in August 2016, Instagram launched Stories to compete with Snapchat Stories. Stories were meant to help capture the daily activities of Instagram’s now more than 1 billion users worldwide, and unlike posts, Stories are short-lived–disappearing in 24 hours. By January 2019, Instagram …
After succumbing to her curiosity and peeking in the box, Pandora tries to quickly close the top as creatures representing evil and disease escape. It’s hard to believe that Facebook only came into existence in February 2004–just 15 years ago. Once named thefacebook.com, it began a communication revolution which has …
An excerpt from Ann Mills’ presentation on digital marketing at Swap The Biz, Short Hills, NJ. Imagine – You’ve just been invited to a party, and you have the perfect outfit but need a matching pair of shoes. You head to the local shopping mall and come across a store advertising …
With close to 600 million users, LinkedIn is a social media platform business professionals and owners cannot afford to ignore. It’s atypical for a social network in that LinkedIn is not geared towards purely social connections but rather strives to give people a means to connect with other professionals. In …
In a previous blog, 5 Signs Digital Marketing is Replacing Traditional Media, we wrote about the signs of the digital marketing transformation unfolding around us. From disappearing office addresses to uber thin fonts and interactive documents, all the signposts were telling us that marketing as we knew it was being …
In Field of Dreams, Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella walks through a cornfield and hears a voice that tells him, “If you build it, he will come.” The voice inspires Ray to build a baseball diamond in the midst of his cornfield where Ray later meets the spirits of Chicago White …
An excerpt from Ann Mills’ presentation on digital marketing at Swap The Biz, Short Hills, NJ. _________ You are on your way to a networking event. When you arrive, you are surprised to find not one room but three to choose from–each filled with 50 people. Tacked on the door …
What if there was a marketing tool that would allow your business to tailor Facebook ads based on what pages people viewed on your website or what items they added to their shopping cart? Think of the possibilities. Maybe you own a retail store, for example, currently showcasing spring dresses …
Social media marketing can be transformative for a business’ bottom line, but doing it well takes time, perseverance and skill. Sometimes a growing business gets caught off guard when it’s time to hand over the reins and get some assistance with social media. Answer the following 10 questions in our …
Social proof is not just a marketing buzzword. Before buying a new product, visiting a store or even choosing a doctor, today’s consumer goes in search of online reviews. It’s become an integral part of the buying process and an important contributor to the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), the …
Sometimes 1 + 1 = 3. In digital marketing, the connectivity afforded across platforms can sometimes have a domino effect on customer reach and engagement. When you find these synergies, the impact is powerful. With that in mind, here’s one of our favorite digital marketing combinations for consumer-facing businesses of …
According to the United States Census Bureau, Hispanics are the largest minority in the United States comprising 17.6% of the population. By some estimates, in 2060, this demographic is projected to grow to 119 million people in the US, 28% of the population. Today: four states have populations that are …
40,000 every second, 3.5 billion each day, 1.2 trillion per year. According to Internet Live Stats, these figures reflect the number of online searches being processed by Google. For today’s business owner, the sheer number of search queries underpins the critical importance of a company’s online reputation because customers in …
Data visualization matters – a lot. By some estimates, 65% of people are visual learners and process information best by seeing it. To a certain degree, however, we may all be visual learners when it comes to complex data because a well-designed visual can condense lots of numbers into a …
For a business owner, it’s pretty simple, really. Marketing dollars need to drive foot traffic and sales, otherwise, those dollars are not worth spending. Most managers can actively engage in conversations about growing in-store sales or revenue, but discussions about website traffic don’t come quite as easy. While they certainly …
Facebook is one of the most powerful marketing tools available. When a company has a strong core business and then layers on well-executed Facebook marketing, it’s transformative. Sort of like the expression “building strong communities one child at a time,” Facebook marketing can be a game changer for businesses with …
It’s bound to happen. Unhappy customers in a mobile world are a tough combination for business. Dissatisfied patrons seem almost determined to post a negative review and even worse, review sites permit customers to upload pictures too. So, if your coffee house has an overflowing trash can or the floor …
Have you ever wondered what percentage of your website visitors are returning, how long they stay on your website or what pages they look at while they are there? Google Analytics (GA) tracks a multitude of statistics like these, yet according to BuiltWith, only 7.8 percent of the 370 million …
More than half of online adults (56%) use more than one of the five major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn –Pew Research Center, 2016 In 2015, we wrote about the broad trend away from traditional media to digital marketing, and the data behind the shift is …
With some 115 million reviews on Yelp alone, there is no doubt that online reviews and the pursuit of “social proof” are here to stay. Yelp’s stated purpose, “To connect people with great local businesses,” is the foundation for its online portal which allows people to review and assign a …
Content creation is a tough game for sure. Not only is there too much content, but the quality can be pretty tenuous. Just think of your email inbox and the daily task of combing through mounds of messages in an attempt to find the ones you actually need to read. …
What if – You could increase your email click-through rate by 200% to 300%, Raise the understanding of your product or service by 74%, or Condense 1.8 million words of a marketing pitch into 1 minute? Chances are, you would – and you wouldn’t be alone. All three of these …
The numbers are staggering. According to The CMO Survey, since 2009, social media spending by businesses has increased 234%. Currently, at just over 10% of marketing budgets, it’s projected to double in the next 5 years. Hands down, social media is the area of digital marketing where our agency receives …
Every business strategy, from marketing to manufacturing, is spun around improving customer satisfaction. This truism is no news to us, but the notable fact is that it applies to even our business website and content. Why? Because if you wish to build a customer-centric company, your website – the face …
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”– Michael Jordan With so many apps and tools at our fingertips, one would think digital marketing has never been easier. Not so. As the freelancing or “gig” economy takes off, remote teams are becoming commonplace; and digital marketing with its many …
Sometimes the proof is in the pudding. In 2015, one of our clients asked us to rework their social media strategy. Social media was growing in importance within their industry, and beyond a basic Facebook presence, the business really had not done much with social media at all.
Resourceful Business (RB) is launching a new Throwback Thursdays series called Digital Transformations. We are highlighting the everyday “disruption” from digital technologies that continues to unfold all around us. At RB, we are hard-pressed to imagine aspects of our personal or working lives that have not been reshaped in some …
Why would a company remove their office address from a brochure or ask for marketing material to be developed that will never go to print? Why would a marketing piece be written in a way that assumes the reader will only peruse the subheads and perhaps a few bullet points? …
By Kate Goldberg, guest blogger for Resourceful Business “Pull over and let me out,” I beg. We are navigating some pretty tricky roads through the Berkshires in a driving rainstorm, but for me, this is the perfect moment – and backdrop – to capture and post my yoga pose-of-the-day. Semi-dramatic …
By Chris R. Benjamin, Guest Blogger Companies are becoming increasingly sophisticated about digital marketing and the need for high-quality communications in the digital space. That means more competition than ever before, in just about every industry. With your target audience already being reached through sharp content marketing and carefully-cultivated relationships, …
Imagine two full days with digital marketers sharing their insights, experiences, strategies and blunders. That was ClickZ Live (#CZLNY), a digital marketing conference I recently attended in New York. The amount of resources that companies are investing in digital marketing is vast, and the stakes are high. A Nielsen survey, …
Growing a small business into a big one can be pretty tricky. In the beginning stages of building a start-up, often there are two paths. One path is to come up with a concept, raise funding for it, put your shingle out for business and then hire people. The other …
Starting your own business is the iconic American dream. If you have a passion, perhaps it’s time to pursue it in a more serious way and see if you can make a living doing it. The figures are daunting. Approximately 8 out of 10 start-ups fail within the first 18 …
Everyone should watch the TED Talk by David Grady, “How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings.” You’ll laugh because it is so humorous, but it also makes you realize how much time is actually wasted in meetings which are either perfunctory in nature or just …
Motivating companies to organize a blog for their website can be challenging. Often the management of the company do not see the value of it, there is no one who really wants to write it, and the cost of an outside blogger can be expensive. It’s hard. The true marketing …
When you look at your company Facebook page or Twitter banner, do you feel uninspired? As you scroll down the content, do you see images that convey a totally different feel than what you would like your company’s digital presence to be? Is your content full of free stock images …
You are a passionate baker and have finally decided to launch a business. For the last year, you have tinkered in your kitchen and people have even started to pay you to make a few baked goods for them. You choose a do-it-yourself (DIY) website builder to save money, get …
The digital nature of marketing today allows for the distribution of content at breathtaking speeds. Advertisers target ads based on a population’s demographic profile including a consumer’s age, geographic location or areas of interest. In fact, the power and precision made possible by electronic marketing has made a content management …
For small business owners, there are never enough hours in the day. They juggle business strategy, production schedules, bookkeeping, payroll, marketing, human resources, content management and social media. It is no surprise that with such a long to-do list, social media marketing can fall by the wayside leading to inconsistent …
On a recent vacation, my family taught me how to play Mexican Train Dominoes. The game is a variation of dominoes which allows players to add to their own line of dominoes, their private train, or alternatively, add to a line of dominoes open to all, the public train. Players …
Small businesses come in all shapes and sizes. Your company might even be just one person – you! Although you may have never really thought about it, you do have a personal brand which can be one of your most important marketing tools. A personal brand is your reputation, your …
A great social media campaign takes patience, thought and energy. The Return on Investment (ROI) is not always immediate, and many small businesses start using social media only to abandon it months later. The key to a successful social media strategy is customer “engagement,” which is defined as interactions in …
Summer is a wonderful time to retool a small company. The dynamics of the business often change, and the less hectic pace can provide the perfect backdrop to contemplate the to-do list. It reminds me of a childhood game, clothespins in a jar. When summer comes around, mothers sometimes ask …
For many business owners, social media has become part of their marketing strategy. Whether it be Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn or Google+, small businesses will choose a preferred platform or two, do promotions and advertisements or engage with customers. The ability to upload pictures makes tinkering with social media fun …
A few months ago, I heard about a client that was looking to get his newly redesigned website evaluated by a third party. It had been built by a web design company, and it was ready for launch. However, the client had lost faith in the website company that built …
Every business, regardless of size, has a management structure. Even sole proprietors subcontract out work and may find themselves managing the subcontractors. Whether a person is an owner, manager or employee, (s)he plays a role in the success or failure of the enterprise. Sometimes, making employees or managers stakeholders in …
Presidents’ Day is around the corner, and it is worthwhile for the small business to stop and think about why we remember two of our great Presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Their place in history extends far beyond their historic actions and ideas. Rather, their legacies are also defined …
