11
Sep

Blog topic ideas: nine ways to beat blogger’s block

September 11, 2014
by: in B2B , Content marketing No comments  

wall of post-it notes and ideas

Stuck in a rut when trying to find blog topics? Once you’ve been doing this content marketing thing for a while, you may feel like you’re running out of things to talk about. Much like writer’s block, blogger’s block is a real epidemic. There’s a time and place for repurposing, but where do you turn when you want to churn out new topics? Here are nine sources of inspiration:

1. LinkedIn groups – what are your prospects discussing with their peers? How can you help? 

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29
Aug

That’s a Wrap! Yahoo’s fantasy football failure, Google Authorship is dead, discrepancies between Facebook and Twitter, Vogue gives itself a makeover and ModCloth keeps it real

August 29, 2014
by: in Public relations No comments  

angry football player

We did it! Before stepping out for a long weekend full of football, BBQ and beaching it, take a look at this week’s noteworthy PR stories:

Déjà vu for Yahoo’s football fantasy users

Speaking of football, the season got off to a rough start for thousands of die-hard fans who were left beyond irate on Sunday night when the LIVE draft of Yahoo’s fantasy league—the one where people carefully research and plan their top picks for—was completely disabled by technical issues. Of course apologies were flowing freely, but maybe they were too little and too late. This isn’t the first time the Internet giant encountered technical snafus at a crucial time during fantasy football season. Similar issues occurred back in 2012 when the site crashed a few hours before kickoff on a game day, and last-minute trades were shut out. This year’s draft was rescheduled for Monday night, but our guess is there are millions of football fans who will be removing Yahoo from their roster next year.

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28
Aug

Email marketing tips: 5 moves for improving effectiveness

August 28, 2014
by: in B2B , Content marketing No comments  

 

open envelope with paper; improving email open rates and CTRsAnalytics make it simple to analyze your email marketing’s effectiveness, from hard and soft bounces to click-through rates and conversion. But what do you do with that information, and how to you improve if your campaigns are below the industry average?

Here are a few benchmarks broken down by industry, courtesy of MailChimp:

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14
Aug

Blog checklist: content marketing tips for staying on point

August 14, 2014
by: in B2B , Content marketing No comments  

candy on hook; hooking readers with optimized blog posts

Let’s face it. Even the most well thought out strategy still requires a lot of time in the execution phase to ensure your posts will attract the right readers. Here’s a quick blogging checklist for crossing and dotting all necessary letters before hitting publish:

Topic:

  • Is created with a target persona in mind – unless yours is a personal blog, it really shouldn’t be a place to freestyle and write about any topics that come to mind. What matters to your buyer personas?
  • Helps solve a problem – by doing your homework up front and creating a persona, you know what your prospects’ pain points are. How can you help alleviate them through relevant blog posts?

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29
Jul

Corporate website redesign: 7 tips for starting off right

July 29, 2014
by: in B2B , Marketing strategy Comment (1)  

blueprint, web strategy

Redesigning a large corporate or law firm website is no simple task. Between multiple department heads, vendors and extensive service or practice listings, it’s difficult to keep things moving in the right direction. In an attempt to make your project run as smoothly as possible, here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the (hard) way:

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25
Jul

That’s a Wrap! Southwest’s overreaction to a tweet, getting paid for social media posts and “Mandatory Fun”

July 25, 2014
by: in Marketing strategy No comments  

Friday is finally here! Is it just me, or was this a long week? Rep Ink is here to help you usher in the weekend with a look back at some of this week’s noteworthy stories you may have missed.

Southwest backpedals after punishing passenger for tweet

On Monday, Duff Watson, a Southwest Airlines A-List Member, tried to board a plane flying from Denver to Minneapolis early, which is a perk of being a A-Lister, but was told his two children couldn’t join him. Watson then tweeted a negative comment about the Southwest agent that included her first name, last initial and gate number.

When all three finally arrived at their seats, they were asked to deplane because the agent, Kimberly S., felt threatened by the tweet. Watson was forced to delete the tweet in order to get back on the plane and head to Minneapolis.

He did so, then tweeted again later about his experience. Although Southwest apologized and gave Watson and his children each $50 vouchers, the bad press is sure to cost them much more than that.

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17
Jul

Content marketing for non-techies: 7 tips for repurposing content

July 17, 2014
by: in B2B , Content marketing Comment (1)  

recycle sign on grass; tips for recycling contentCreating high-value content is no easy task. Once you’ve taken the time to carefully select a topic your prospects will appreciate, research your topic and write it specifically for the appropriate persona, should you call it quits?

If you’re like most content marketers, brainstorming fresh topics can become laborious after a while. The good news is your posts don’t have to face a “one and done” fate. There are several tips out there for repurposing content, but many of them seem a little overwhelming for those of us who aren’t geeks (no offense, geeks).

Here are a few simple ways non-techies can revamp, recycle and repurpose content to keep the momentum going:

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03
Jul

6 things to look for in a content marketing agency

July 3, 2014
by: in B2B , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  

 

magnifying glass, 6 things to look for in a content marketing agency

Before you even go down this road, the first question you should ask yourself is, “Do I really need to outsource content marketing?” From Moz to HubSpot, there are plenty of useful tools and platforms to accommodate in-house marketing teams in publishing and promoting content. But remember, quality is king when it comes to content.

According to a report by the Content Marketing Institute, the biggest challenges b2b marketers face are lack of time and producing enough content. Combine that with the fact that most in-house teams are more focused on strategy and project management than writing, and outsourcing may seem like the ideal solution, given you find the right fit. Here’s what to look for in a content marketing agency:

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27
Jun

That’s a Wrap! FAFSA’s insulting tweet, predicting which stories will go viral, death of a print magazine, running like a girl revisited

June 27, 2014
by: in Marketing strategy No comments  

predicting which stories will go viral; crystal ball

Happy Friday! This week has been an exciting one, with the return of HBO’s “True Blood” and the U.S. advancing to the next round of the World Cup, even after a loss to Germany. With all these fun distractions you may have missed some of this week’s notable news in PR, social media and content marketing:

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19
Jun

Growth hacking: what established companies can learn from startups

June 19, 2014
by: in B2B , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  

Growth hacking, growing taller than dinosaur

As previously outlined, content marketing isn’t a fad. Times have changed for marketers and will continue to do so almost daily. Following the successes of startups like Pinterest and Twitter, today’s savvy (or just plain broke) marketers are turning to growth hacking instead of traditional marketing techniques.

Growth hacking is defined as using conventional and unconventional tactics to grow a user base startup-style. Some examples you may be familiar with include Twitter’s “Who to Follow” prompter and Dropbox’s rewarding more storage space to users who invited friends to use the platform.

But these tactics aren’t just for startups. They’re actually the new MO of marketing. And at the core, they’re all about knowing who your customers are, where they reside on the web and what motivates them.

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  • About the Author
    Heather Kingry

    Heather Kingry is a versatile writer with nearly a decade of experience in writing across all media. Blogs, websites and tweets have become second nature. Whether it’s b2b or b2c, she’s strictly business when it comes to generating results for her clients.

    Read my full bio

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