Yes, it’s that New Year’s post: one look back, two steps ahead

January 5, 2015

Superhero_20152014 was a big year for Reputation Ink. As many of us do at this time of year, over the holidays I reflected on the year. As I thought about how busy it had been, I started to think about everything we achieved and somewhat startled myself when I developed a list. Here are some of the highlights:

Out with the old, in with the Ink

We started the year as Reputation Capital. In March, we rebranded to Reputation Ink and haven’t looked back. While I loved the name that we originally launched with back in 2011 (and as any company founder knows, it can be hard to let go of some things), I now love the name Reputation Ink even more. It perfectly reflects our commitment and passion for quality writing and how we use great writing to build our clients’ reputations.

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Converting website visitors into customers—the content marketing conversion process explained

December 12, 2014

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With any marketing, the end goal is to make money, right? If you talk to some marketers, you’d think their primary goal is “brand consistency” or “generating awareness” or “increasing website traffic.” But in the end, these aren’t the real reasons we as marketers get up in the morning and do our jobs. We are here to help our companies make money. Otherwise, our jobs wouldn’t exist. Thus it’s imperative that our content marketing efforts convert website visitors into leads, and eventually, into customers. But how does that happen?

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The content shock is coming: what to do about it

November 13, 2014

content shockAt the beginning of this year, noted marketing thought leader Mark Schaefer of {grow} wrote a now somewhat infamous blog post titled Content Shock: Why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy. If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend taking a moment to do so. His basic theory is that we are nearing the intersection of increasing volumes of content with our limited human capacity to consume it.

In other words, as companies jump on the content marketing bandwagon in droves, pumping out blogs, e-books, reports, videos and more, it’s becoming harder and harder to get people’s attention and succeed with the strategy. Just a few years ago, if you put a blog up and plugged away at it, you were a first mover and were pretty much guaranteed to have some success and earn attention from the audiences you were trying to reach. Today it’s much harder.

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Law firm marketing: are ads and ‘paid profiles’ in legal directories worth it?

October 6, 2014

As legal marketers, we are regularly asked by our law firm clients about rankings, directories, awards and the like (for the legal marketers out there reading: shocking, I know). Rankings like Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, Martindale-Hubbell and more have proliferated to the point that entire jobs exist at law firms for the sole purpose of managing the lengthy and detailed submission processes. In fact, I believe the number now hovers around 1,000—that’s right, 1,000—surveys and rankings out there of law firms and attorneys, all competing for attention and advertising dollars.

We ourselves just spent the last month working on detailed Chambers submissions for several clients, and regularly write award submissions for media outlets like Law360, the National Law Journal and American Lawyer. While I see value in awards, especially those with advertising-independent research processes and those done by credible media outlets, I see no value in buying advertising (including display ads and “enhanced profiles”) in any legal directories out there. Here’s why:

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Marketers and sales execs: stop annoying, start nurturing

October 2, 2014

How to convert marketing leads to customers through lead nurturing

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Ever browse through a store, and a sales rep just won’t leave you alone, despite telling her that you’re “just looking”? What about getting a phone call from a sales rep just a few minutes after filling out a form on a website to download a white paper or e-book, when you’re just doing some preliminary research?

Why’s that so annoying? You’re not ready to buy—you’re just assessing your options. In marketing speak, you’re still in the “awareness” stage of the “buying funnel.” Called many things, including “purchase funnel,” “marketing funnel,” “decision journey” and more, the buying funnel is a way to describe the steps a buyer goes through as they realize they have a problem or need, educate themselves, research, compare and analyze their options, and eventually make a decision on a provider.

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Marketing automation: what it is and why you need it

September 18, 2014

Marketing_automationVirtually every industry on the planet is being revolutionized by technology, and marketing is no different. In the past, sellers controlled the buying cycle, with salespeople acting as the first point of contact with buyers through traditional methods such as cold calls and trade shows. However, today’s buyer has all the power, putting off talking with salespeople from anywhere between 60 to 90 percent of their way through the buying cycle. Buyers are interacting with companies on their own terms—reading blogs and website content, engaging on social media, subscribing to email newsletters, attending webinars and more—then contacting salespeople when they are good and ready.

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Word economy: not just good writing—good marketing

August 26, 2014

Goldfish“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” The old quote—attributed at times to Winston Churchill—says it all. Concise writing is difficult. But it’s important—not just as a matter of good writing, but for effective marketing.

In 2013, a human being’s average attention span was calculated at 8 seconds. That was down from 12 seconds in 2000. A goldfish’s attention span? 9 seconds. That’s right, we have shorter attention spans than goldfish.

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That’s a Wrap! ALS ice bucket challenge, SeaWorld’s BlackFish saga, #Ferguson comes alive on Twitter, and Twitter pulls a Facebook

August 22, 2014

Happy Friday! Here’s what you may have missed this week in marketing, public relations and social media news:

ALS ice bucket challenge takes the digital world by (ice) storm

We can’t cover the world of marketing and social media from the past week without discussing the ALS ice bucket challenge. While I’m sure many of you are tired of hearing about this social media phenomenon, there are many lessons we as marketers can take from it. As Robert Tuchman explains on Entrepreneur.com, there are several reasons why the challenge took off, including the power of video, the fun aspect, the celebrity appeal, the timing, and the charity angle.

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Still using newswires as part of your public relations strategy? It’s time to reconsider that

August 19, 2014

News_iconRemember the good old days when you would publish a press release to a newswire like PR Newswire or BusinessWire and suddenly your news flooded the Internet? Well, no longer.

I’ve personally never been a big fan of newswires, as I believe a targeted public relations strategy (tailored media pitches sent to specific journalists) is more effective. However, over the years, I often relented and posted stories to newswires due to their search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. A press release posted to a newswire meant high online visibility, and for many clients, that was worth the often $1,000-plus cost per press release distribution (note that I’m not addressing newswires’ role in financial disclosure laws, as that’s another subject).

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This isn’t your mama’s public relations anymore

August 12, 2014

MediaI’ve worked in marketing and public relations for nearly two decades now, and the only constant in this field throughout those two decades? Change. And while the speed with which this industry changes has greatly accelerated over the past few years, I’m still surprised at how slow many companies are in adapting their marketing and PR strategies to the rapidly changing environment.

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  • About the Author
    Michelle Calcote King

    Michelle Calcote King is an award-winning marketer with nearly 20 years of expertise in all things marketing, content, media and public relations. Specializing in highly complex industries, she leverages superior writing skills, media savvy and a love of all things digital to move her clients' businesses forward.

    Read my full bio or connect with me on LinkedIn.

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