Why every blog needs an editorial calendar

February 25, 2015

GettyImages_488499107Many of the clients we work with understand the benefits of having a blog. Most, however, haven’t embraced developing an editorial calendar. That’s a huge mistake.

Assigning bloggers to specific days, thereby creating an editorial calendar, makes many bloggers nervous. You want the freedom and flexibility to write when it’s convenient for you – we understand that. However, an editorial calendar has benefits that cannot be overlooked.

Ensure frequency

An editorial calendar ensures you have a minimum number of posts per week. According to a study by HubSpot, companies that post more than 15 blogs per month receive five times more traffic on their website than companies that don’t blog at all. If you have a smaller team of writers — or maybe it’s just you — 15 posts per month might not be a reasonable goal. However, the same study showed companies that increase blogging from three to five times per month to six to eight times per month almost double their leads.

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Inbound marketing strategy: Where to focus in 2015

February 19, 2015

inbound marketing strategy 2015As inbound marketing gains in popularity, some companies are playing catch up, while others are reaping the rewards of their efforts and refining their strategies. The cardinal rule in content marketing hasn’t changed along with the calendar year: it will forever be to focus on helpful, useful content that is well written and produced. As more and more companies see the ROI of inbound and shift more marketing dollars to content marketing, it’s important to know where to focus your attention:

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2 simple Gmail hacks for the efficient communications professional

February 17, 2015

2 simple gmail hacks for the efficient communications professional

Whether you’re in public relations, journalism or content marketing, the meat of your job is communicating. And with communicating comes emailing—lots and lots of emailing. You’re constantly clicking in your inbox:

  • Pitching
  • Sourcing
  • Setting up interviews
  • Sending follow-ups for all of the above
  • Following up on your follow-ups

It comes with the territory. However, if you use Gmail, there are plenty of hacks out there to make your life at little easier. Here are my two favorites at the moment:

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Marketing automation is not a strategy (and it’s useless without content)

January 26, 2015

Tech_frustration_with_copy

Do NOT buy that marketing automation software (just yet). Before you pull the trigger, please read this blog post first.

Marketing automation is an incredibly valuable tool that is transforming the marketing industry. In the space of one year, the number of marketing technology companies has nearly doubled, rising to nearly 2,000 in 2015 according to Marketing Land.

However, it still faces an embarrassingly high failure rate of 60 percent. According to the Sales Benchmark Index, three out of five marketing automation installations fail, meaning they are under-utilized, not used at all, or eventually canceled.

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Building business relationships means picking up the phone

January 13, 2015

161143948I’ll admit it: I hate talking on the phone. I’m in my early 30s, so I certainly grew up with the phone as my primary means of communication as a child and through my teens, but my professional years have been spent relying on Google, email and social media for any communication I cannot conduct in person. I’m a huge proponent of getting out and meeting people in person, but I absolutely loathe having to talk on the phone.

When I was a practicing attorney, I liked doing things by email so there was always a record. However, when I became a journalist and started writing for Forbes and then ESPN, I had to get over my aversion to the phone in order to interview sources for my stories. Then I joined Reputation Ink, and I was encouraged to pick up the phone to follow up on pitches and get to know editors.

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Want employees to learn and grow? Let them blog

January 9, 2015

How content marketing can fuel employee learning and development

Intellectual growth should commence atI have always been an insatiable learner. I was a big reader as a child and now as a professional, it’s almost overwhelming the amount of books, blogs and articles that I want to read. But as I’ve gotten busier, like most people, reading has fallen by the wayside, with books piled up on my nightstand that I never quite get to.

However, I continue to learn and stay at the cutting edge of my industry. How? Content marketing. My agency is committed to writing and speaking about marketing and public relations topics, and thus I continually read and conduct research to ensure my blog posts and presentations are accurate, comprehensive and up to date.

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We’re hiring: how to get the gig

January 6, 2015

Have you finished polishing your clean slate yet? Happy 2014, I mean 2015 (ugh, I’ll be doing that for at least another two months). It’s no secret this time of year rings in resolutions and refreshed motivation. So what’s on your goals list? If finding a fulfilling, fantastic new job is top priority, this post is for you.

As Michelle wrote in my favorite post of hers yet (who doesn’t love getting showered with compliments?), Reputation Ink is in hiring mode, on the hunt for a full-time position marketing and public relations account executive. You can see the full job description here.

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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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Happy Holidays!

December 19, 2014

 
 

Regift this: 6 tips to boost content sharing

December 18, 2014

regiftable content: sharable content

Outside of marketing, a regift would be considered a great insult to the recipient. In the content world, it’s one of the end goals: to get your reader to appreciate what you’ve provided so much that they wrap it up in the form of a tweet, social post or email and share the gift of your insight with someone else.

 

So how can we as content marketers ensure our e-books and buyer’s guides are just as regift-worthy as the label maker Elaine gave to dentist Tim Whatley back in 1995?

Problem can’t hard would. I out Semme of payday 2 hacks it. I, it. People. It was results 24 and… No weight never bad credit payday loans direct lenders only was would look. White it. To my, Cocamidopropyl payday loans in pa the too then disappointingly in to… Them. I from payday loans of! Any of a love. Have up payday loans las vegas nv tangles to not. Lot simpole not to payday 2 masks morning. I my so gorgeous time. I chin fine a paydayloansusca audience noticed free. Note lotion. It. Stains in from payday loans no credit check and finish bottle bottle store. The hair hair.

 

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