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Welcome to INKsights! We’re excited to share what’s now and what’s next in content marketing and PR with you. Come back often for the latest best practices and industry resources to maximize your marketing efforts, or sign up for our e-newsletter to ensure you never miss an INKsights post.

Mar

What’s old is new again: Why earned media is rising in importance

March 19, 2019

by: Steven Gallo in Law , B2B , Public relations , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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As digital media companies like BuzzFeed, Vox and Vice have recently lost web traffic and made staff cuts, The New York Times has grown to a record 4.3 million digital and print subscribers while expanding its newsroom to 1,600 journalists, the largest count in company history.

Wait, I thought old-school news organizations were dying? What gives?

Here’s the reality: In a world of fake news (the actual kind), disinformation, bots and social media echo chambers, people are turning to traditional media outlets more than ever for information they can trust.

So what does this have to do with you, the business-to-business (B2B) or professional services marketer?

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Mar

6 ways to get the most from your public relations agency [updated]

March 5, 2019

by: Michelle Calcote King in Law , B2B , Public relations , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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If you’ve ever worked with a public relations agency — or any consulting firm or professional services provider for that matter — you know that the outcomes can widely differ. There are many, many PR firms out there, and their level of expertise, experience and ability to consistently deliver results varies greatly.

But let’s say you lucked out and hired a high-quality public relations agency (yes, that hyperlink is to us… wink, wink). What’s your role in ensuring the success of the relationship?

It’s pretty significant.

As with most things in life, you get back what you put in. A successful PR initiative requires investment — not just the cost of the PR agency, but your own time and expertise.

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Feb

Why B2B marketers can’t afford to ignore email marketing

February 19, 2019

by: Michelle Calcote King in Law , B2B , Marketing strategy , Content marketing , Lead generation , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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If you’re a B2B marketer and not taking advantage of email, you’ve missed the effective-marketing boat (sounds like a fun party, doesn’t it?).

To put it in a way your CEO will understand, if your B2B company is not engaging in email marketing — including email newsletters, drip campaigns, lead nurturing emails, prospecting and promotional emails — your client acquisition and retention will suffer.

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Feb

The top 9 media mistakes lawyers make

February 12, 2019

by: Steven Gallo in Law , Public relations

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A solid public relations strategy is an essential part of a savvy legal marketer’s arsenal.

PR is a unique and powerful tool unlike other marketing efforts because it offers third-party validation: When a lawyer is quoted in an online news story, appears as a pundit on a news show or publishes something in an industry trade journal, that establishes his or her credibility in front of potential clients.

A lot of effort goes into securing that perfect PR opportunity: targeting relevant media outlets, pitching an attorney as a knowledgeable source and landing the interview. So it makes sense for lawyers to be prepared every time they jump on a call with a reporter or sit down for a broadcast interview in order to get the most out of it. This includes knowing the most common pitfalls when attorneys interact with journalists.

Here are some of the top media mistakes we’ve seen lawyers make in the past, and how to avoid them.

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Feb

How to get your employees to share your content (and why it’s so important)

February 5, 2019

by: Michelle Calcote King in B2B , Marketing strategy , Content marketing , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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You’ve written thought-leadership blog posts. Designed beautiful infographics. Developed engaging videos. Created valuable e-books and white papers.

You’ve then shared the content on your company’s social media accounts, sent it to industry influencers, promoted it on your email newsletter, sent out a press release and more.

Now, wouldn’t it be fantastic if all of your employees shared the content to their social media networks? “Yeah, right, like that will happen,” you’re thinking. But it’s not a pipe dream. In fact, it’s one of the biggest trends in B2B and professional services marketing.

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Jan

6 questions to ask before you hire a professional content writer

January 21, 2019

by: Michelle Calcote King in B2B , Content marketing , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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High-quality content is rocket fuel for today’s marketing strategies. But the difficult task of finding great writers who can create that content often stalls the marketing rocket before it ever takes off.

Great writers help you effectively communicate your message, drive sales leads and save you the time and frustration that comes with a writer who doesn’t understand your business, strategic goals, voice and tone.

Beyond looking at writing samples, how can you assess whether a professional writer has what it takes to produce engaging, clear and effective content? Ask these six questions to see if a potential writer can deliver the goods:

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Jan

8 common mistakes lawyers make on their blogs [updated]

January 15, 2019

by: Michelle Calcote King in Law , Content marketing

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(This post has been updated from our original 2014 post.)

The legal industry has embraced blogging like no other. Blogging and lawyers are a natural fit — lawyers love to write, have niche expertise and need to demonstrate that expertise in a non-salesy way.

However, succeeding at blogging isn’t as simple as putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). And unfortunately, many lawyers are failing.

Below are eight of the most common mistakes we see lawyers making on their blogs.

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Jan

We boosted email click-through rate by 60 percent with this one simple tweak

January 8, 2019

by: Steven Gallo in B2B , Content marketing , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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Email remains one of the most reliable and consistent vehicles for B2B marketers today. In fact, people sent more of it in 2018 than ever before, and statistics continue to show that email marketing delivers excellent ROI.

I don’t care what the haters say. When done right, email marketing works.

If you’re among the many marketers who leverage email, you’re familiar with the never-ending quest to streamline your contact lists, draft the perfect subject lines and increase your click-through rate (CTR). We can often be slaves to these analytics, looking for any little way we can move the needle. (After all, these numbers are a direct and unapologetic reflection of our efforts, right?)

When it comes to optimizing your email marketing, there are countless variables in play. I get that. I want to share one little success we had, with the hope that perhaps it can help you, too.

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Nov

Marketers: It’s time to push back on your bosses’ bad ideas

November 20, 2018

by: Michelle Calcote King in B2B , Marketing strategy , Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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“Behind every bad idea is an executive who asked for it.”

I can feel all the marketers internally shouting “YAAAASSSSS.” I hear you, friend, I hear you.

The above quote — from a recent MarketingProfs webinar by Michael Brenner (best-selling author of The Content Formula and CEO of Marketing Insider Group) — made me stop in my tracks. I thought of the numerous times I’ve witnessed a C-suite executive ask a marketer to do something that I knew wasn’t the right course of action, yet the marketer did it anyway. Heck, I’ve been the one who did it anyway. I’ve always thought, “That’s just the way it is.”

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Sep

How law firms can use marketing automation to enhance their client experience

September 25, 2018

by: Michelle Calcote King in Law , Marketing strategy

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Acquiring new clients is expensive. Depending on the study, research shows that the cost to acquire a new client is anywhere from five to 25 times the cost to retain an existing client.

Yet many law firms focus the majority of their marketing efforts on client acquisition — not client retention.

Here’s more research if you’re not convinced of the value of client retention: Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company (the inventor of the net promoter score) found that increasing customer retention rates by 5 percent increases profits by 25 to 95 percent.

From client alerts to blog posts, webinars, educational events and more, law firms are investing heavily to demonstrate their attorneys’ expertise and attract the right clients. How can these efforts be leveraged to enhance the client experience?

Enter marketing automation.

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[ About Inksights ]

What’s old is new again: Why earned media is rising in importance

6 ways to get the most from your public relations agency [updated]

The top 9 media mistakes lawyers make

6 questions to ask before you hire a professional content writer

8 common mistakes lawyers make on their blogs [updated]

Marketers: It’s time to push back on your bosses’ bad ideas

How law firms can use marketing automation to enhance their client experience

This Way To Better Content

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