Finding the perfect strategy for content marketing can prove to be a difficult task if the market is highly saturated. Same goes for content with a very broad niche. It is easy to get swarmed in a sea of content marketers with very similar objectives, leading to a dilution of overall sales campaign penetration.
\n","author":{"name":"Amanda Molitor"},"yoast":{"title":"Tips To Increase B2B Content Marketing","metadesc":"Today's B2B content marketing strategies involve social media engagement, editorial calendars and an integrated approach to other marketing channels.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Finding the perfect strategy for content marketing can prove to be a difficult task if the market is highly saturated. Same goes for content with a very broad niche. It is easy to get swarmed in a sea of content marketers with very similar objectives, leading to a dilution of overall sales campaign penetration. In the field of B2B content marketing, there are a number of tried and tested methods to channelize all types of content – company blog, social media posts, promotional emails, ads, etc. However, today, traditional B2B public relations strategies will no longer work. The ineffectiveness of B2B PR highlights the need for inclusion of emerging social media trends. Here are some tips that you can take to stand above the rest.
\nFocus on long-form content
\nLong-form content refers to any content, blog post, video, or podcast with substantial content. Long-form content plays a significant role in B2B public relations. It allows your company to send across its promotional message in its entirety. It creates a broad window to broadcast all details to interested customers. True, long-form content may not be very effective in attracting new (and highly distracted) customers, but it is effective enough to make even the slightest interested customers tip in your favor.
\nMaintain an editorial calendar
\nIf you are not already maintaining one such calendar, it's time you do. Editorial calendars are crucial to any B2B content marketing strategy. They ensure your strategies are enforced on time and all B2B content marketing campaigns are well aligned with important dates. Keep your content up-to-date with your calendar. It helps the campaign team to plan ahead of any content launch, helping the company to deliver better content in sync with recent trends.
\nTrack all your Social Signals
\nIt is important to have B2B content marketing campaigns distributed over a range of social media channels. Different channels will provide different feedback depending on your involvement with their communities. Popular content on Facebook and YouTube differ widely from those on Reddit, Quora, or Twitter. While designing any B2B PR campaign for your company, be sure to define guidelines for each channel. Monitor customer engagement on different platforms, track their activities and reaction to different forms of content, and identify what works best for each channel.
\nUpdate older versions of content
\nOften, there are pieces of content that have already been created as well as published, but way in the past. This type of content may have been viral in its time, but it is no longer relevant. If you think that the core take-away of that content is still valuable, recycle the content to be more with the present. Whenever someone lands on that legacy content, duly point them to the latest, or updated version of the topic so that they don't return empty-handed. This is a very effective B2B content marketing strategy as it not only saves time formulating content ideas, but also helps retain a handful of customers whom you would have lost because of not being up-to-date.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":204,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/integrated-marketing-is-key-to-a-successful-campaign/","title":"Integrated marketing is key to a successful campaign.","slug":"integrated-marketing-is-key-to-a-successful-campaign","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Mon Aug 8th 2016","modified":"Tue Feb 14th 2023","excerpt":"Integrated marketing is the key to a successful campaign. And knowing your audience is the key to a successful integrated marketing mix.
\n","author":{"name":"Mary Anne Johnson"},"yoast":{"title":"Integrated marketing is key to a successful campaign","metadesc":"Integration is key today. Knowing your audience and the channels they interact with is a key element of developing a successful integrated campaign.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Integrated marketing is the key to a successful campaign. And knowing your audience is the key to a successful integrated marketing mix.
\nDigital media. Digital Marketing. That’s the buzz these days. And it’s no wonder. Our world is transitioning into a very digital world. Yet the proven strategies of traditional marketing cannot be overlooked or pushed aside.
\nAn integrated marketing campaign will take all marketing strategies and possible tactics into consideration. These will be vetted against the objectives and the audience. Those that resonate with the audience to meet the defined objective will win out. Those that don’t resonate – no matter how cool they are – shouldn’t be in the mix.
\nYou’ve been asked to develop a campaign. You need to increase leads by XX%. Great. Measurable goals are outlined. Now the audience needs to be defined. While demographics are important – equally important are the psychographics. Audience personas are becoming more and more relevant to developing a successful integrated marketing campaign.
\nThe psychographics will help identify where your audience is consuming their information. And your message needs to be where your customer is. Sometimes it will be in a digital space, sometimes traditional. But knowing your customers is key.
\nProjections for digital marketing spend in 2014 were $135 billion. While marketers keep reading how digital is taking over and more dollars are being shifted to digital strategies, traditional marketing is not by any means hiding under a rug. It is projected that in 2017, 37.4% of all global ad spending will be spent on television. That is the most of any medium. Ranking second is desktop internet at 19.6% with mobile internet following at 11.4%. However, keep in mind that it is projected newspapers will still outrank mobile internet with a 12.2% share of all global ad spending in 2017.
\nThese stats show us that going solely digital may not be the best method for creating a successful marketing campaign. Clearly, people today are interacting with messages on multiple channels hence the need for an integrated campaign where multiple channels are working together. The key to knowing which channels should be included in your campaign is to know your audience.
\nBecause it is not about an either or – digital marketing or traditional marketing. It is about marketing in a traditional world which is becoming ever more a digital world.
\nHave questions on how to define your audience or what the right mix is for you? Contact Merit Mile today – our team is ready to help you create a successful integrated marketing campaign.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":201,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/email-marketing-is-not-dead/","title":"Email marketing is not dead. It is very much alive.","slug":"email-marketing-is-not-dead","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Wed Jul 27th 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Email marketing is not dead. Email marketing is very much alive. An article published this week by eMarketer has solid data behind those two statements.
\n","author":{"name":"Mary Anne Johnson"},"yoast":{"title":"Email marketing is not dead. It is very much alive.","metadesc":"Email marketing is still a vital tool in the marketer's toolkit. Digital marketers want to learn how to drive results with this key element.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Email marketing is not dead. Email marketing is very much alive.
\nAn article published this week by eMarketer has solid data behind those two statements.
\nWhile this research shows that email marketing takes top billing when it comes to customer acquisition and retention, marketers need to keep in mind three strategies to help drive those outcomes.
\nKnow the customer. Know the customer journey. And make certain that your email marketing is relevant to both and easily accessible on any device. Do this and you too will see how email marketing is a great tool for acquiring and retaining customers.
\nHave questions on how to get the most out of your email marketing campaigns? Contact Merit Mile today.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":200,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/microsoft-power-bi-3-tips-to-craft-a-compelling-marketing-story-in-the-it/","title":"Microsoft Power BI: 3 Tips to Craft a Compelling Marketing Story in the IT Supply Chain","slug":"microsoft-power-bi-3-tips-to-craft-a-compelling-marketing-story-in-the-it","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Fri Jul 1st 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Every marketer knows marketing is storytelling. But telling the story is one thing. Telling a story that sells is another.
\n","author":{"name":"Earl Siamundo"},"yoast":{"title":"Microsoft Power BI: 3 Tips to Craft a Compelling Marketing Story in the IT Supply Chain","metadesc":"Find out how to craft a compelling marketing story that sells","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Every marketer knows marketing is storytelling.
\nBut telling the story is one thing. Telling a story that sells is another.
\nEnter Merit Mile. Microsoft approached us to create sales tools and marketing materials for Cobweb, a U.K.-based Microsoft channel partner and cloud services hoster, to help sales reps communicate the value of Microsoft’s business intelligence tool, Power BI, to end customers.
\nSpecifically, they wanted a complete Power BI sales kit including slide deck and telesales discussion guide along with a customizable landing page, web banner, email template and product data sheet.
\nMarketing for the IT supply chain is a specialized process—it’s key to understand who’s doing the talking and who they’re talking to. Moreover, it’s not as simple as a persona analysis as some communications need to speak “to partner” while others need to address “through partner” messages. In short, selling IT, and particularly selling Cloud, is a multi-dimensional marketing pursuit. So, as a team, Merit Mile was eager to augment and tailor the Cobweb Power BI story based on our legacy IT supply chain experience.
\nFor starters, what is Power BI? Microsoft Power BI is an interactive data visualization tool designed to help customers make smart, data-driven business decisions. But, of course, took it a step further and asked and answered the hard questions include the value of Microsoft Power BI and more importantly “Why Power BI”? Ultimately, the real bottom line is about being able to make better and more profitable business decisions.
\nIn fact, Power BI helps businesses with a variety of things: cutting costs, increasing productivity, focusing market strategy, even improving the customer experience. So then we asked, “What’s the business value story here? And how do we tell it?”
\nThat’s when we found our “why” and our story: Power BI enables users to see their business from all angles. That’s the real business value.
\nOur next step included taking this conceptual idea and turning it into a tagline that Cobweb felt drove right to the heart of their customer conversations. Then we built marketing materials to facilitate that conversation on every relevant level of the supply chain. The result for Cobweb? The ability to have more effective sales conversations complemented with customer-focused marketing materials.
\nIn other words, a story that sells.
\nStuck on your supply chain messaging? Try these three tips:
\nHave questions about developing your integrated marketing strategy? Contact Merit Mile to explore how we can help grow your cloud service or hosting business.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":199,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/merit-mile-takes-home-stevie-award-for-pr-campaign-of-the-year/","title":"Merit Mile Takes Home Stevie Award for PR Campaign of the Year","slug":"merit-mile-takes-home-stevie-award-for-pr-campaign-of-the-year","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Tue Jun 21st 2016","modified":"Tue Aug 9th 2022","excerpt":"Merit Mile, an integrated communications agency serving some of the world’s most reputable brands, was recently recognized by The Stevie® Awards as a PR Campaign of the Year winner.
\n","author":{"name":"Amanda Molitor"},"yoast":{"title":"Merit Mile Takes Home Stevie Award for PR Campaign of the Year","metadesc":"Merit Mile, an integrated communications agency serving some of the world’s most reputable brands, was recently recognized by The Stevie® Awards as a PR Campaign of the Year winner.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1.jpg"}},"content":"Merit Mile, an integrated communications agency serving some of the world’s most reputable brands, was recently recognized by The Stevie® Awards as a PR Campaign of the Year winner.
\nMore specifically, Merit Mile was the silver award winner in the “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year: Marketing Consumer Products or Services” category for its “#BubbleIt Bracket Challenge” campaign for client, Protect Your Bubble by Assurant, Inc.
\nProtect Your Bubble by Assurant, Inc. provides protection plans for smartphones, tablets, wearable technology, appliances and electronics, rental cars, renters insurance and travel arrangements.
\nThe campaign launched in sequence with the popular NCAA March Madness tournament in the spring of 2015. Similar to college basketball tournament brackets, Merit Mile pitted tongue-in-cheek yet realistic consumer blunders against one another, in voting brackets, to determine their rank and degree of severity. With several thousand participants voting, consumers ultimately determined that “water damage to your smartphone” was slightly more severe and bubble bursting than “tenants damaging your rental dwelling”.
\n“Our clients rely on us for creative campaigns that elevate their brand in front of targeted audiences, and the #BubbleIt Bracket Challenge had thousands of consumers and prospective customers participate while learning about Protect Your Bubble,” said John Sternal, Director of PR and Social Media at Merit Mile. “It is an honor to be recognized for our team’s hard work, and we look forward determining if our follow up campaign—How Irresponsible Are You?—will garner similar results.”
\nAbout The Stevie® Awards:
\nThe Stevie® Awards, part of the American Business Awards family, are among the most prestigious business awards programs in the U.S. Additional details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2016 Stevie Awards winners are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.
\nAbout Merit Mile:
\nMerit Mile is an award-winning full-service advertising, interactive and PR agency dedicated to helping brands, large and small, realize new levels of business growth. The firm is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL and serves nationwide clients in a variety of industries and markets. With emphasis on marketing, advertising, public relations and interactive design and development, the Merit Mile team consists of business-minded strategists, eccentric artists, and technology professionals that are passionate about building brands, generating leads and creating awareness for clients. For more, please visit www.MeritMile.com, or call 1-561-362-8888. Join Merit Mile in social conversation on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":177,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/artificial-intelligence-and-its-impact-on-marketing/","title":"Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Marketing","slug":"artificial-intelligence-and-its-impact-on-marketing","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Mon Jun 6th 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"IBM’s artificial intelligence technology, Watson, is generating a buzz among marketers. More and more companies are partnering with IBM Watson to help them solve data daunting tasks for their marketing departments.
\n","author":{"name":"Amanda Molitor"},"yoast":{"title":"Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Marketing","metadesc":"IBM's artificial intelligence technology, Watson, is generating a buzz among marketers. More and more companies are partnering with IBM Watson to help them solve data daunting tasks for their marketing departments.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"IBM's artificial intelligence technology, Watson, is generating a buzz among marketers. More and more companies are partnering with IBM Watson to help them solve data daunting tasks for their marketing departments.
\nIBM Watson is a platform for Big Data analysis using its unique artificial intelligence algorithms. The algorithms are based on natural language processing and machine learning techniques and are tailored to analyze large amounts of unstructured data. This enables Watson to uncover patterns and trends that may not be visible to people. Using highly advanced technologies, Watson can enable marketers to automate most of their tasks, while saving them time and resources by producing full-fledged analytics and reports integrated into their projects.
\nThe technology behind Watson is constantly being improved based on its performance in the market so far. The market is very optimistic about the results that it is able to produce. One of the main features of Watson is that it can be used to answer very complex queries and be expected to return highly accurate and meaningful answers. As of now, data is distributed across various platforms, in so many different formats that it can overwhelm a small group of your marketing hires, no matter how much time they put in their marketing efforts. There are text documents, pdfs, Word files, images in jpeg, gif, bmp, png formats, video and audio and podcasts – different kinds of social media posts. And apart from these one has to analyze the traffic, shares, subscribes, leads from each source among so many things in order to make marketing decisions. With Watson, you can rest assured as it takes care of all forms of data, from various sources, accumulate them and analyze them based on your provided metrics. It uses natural language processing to understand the meaning and context of data, and uses machine learning to train its own model of analyzing for further newer data based on its previous experiences. First it is trained on the basis of the initial data we provide and then it can be used to analyze any unknown data. The more it trains on dissimilar data sets, the more its accuracy increases.
\nMore than 500 organizations from around 20 different industries have partnered with IBM Watson to develop apps, products and services suitable for their requirements as well as for their commercial projects. A significant proportion of users of these products and beneficiaries of the partnership are marketers. It is also backed up by the fact that IBM Watson provides services that are useful mostly to marketers, even though it has major utilities in the research or manufacturing industries major as well. This may be highlighted as every organization that depends on consumer relationships will have to focus significant resources on marketing. Any data crunching tool new in the market is indeed likely to attract a number of industries. Healthcare is an industry that can profit significantly from Watson. However, businesses remain the dominant partners of IBM Watson indicating that this technology has proved its data analysis capabilities.
\nIf you want to incorporate artificial intelligence and advanced technology into your marketing efforts but don’t know where to start, contact a Merit Mile professional today.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":175,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/retailer-want-digital-convergence-hindered-by-strategies-rsr-study/","title":"Retailers Want Digital Convergence, Hindered By Strategies: RSR Study","slug":"retailer-want-digital-convergence-hindered-by-strategies-rsr-study","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Wed Apr 20th 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Global shopping trends have drastically been altered with the advent of e-commerce.
\n","author":{"name":"Amanda Molitor"},"yoast":{"title":"Retailers Want Digital Convergence, Hindered By Strategies: RSR Study","metadesc":"As more customers are shifting to online marketplaces, retailers are considering switching to mobile and social digital strategies as an option to further expand their traditional businesses. How can businesses leverage mobile and social for their digital marketing.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Global shopping trends have drastically been altered with the advent of e-commerce. As more and more customers are shifting to online marketplaces, retailers are considering switching to mobile and social digital strategies as an option to further expand their traditional businesses. A study by Retail Systems Research, LLC has presented several interesting findings pertaining to retailer views towards digital convergence. RSR, sponsored by SAS has been tracking retailers’ e-commerce strategies for several years, and has recently released the 2016 Benchmark Report – Digital Convergence: The Future of Digital Commerce. The report, based on a comprehensive survey of 120 retailers of varying demographics, aims to understand the relationship between different retail businesses and their approach to digital convergence.
\nA major barrier to developing an idea of retailers’ attitude to “Digital Convergence”, according to the report, would be the ambiguity over the term itself. “It increasingly looks like digital convergence means different things to different types of retailers”, says Nikki Baird, who co-authored the report and is managing partner at RSR.
\nRetailers have always strived to achieve higher growth rates, catering to the altering customer shopping patterns, and are now learning to adapt to the online ecosystem. An online presence of their business helps them reach out to thousands, or even millions of new customers. Also, loyal customers of legacy stores look forward to e-commerce portals of their favorite shopping destinations, and therefore it is only logical that retailers keep up with the times.
\nIt is imperative for retailers to understand the significance of e-commerce. For some, it is just another portal for their stores, while for others it is an entire business. There is a huge disconnect between established businesses and their digital counterparts. Although retailers have taken several initiatives to enter into the digital market, their strategies have a lot to be worked upon.
\nAccording to Baird, “Digital convergence has not yet been achieved”, as he points out the flaws in current models of retailers’ digital strategies. When surveyed, most of the retailers envisioned more than 50% of their sales coming from digital channels in a few years, but they were stumped when asked about the sales from digital influence. They need to realize that digital influence is not restricted to just the digital channel, but can extend to all channels. The selling point of digital convergence lies in integrating both types of businesses for maximum profit and improved efficiency.
\nWhile large retailers are now focusing on blending their physical and digital stores. Several small retailers have chosen to run their businesses on the digital marketplace only. This trend is understandable, as the former prioritizes expanding their business to more customers, and the latter does not necessarily have all the resources or are tight on investments.
\nThe huge disparity among retailer choices isn’t limited to just the size of business. The report suggests that there are key differences in the attitude and interests of different types of retailers. For example, hard goods retailers are more interested in combining the benefits of digital and legacy markets, and are the most digitally connected. Fashion retailers, on the other hand, are more likely to fixate themselves on either store or digital, and are not very interested in blending them together.
\nIf you are looking to expand your business’s horizons and break into the digital marketplace but don’t know where to start, contact a Merit Mile professional today.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":174,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/11-principles-of-social-media-marketing/","title":"11 Principles of Social Media Marketing","slug":"11-principles-of-social-media-marketing","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Thu Apr 7th 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Social media marketing is now an integral part of marketing for a majority of companies.
\n","author":{"name":"Amanda Molitor"},"yoast":{"title":"11 Principles of Social Media Marketing","metadesc":"Social media marketing is now an integral part of marketing for a majority of companies. Digital marketers have realized the importance of social media and recommend its inclusion in main stream marketing strategies.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Social media marketing is now an integral part of marketing for a majority of companies. Digital marketers have realized the importance of social media and recommend its inclusion in main stream marketing strategies. Managing social media, however, is not an easy task. A well thought out tweet can make your content go viral, while a careless post can cost you significant sales. Presented in this article are 11 principles of social media marketing that must be followed to ensure success.
\nAim for high quality content
\nThe old adage quality trumps quantity still holds true. A single good quality post is much, much better than a dozen low quality articles. An important factor in SERP, according to Google's algorithm, is backlinks from authority sites such as Facebook and Twitter. If you want to reach the top of the search results organically, you need to make your content share-worthy. People will only share the content they like, so it is important to cater to your audience. Also, quality content helps create a brand image for your business.
\nEngage with your audience
\nTake an active part in community discussions, as it helps create trust among your customers and builds a strong reputation. Your audience will find you more accountable, and a healthy engagement of your brand with the community reflects positively on your image.
\nTry following other successful people , or influencers, in your niche on social platforms. Retweet, like and share others' posts, and they'll most probably return the gesture.
\nCheck your analytics
\nAnalytics help you pin-point major points of success and failure in your strategies. The amount of likes or retweets on individual posts are an indicator of what your audience wants from you. Analysing traffic from different social media channels helps you understand where you need more focus.
\nThe customer is always right
\nDo not be negative when dealing with a customer online. Keep your social channels clean and positive. A rant by an angry customer in some comments section can cause potential clients to look for other options. Deal with such instances by providing helpful customer support.
\nGive something back to your loyal audience
\nYou need to appreciate your loyal customer/fan base as it is partly because of them that your business is still running. Give away freebies, coupons, expert courses or tutorials and your customers will love you. Offer something of value to your followers on a regular basis, and watch your business grow.
\nSpread the good vibes through your content
\nTry to avoid negative content or marketing as much as possible. Do not bash your competitors. It will make your brand look desperate for attention and digital brand wars do not always end well for those who initiate them.
\nCreate a content schedule
\nPlan your content delivery in advance. Use analytics to find out when is the best time to post an update, at what time is most of your audience online, etc. Send out 8-10 tweets throughout the day, post a Facebook update daily. This also helps your audience know when they can expect new post updates.
\nRegularly post fresh content
\nChurn out new content for your audience on a regular basis. Do not recycle old posts frequently, although it is allowed if you have something new to add on to them. Be consistent with your post timings. Don't spam your channels so people or people will start unfollowing you. Avoid leaving wide time gaps between posts if your brand isn't dead.
\nStay up-to-date with the latest social media marketing trends
\nSocial media is constantly evolving. Every year various platforms, including Google (search) announce changes to their algorithms and how it can affect digital marketers. Be ready to adapt to the latest trends in the industry, and use them to your advantage.
\nChannelize your efforts into fewer social media platforms
\nUnless you have a large marketing team capable of handling hundreds of social platforms, it is best to focus on 3-4 major channels that you think are the most relevant to your business and target audience. More is not necessarily better, as your investments would be scattered across several platforms, with poor ROI (return on investment).
\nAdvertise your brand smartly
\nYour business cannot thrive only on organic leads. To maximize exposure of your content, or to get direct sales, you have to start spending more on social media advertising. Try experimenting with sponsored ads on Facebook and Twitter, and see how they fare in comparison to Google Ads.
\nIf you are looking for ways to supplement your current marketing program with some social media posts but are unsure where to start, contact a Merit Mile specialist.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":150,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/perceptions-of-concussion-treatment-options/","title":"Perceptions of Concussion Treatment Options","slug":"perceptions-of-concussion-treatment-options","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Fri Apr 1st 2016","modified":"Wed Feb 15th 2023","excerpt":"What is the current perception of concussions and concussion treatment options? And are people truly informed on the issue of concussions?
\n","author":{"name":"Amanda Molitor"},"yoast":{"title":"Perceptions of Concussion Treatment Options","metadesc":"What is the current perception of concussions and concussion treatment options? And are people truly informed on the issue of concussions?","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"What is the current perception of concussions and concussion treatment options? And are people truly informed on the issue of concussions?
\nMerit Mile’s research division recently presented a survey to more than 750 people throughout the U.S. to take their pulse of a number of concussion-related issues and perceptions. What’s more, the survey also aims to get a baseline understand of which pharmaceutical, neurological and research groups are taking a leadership role in the eyes of consumers.
\nClick here to see the full survey results.
\nThe recent media coverage of concussions and their side effects have sent the public into a frenzy. Or has it? Are people truly concerned? Do they care about concussions Monday through Saturday, but couldn’t care less on Sundays as long as their favorite NFL team plays well?
\nThe marketplace has been flooded with products that claim to prevent concussions that have no scientific or medical merit. Additionally, concussion clinics staffed by people with no expertise in brain trauma, such as dermatologists, orthopedists, and chiropractors, are cashing in on the public’s fear. There are currently more than 400 “concussion clinics” in the U.S.
\nConcussion products lacking credibility range from neck braces, helmet covers and even dietary supplements. In fact, the FDA has issued a warning that ingested substances cannot prevent or treat a concussion but the demand for such products has only increased.
\nThe obsession has even spread to technology. Now there are smartphone apps that claim to diagnose concussions. Neurologists warn that these apps should not be relied on because of the complexity of traumatic brain injuries.
\nParents and athletes alike are concerned about the lasting effects of a concussion, but experts say it is unlikely that one concussion will lead to a degenerative brain disease.
\nCurrently, there are new brain injury laws being set in place in 49 states to protect and prevent concussions.
\nHow does all of this impact the pharmaceutical, neurological and research industries all rushing to take a leadership position in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of concussions – for both sports and military? Download the complete results of the survey to find out. And schedule a call with a Merit Mile positioning expert who can discuss thought leadership content campaigns that can elevate your position within the industry.
\nClick here to access the complete survey results.
\n\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":149,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/merit-mile-expands-its-technology-markets-focus-with-the-addition-of-two-se/","title":"Merit Mile Expands Its Technology Markets Focus With The Addition of Two Seasoned Industry Experts","slug":"merit-mile-expands-its-technology-markets-focus-with-the-addition-of-two-se","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Tue Mar 29th 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Merit Mile recently announced the expansion of its Technology Markets division with the appointment of technology veterans Scott Lindars and Earl Siamundo, both serving as Director of Technology Markets.
\n","author":{"name":"John Sternal"},"yoast":{"title":"Merit Mile Expands Its Technology Markets Focus With The Addition of Two Seasoned Industry Experts","metadesc":"Merit Mile recently announced the expansion of its Technology Markets division with the appointment of technology veterans Scott Lindars and Earl Siamundo.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Merit Mile recently announced the expansion of its Technology Markets division with the appointment of technology veterans Scott Lindars and Earl Siamundo, both serving as Director of Technology Markets. Merit Mile’s technology focus is the agency’s longest-tenured division, focusing on B2B program strategy, demand-gen and awareness campaign executions for some of the world’s largest Fortune-100 technology brands including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Citrix Systems.
\nPrior to joining Merit Mile, Lindars spent twelve years at Citrix Systems as a marketing and business strategy leader focused on the technology, service provider and hosting industries helping companies identify, launch and grow competitively differentiated, high-value cloud solutions and channel programs. With extensive experience in application, desktop and infrastructure hosting (SaaS, DaaS and IaaS), Lindars has guided industry leading companies through business model and portfolio evolutions on their journey toward delivering and marketing cloud services. A creative entrepreneur and brand enthusiast rooted in a technical foundation, he blends his passion for captivating storytelling and inspiring design with a pragmatic approach to marketing strategy.
\nSiamundo comes to Merit Mile with significant agency-side experience managing enterprise accounts where he focused on building and managing client practices by helping technology companies communicate their value through creative campaigns, enticing messaging and relevant sales tools. With a strong ability to nurture accounts and drive sophisticated projects from beginning to end, Siamundo possesses a deep understanding of the technology supply chain, distribution and partner channels, and target audience personas from enterprise to the small business markets.
\nUniquely positioned to drive growth for leading B2B technology brands, Merit Mile leverages its deep-rooted knowledge of cloud services, the IT channel and product distribution to strategize integrated campaigns that combine awareness and lead-gen initiatives. These campaigns help IT brands differentiate themselves through world-class messaging and positioning, as well as interactive marketing programs that position brands as thought leaders within their specific categories. The agency differentiates itself through its quantifiable, dynamic measurement and reporting resource, Merit Mile Metrix, which captures every aspect of the client campaign for optimal measurement against return-on-investment goals.
\nLindars will be based in the company’s Boca Raton, Fla, headquarters, while Siamundo will be stationed in the company’s growing presence in Seattle.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":148,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/five-essential-ingredients-of-a-service-provider-marketing-plan-part-2/","title":"Five Essential Ingredients of a Service Provider Marketing Plan, Part 2","slug":"five-essential-ingredients-of-a-service-provider-marketing-plan-part-2","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Tue Mar 8th 2016","modified":"Mon Feb 22nd 2021","excerpt":"Welcome back to the Five Essential Ingredients of a Service Provider Marketing Plan. In part one, we discussed finding your unique story, defining your marketing strategy and performing a marketing assessment. In part two we bring everything together into a measurable, audience-specific marketing plan.
\n","author":{"name":"Scott Lindars"},"yoast":{"title":"Five Essential Ingredients of a Service Provider Marketing Plan - Part 2","metadesc":"Five Essential Ingredients of a Service Provider Marketing we bring everything together into a measurable, audience-specific marketing plan.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Welcome back to the Five Essential Ingredients of a Service Provider Marketing Plan. In part one, we discussed finding your unique story, defining your marketing strategy and performing a marketing assessment. In part two we bring everything together into a measurable, audience-specific marketing plan.
\nNow that you have defined the objectives of your marketing plan and assessed your marketing resources and capabilities, it’s time to create the plan. Four key factors of an effective marketing plan include audience, offers, calendar and measurement.
\nReady, set, go! Now that the marketing plan is underway, it’s time to start monitoring performance against your measurement targets. Give your audience ample time and opportunities to consume the information before making any conclusions. Since you broke the plan down into a calendar of activities, you will be in good position to make adjustments to factors such as time of day, offers or messages after patterns emerge. Finally, remember that no doesn’t mean never. After you have analyzed how the campaign performed, you can retarget those audiences that didn’t respond with a new message and apply the lessons learned to your next marketing plan.
\nAs I said in part one, there’s no reason you have to do everything yourself or from scratch. Search for marketing plans, best practices and how to guides to find a wealth of information you can leverage. (Hint: Look on the Merit Mile blog). Citrix and Microsoft service provider partners can even tap into resources like this new action-oriented marketing plan from Citrix or this Microsoft Go-To-Market Playbook.
\nWhat questions do you have about developing your own marketing plan? Contact me to schedule a time to talk and explore how the service provider and hosting industry experts at Merit Mile can help you design and execute a marketing plan to build momentum in your hosting business.
\nScott Lindars
\nDirector of Technology Markets | Merit Mile
Let’s start with the obvious. The demand for hosted services like SaaS, DaaS and storage is steadily growing and so are the number of Managed Service Providers, hosters and channel partners providing these services.
\n","author":{"name":"Scott Lindars"},"yoast":{"title":"Five Essential Ingredients of a Service Provider Marketing Plan - Part 1","metadesc":"Demand for hosted services,managed Service Providers, hosters and channel partners are growing.This blog will give tips on how to create a marketing plan.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Let’s start with the obvious. The demand for hosted services like SaaS, DaaS and storage is steadily growing and so are the number of Managed Service Providers, hosters and channel partners providing these services. This means businesses have more choices than ever and service providers have to work even harder to win new customers and grow their business. In today’s consumer-driven, hyper-competitive market, services providers can no longer rely on just word of mouth referrals, organic leads and “me too” marketing tactics. It’s time to have a differentiated, targeted, attainable and measurable marketing plan. This two-part blog will get you started by looking at five essential ingredients when creating a marketing plan for your hosted services.
\nI’m a firm believer that crisp, impactful messaging and positioning must be at the root of all marketing plans and tactics. The exercise of writing a messaging guide forces you to think hard about articulating what truly makes the businesses unique, what makes your customers tick, how you can solve their pain points and what elements of your business are essential to reinforcing your story. At the highest level, a messaging document should address:
\nBefore you start thinking about what to do, step back and define what you are trying to accomplish. Is your goal to expand into a new region? Drive demand for a new service? Differentiate and win over customers from your competitor? Each strategy requires a different approach, so have a plan that zeros in on a specific objective. If you have multiple agendas, define them individually rather than trying to boil the ocean with a single marketing plan. Once you know the objective, you can be surgical about which audiences to target and with what tactics and resources. Step 3) Assess your resources and capabilities Having defined the goals and scope for the marketing plan, it’s time to take stock of your marketing content, systems and team capabilities. After evaluating these areas you will have a clear picture on the staffing, time, and costs that the plan requires.
\nAre you a small shop lacking marketing systems or even a dedicated team? The same principles all apply—but you’ll need to look outside your organization to get some help. Which brings us to…
\nMy wife and I love working on our house and we’ve gone through some major projects over the years. In the beginning we tackled everything ourselves, but over time we’ve grown smarter about what we DIY (painting and landscaping), when we partner with contractors (major electrical or windows) and which projects we simply could never take on (a roof).
\nMarketing teams should embrace this same mentality to work smarter, move faster and maintain the agility to address the inevitable fire drills and side projects that compete for your time. One way is to work with a trusted marketing agency that becomes a virtual extension of your team. Before I joined Merit Mile, I worked for a multi-billion dollar software company with a massive marketing organization. Technically, we could do everything in-house, but we routinely partnered with third parties to form the ideal special teams for a particular project. It was about bringing in the best specialists and subject matter experts to round out our team, and to help us scale and stay focused on the big picture, not the day-to-day execution.
\nAnother way service providers can gain efficiency is to leverage the marketing support from their strategic partners. For example, turn-key resources such as this “Don’t DIY” campaign available in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Solution Provider Resource Community (SPaRC) or these brandable videos from Citrix are a great way to shortcut the content development cycle.
\nIn part two we’ll explore the last two ingredients – creating the actual plan and measurement. In the meantime, start thinking about how you can apply these ingredients in your own business and check out some of the great resources from Microsoft, Citrix and HPE. What questions do you have about developing your own marketing plan? Contact me to schedule a time to talk and explore how the service provider and hosting industry experts at Merit Mile can help grow your hosting business.
\nScott Lindars
\nDirector of Technology Markets | Merit Mile
Adopting cloud services is no longer a speculative if, but now a matter of when, which use cases, which business units and to which clouds or service providers. In fact, the RightScale 2016 State of the Cloud Report showed that 95% of respondents reported using some type of cloud.
\n","author":{"name":"Scott Lindars"},"yoast":{"title":"Differentiate or Dwindle: 3 Steps For Service Providers to Stand Out in the Crowd","metadesc":"Adopting cloud services is no longer a speculative if. So why are some providers capturing more of this opportunity than others?","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Adopting cloud services is no longer a speculative if, but now a matter of when, which use cases, which business units and to which clouds or service providers. In fact, the RightScale 2016 State of the Cloud Report showed that 95% of respondents reported using some type of cloud. So why are some providers capturing more of this opportunity than others? Let’s look at three ways to ensure that your cloud business is set up for growth and leadership in 2016 and beyond.
\nAddress the top concerns and inhibitors head on Despite the growth, customers still have obstacles to overcome and the service provider can play a key role in overcoming them. In the RightScale report, lack of resources/expertise (32%) and security (29%) ranked at the top of the list, followed by compliance, managing multiple cloud services and managing costs all tied for third at 26%. Yes this means work and costs for service provides—more services, infrastructure, staff and compliance certifications, but this also means upside and opportunity. To uniquely position yourself against the competition, bring security and compliance to the forefront of your brand and services, articulate how you lower time, costs and complexity associated with onboarding and securing workloads and simplify cloud management.
\nTo take it one-step further, make sure you are positioning the business value, not just the technical value. Deliver the services that customers want Is it any wonder that almost every infrastructure provider, managed service provider or traditional hoster has cloud worked into their portfolio? But are these the cloud services that customers really want? Some of the fastest growing hosted services fall outside of the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and server virtualization realm. For example, cloud storage is expected to grow from $18.87 billion in 2015 to $65.41 billion by 2020 in the US at a 28.2% CAGR according to Markets and Markets. Equally desirable are end-user facing services including hosted applications, Desktops-as-a-Service (DaaS) and hosted Mobile Device Management (MDM) services. The 2015 Desktops-as-a-Service global market trends report from Citrix showed that 49% of Citrix Service Provider partners are planning to add DaaS, 34% MDM and 29% File share and sync in 2016 in order to grow their business.
\nService providers should adopt a “skate to the puck” mentality, looking closely at their customers’ needs today and where they will be a year from now to preemptively meet demand with new services that play to their existing strengths. In the Citrix report, Eric Simmons, Sr. Director, Enterprise Wireless Solutions at Rogers reinforces this by saying, “By providing our customers with a hosted MDM solution, we are able to address our customers’ demands for secure mobile device management with a solution that is a natural extension to our hosted services portfolio.” Know what makes you different In this highly competitive and growing market, service providers need to stand out in the crowd in order to differentiate, attract and retain new customers and avoid commoditization. So what makes you different? The niche verticals you specialize in?
\nThe highly trained staff of front-line support and engineers (think Rackspace Fanatical Support)? Or perhaps the new set of services you are launching. Whatever the case, develop differentiated messaging and brand positions that tells the world why you are different and how you are solving top of mind concerns and demands. As you do so, train the entire organization on how to articulate your unique story and most importantly, develop a plan for evangelizing your story in order to raise awareness, drive demand and ultimately increase revenue. Ok, but now what? If you haven’t figured it out by now, the brand, messaging and marketing strategy are critical ingredients on the path to success. Is your marketing team up to the task? Is your marketing strategy performing as well as you would like? Contact me to see how the service provider and hosting industry experts at Merit Mile can help differentiate and accelerate your business. Scott Lindars Director of Technology Markets | Merit Mile slindars@meritmile.com (954)-554-7546
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":27,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/value-of-social-media-marketing-in-b2b-environmemts/","title":"Value of Social Media Marketing in B2B Environments","slug":"value-of-social-media-marketing-in-b2b-environmemts","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Tue Jan 26th 2016","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"In a B2B marketing environment, having a lot of users following your brand is simply not enough, we have to move focusing only on likes and followers on our social media pages. In a B2B marketing environment, user data and the first generation of social media marketing tools
\n","author":{"name":"John Sternal"},"yoast":{"title":"Value of Social Media Marketing in B2B Environments","metadesc":"A B2B marketing environment is more than just followers. Marketers are observing an increase in demand for B2B marketing campaigns that collect user interest.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"In a B2B marketing environment, having a lot of users following your brand is simply not enough, we have to move focusing only on likes and followers on our social media pages. In a B2B marketing environment, user data and the first generation of social media marketing tools and technologies are the keys to marketing success. Marketers are observing a large increase in demand for B2B marketing campaigns that collect user interest and associated data, then with the help of collected data, try to shorten the sales cycle.
\nTrending approaches for social campaigns, used by the B2B marketers, to meet their objectives are as follows: Establishing a Continuous Sequence of Social Engagement In almost all B2B marketing environments, it is important to prolong the conversation and go through the stages of the complicated sales cycle. This cannot be achieved within a ninety-day campaign. Instead, we have to map out sequence of engagements which yields better results and more efficiently utilizes the collected user data. But of course, running these types of campaigns are expensive in terms of time and cost associated. Extending Social Media Marketing Campaigns Nowadays, when we think about social media marketing campaigns, we cannot only think about a single social networking site like Facebook or Twitter. Our potential lead could on any social media platform so we must also extend our campaign to reach audiences on all social networks.
\nThe brand experience must be uniform across every web platform. When we talk about brand experience, we cannot forget that mobile users occupy almost 60 percent of the World Wide Web. A mobile friendly user experience doesn’t just relate to making our campaign easily accessible but, it has to feel like it was created especially for mobile users in order for them to feel connected with the brand and have a positive interaction. Collecting and Applying Interest and Attribute Related Data B2B marketers need to not only be aware of the potential within their customers and recognize their business interested but it is just as important to understand customer’s personal interests as well.
\nWith the help of social media marketing tools, B2B marketers can now target their customers based on their interests. With the help of data they have collected, B2B marketers can reshape their campaigns towards extended and better sales cycles. B2B marketing is always changing and evolving to be the most attractive to the customers that it effects. If you want to improve your B2B marketing techniques, contact a Merit Mile specialist.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":28,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/the-pop-up-problem/","title":"The Pop-Up Problem","slug":"the-pop-up-problem","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Thu Dec 17th 2015","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Almost anytime you connect to the internet via an app or simply by visiting a website, you get bombarded with ads trying to distract you and entice you to buy their product or service. The ads are becoming more advanced, playing automatically and sometimes covering your entire screen
\n","author":{"name":"John Sternal"},"yoast":{"title":"The Pop-Up Problem","metadesc":"Todays pop-up ads in apps are becoming more and more advanced. These ads were created as a way for advertisers to separate their content from the webpage's.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Almost anytime you connect to the internet via an app or simply by visiting a website, you get bombarded with ads trying to distract you and entice you to buy their product or service. The ads are becoming more advanced, playing automatically and sometimes covering your entire screen, inhibiting consumers from ignoring them at all. The only way to escape the ad and get back to the preferred content is by clicking the “X”. The constant battle between consumers and online advertisers has been raging since pop-up ads were invented in the 1990’s. These ads were created as a way for advertisers to separate their content from the webpage’s.
\nThe advertiser’s goal is to lengthen the time that consumers interact with the ads by any means necessary. Clicking the “X” on some ads has become a game of chance, especially for those with large fingers and small devices. Even on desktop computers, ads can be so complex that even finding the “X” button can be a challenge. Consumers often feel like online ads reduce the overall user experience.. They can take forever to load and slow down the website that the consumer actually wants to view.
\nBecause of this, some consumers are fighting back by installing ad blockers on their mobile and desktop devices. Some companies have recognized that their customers are fed up with the ads and are re-evaluating their plan to support their sponsored content. While online ads of all kinds will most likely never go away, alternative ways to advertise such as native ads and sponsored articles may reduce the burden on consumers. Thinking outside the pop-up ad can create new ways for you to advertise to consumers online without causing them grief. Contact our Marketing Team to explore digital advertising options that will bring more business to your brand.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":29,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/sms-the-new-leader-in-mobile-marketing/","title":"SMS: The New Leader in Mobile Marketing","slug":"sms-the-new-leader-in-mobile-marketing","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Mon Nov 2nd 2015","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"One of the best things that a business can do is implement a SMS marketing strategy during the holiday season. With customers being bombarded by emails, print, TV ads, circulars, and push notifications there is no better way than to cut through all the noise and put the
\n","author":{"name":"John Sternal"},"yoast":{"title":"SMS: The New Leader in Mobile Marketing","metadesc":"During the holidays, customers are being bombarded by emails, print, TV ads, etc. The best way for your brand to get noticed is by SMS marketing.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"One of the best things that a business can do is implement a SMS marketing strategy during the holiday season. With customers being bombarded by emails, print, TV ads, circulars, and push notifications there is no better way than to cut through all the noise and put the brand message right into the palm of their hand anywhere they go by using SMS marketing. After all, it is estimated that 85 % of people now have a mobile device, according to Pew Research Center.
\nSMS (short message service) marketing is a mobile marketing technique that uses permission-based text messaging to spread a promotional message from a brand. It works by the customer subscribing to a company’s mobile marketing opt-in list and in return they get exclusive rewards and other engaging communication pertinent to their interests. According to the Transparency Market Research organization, SMS advertising accounts for over 90 percent of the total mobile marketing revenue. While email marketing is still widely used by many of today’s leading brands, companies are beginning to recognize the effectiveness of mobile largely due to the success of its open rates and engagement. According to The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, SMS marketing has a 98% open rate compared to email marketing with open rates of 22%.
\nWith two-way SMS, companies are able to engage and build a relationship with their customers. One way a customer interacts back with the company is by sending a reply to a message that was sent for them to receive a coupon, reward, or further information. This allows the company to understand what coupons and behavioral patterns attract the customer. Instead of customers having to call and wait on the phone to ask a question, with SMS marketing they can send the questions through a message and get a quick response. This is also beneficial during the holiday season because it allows more time to be distributed to helping customers and improve sales than answering questions. As an example of mobile marketing best practices, Best Buy, one of today’s leading retailers, uses SMS marketing as a key component to their marketing strategy.
\nTheir primary purpose for the SMS strategy was to keep their customers informed and aware of the deals and discount opportunities that would be available in the stores during Black Friday. More businesses are turning to mobile marketing after seeing sufficient results from big retailers like Best Buy. They have found that through SMS, they can target a majority of the population while being able satisfy the customer’s wants. Would you like to implement a SMS marketing campaign before the holidays? Schedule some time to speak with a Merit Mile marketing specialist to review your campaign.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":30,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/b2b-content-marketing-expert-strategies/","title":"B2B Content Marketing Expert Strategies","slug":"b2b-content-marketing-expert-strategies","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Mon Sep 28th 2015","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"The future of B2B content marketing strategies based on current trends and statistics. It seems that content marketing in B2C is much more common than content marketing in B2B. While this might be true, it is also true that more and more companies are developing B2B content
\n","author":{"name":"John Sternal"},"yoast":{"title":"B2B Content Marketing Expert Strategies","metadesc":"Content marketing in B2C is more common than in B2B but more companies are developing B2B content marketing strategies in order to grow.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"The future of B2B content marketing strategies based on current trends and statistics. It seems that content marketing in B2C is much more common than content marketing in B2B. While this might be true, it is also true that more and more companies are developing B2B content marketing strategies in order to grow and expand their business. What is interesting is that B2B marketers who have used documented content strategy were much more successful than those who didn’t have such strategy.
\nOne of the best things that a business can do is to assign a leader that can handle the B2B content marketing tasks. It doesn’t really matter if you opt for an in-house solution or you will outsource this activity, you must have one individual that is in charge for the proper execution of the strategy. An average marketer uses more than 10 B2B marketing tactics each year in order to determine which one is more effective. Some of the most commonly used tactics include blog posts, videos, case studies, social media posts and articles on websites. Infographics are getting quite popular too. In the future, professionals will definitely use sets of activities in order to reach their prospective clients and customers. While content development in the field of social media blogging will still be an excellent activity, business owners should also think about the introduction of electronic newsletters, videos, case studies, webinars and of course – infographics.
\nThere is a chance that some new social media network or platform will become popular, but Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will remain equally important. This doesn’t mean that you should focus only on these networks because some other platforms that don’t seem like suitable places that should be included in your B2b content marketing strategy can be helpful too. We are talking about sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, SlideShare, Instagram and other popular websites with large communities. When it comes to outsourcing or in-house content creation, many experts suggest that a combination of these two concepts might be the best choice. This combination can be great for both small and large companies. The number of businesses that have recognized the importance of B2B content marketing will continue to increase and this is a trend that is present in every industry. In the end, B2B content marketing is a type of marketing that is constantly evolving and this is the reason why you should always follow the latest trends and use the help of professionals who work in this field.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":31,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/the-marketing-plan-of-march-madness/","title":"The Marketing Plan of March Madness","slug":"the-marketing-plan-of-march-madness","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Fri Apr 17th 2015","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"March Madness is one of the greatest times of the year for college basketball fans. For three weeks college basketball fans are glued to the television as well as their brackets hoping they picked the right winners and upsets. However, March Madness isn’t only a fun
\n","author":{"name":"Sarah Gibson"},"yoast":{"title":"The Marketing Plan of March Madness","metadesc":"March Madness is one of the greatest times of the year for basketball fans but marketers can also enjoy the craze of March Madness in a different way.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"March Madness is one of the greatest times of the year for college basketball fans. For three weeks college basketball fans are glued to the television as well as their brackets hoping they picked the right winners and upsets. However, March Madness isn’t only a fun time for the fans. Marketers can also enjoy the craze of March Madness in a different way. According to an article in Forbes, the winning team isn’t the only March Madness winner.
\nBrands, too, want a piece of the March Madness pie. The article also mentions that since 2005, the tournament has generated nearly $7.5 billion in TV advertising. In 2014 alone, the NCAA tournament generated $1.13 billion, an increase of 1.5 percent. March Madness is considered one of the most watched sporting events along with the Super Bowl, World Cup and Summer Olympics according to the article. Since the games weren’t limited to television, advertisers were able to reach a wider audience they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to reach traditionally. By having an integrated campaign that also included a social media call to action, most brands were able to see how their content was doing and were able to evaluate their efforts and spending. What’s more, brands find they’re able to get creative with their March Madness campaigns.
\nProtect Your Bubble, a Merit Mile client, carved out its little piece of the March Madness pie. The protection plans company asked participants to vote for what they thought was the worst bubble-bursting moment in a traditional bracket format. More than three thousand people voted and water damaged phone was the big winner. For brands looking to make their presence known, it is important for them to join in the prominent conversations that are taking place. In doing so, not only can they reach a new audience but also be a part of a larger conversation. How have your campaign efforts measured up to your expectations? Contact a Merit Mile specialist to review your results.
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":32,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/social-media-and-modern-day-candidacy/","title":"Social Media and Modern Day Candidacy","slug":"social-media-and-modern-day-candidacy","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Tue Apr 14th 2015","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Appealing to listeners takes strategy. There are various ways to market and reach out to viewers, particularly nowadays with numerous content outlets to post to. Sites such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook allow people and brands to broadcast to the public
\n","author":{"name":"Sarah Gibson"},"yoast":{"title":"Social Media and Modern Day Candidacy","metadesc":"Nowadays there are various outlets to post to allowing brands broadcast to the public such as the 2016 presidential candidates.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Appealing to listeners takes strategy. There are various ways to market and reach out to viewers, particularly nowadays with numerous content outlets to post to. Sites such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook allow people and brands to broadcast to the public such as 2016 presidential candidates, thus creating modern day candidacy. Hilary Clinton recently announced her 2016 Presidential candidacy via YouTube.
\nThis allowed her to interact directly with potential voters and a wider audience. Presidential candidates reaching out to voters is no different than a brand trying to reach out to consumers or other business audiences. Social media outlets have become a significant part of how brands build a relationship with viewers and consumers. All portions have to add up to what businesses hope to be a constructive conversation that further establishes the brand in the eyes of consumers. In this day and age, making a difference and hearing what the consumer has to say is how businesses should be run. It is no different with a Presidential campaign. In order to attract and involve a large number of people, it is imperative to hear what they have to say. Just as consumers want to be heard, voters do too. Trying to win an election is like a brand trying to influence or win over a new audience.
\nBoth need to gauge what is being said about them and how audiences are receiving those messages. Meeting consumers and voters where they are should be the first step of action. Brands, like Presidential candidates, must know what the public is looking for in order to have an impact. No one wants to have a wasted effort or lose money. After all, we know that time is money. Whether you are looking to run a social media campaign or want additional social media training Merit Mile can assist. Contact our Social Media Specialist to bring your brand identity into the social sphere!
\n"}},{"node":{"wordpress_id":33,"link":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/post/oscars-ads-not-a-competition-for-super-bowl-ads/","title":"Oscars Ads Not a Competition for Super Bowl Ads","slug":"oscars-ads-not-a-competition-for-super-bowl-ads","status":"publish","format":"standard","date":"Wed Mar 4th 2015","modified":"Tue Jul 9th 2019","excerpt":"Everyone always raves about Super Bowl commercials. Each year, consumers and organizations alike look forward to the Super Bowl to see the best commercials brands have to show. With slots costing upwards of 4.5 million dollars, it is no wonder Super Bowl
\n","author":{"name":"Sarah Gibson"},"yoast":{"title":"Oscars Ads Not a Competition for Super Bowl Ads","metadesc":"Super Bowl commercials are a big event that consumers and organizations look forward to every year, with slots costing upwards of 4.5 million dollars.","focuskw":"","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","meta_robots_adv":"","meta_robots_nofollow":"","meta_robots_noindex":"","opengraph_title":"","opengraph_description":"","opengraph_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"},"twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":{"source_url":"https://apiold.meritmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3.jpg"}},"content":"Everyone always raves about Super Bowl commercials. Each year, consumers and organizations alike look forward to the Super Bowl to see the best commercials brands have to show. With slots costing upwards of 4.5 million dollars, it is no wonder Super Bowl commercials are a big event.
\nHowever, a recent USA Today article brought to light the real winner of commercials: the Oscars. Though this might come as a shock to some, brands are better off advertising during the Oscars than the Super Bowl. Though the Super Bowl may be the most watched event on television, the Oscars is a more audience-targeted event. According to the article, the main audience sitting down watching the biggest award show of the season is women, with a slightly higher income. The study conducted proposed that people are more likely to be persuaded by commercials during the Oscars than the Super Bowl. How come? The Super Bowl garnishes a much broader audience and that doesn’t necessarily translate into sales.
\nWhat’s more, consumers are more likely to believe brands advertising during the Oscars than those that advertise during the Super Bowl. Why is this so? The Oscars provide 3 key persuasion reasons. First is category exclusivity because there isn’t an abundance of product competition and since there are fewer commercials during the Oscars, brands must be selective in what they choose to advertise. Second is a more targeted audience. Because more women watch the Oscars, there is a greater chance of persuading them, given there aren’t as many brands advertising. Lastly, less competition. On account of the Oscars having a more female audience, it is no wonder that brands look to advertise products that cater to women.
\nFor organizations that look to meet their bottom line goal, increasing sales, advertising during the Oscars is the better option. When it comes to advertising, are you taking your target audience into consideration? Having your message heard by a wide audience is not as effective as having it heard by the right audience. Contact a Merit Mile specialist to review your efforts.
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