Maximize Your Email Campaign Results with Powerful Copy Posted on September 19, 2019October 2, 2019 by Guest Author Planning an email campaign? What is the most daunting task for you, as a marketer? Most often, the answer is email copywriting. Yes, drafting an engaging copy and winning audiences can make most marketers steer away from crafting an email campaign. It is not just about using the right words or avoiding certain phrases. You also need to know how to captivate the audience by packaging it right. Often, marketers focus on creating a custom email template design and the best responsive HTML email template but overlook the importance of email copy. Here, we will take you through all the steps that will help you deliver a powerful and engaging copy. Write for the Segmented Audience The email campaign you are planning will not be for the entire email list that is in your possession. You will segment the list and define the niche audience for whom you are launching the product or service or delivering the campaign. When writing the copy, take into consideration this segmented list. You should write for them specifically. Let’s say you want to talk about an upgrade to a particular product. Your email will be sent to those who already have the product and would be willing to upgrade it. The copy should have a headline hinting at the upgrade and show the new features that the existing users will be able to enjoy with it. A Single Conversion Goal When you are writing a copy, you should have a conversion goal in mind. When you dedicate the copy towards this goal, you are bound to get more engagement. The copy should be focused, simple and effective. The goal is to make skimming easy and prompt the subscribers to click on the call-to-action button. Here’s an example from Intuit in which they have shared the new look of Mint and encouraged the recipients to “get the new Mint”. https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/people-are-loving-the-new-mint/ Whether you want the users to click on the button to enter a landing page or people to register for the event, mention it in your content. The goal should be clear. Catchy Subject Lines An email’s first entry point happens to be the subject line. The subject line should set the stage for the email content. Here are a few tips to draft catchy subject lines. It should be in line with your email. Don’t use clickbait subject lines, as eventually it will put the subscriber off your email list. The length of the subject line is very crucial. In case your subscribers open the email on their phones, a long subject line may get clipped off. Anywhere between 6-10 words is good for the email. You should use the pre-header text effectively if you want to increase the open rates. The pre-header text elaborates the subject line and provides insight into the content. Keep it short and simple. You should know the total number of words that go into the pre-header text, before moving ahead with it. Don’t spam your subscriber’s inbox with meaningless words and phrases in the subject line. You should generate a sense of urgency with your subject line Converse with your Audience The tone is very important in an email content. Your tone should be conversational, and should be more about the audience, and less about you. Even when you are introducing a new feature or a product, you should talk about how it will be useful to the audience. Obviously, you should talk about the benefits and features of the product but, make sure you do it while referring to your target audience. For instance, you don’t want to say how good the product is; instead, you should say how the product will be useful to the subscriber. This tone will be heard, and people will read the email and convert. Keep it Simple and Scannable How often have you heard people complain about the length of the email? It is not just the long email, but also the complexity and information overload that gets the people to repel from it. However, you can help reduce email withdrawal by keeping the whole content specific and simple. If you have too many things to say, break it down into small paragraphs and give it a suitable heading. Use engaging words, but don’t write everything in the email. You just need to give a gist and allow the users to find the rest of it like Uber has done. A straightforward email will always keep the audience intrigued and engaged. https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/your-safety-is-always-a-top-priority/ Refrain from Using Jargons As tempting as it may sound, you should refrain from using any sort of jargon that might sound alien to the user. Technical terms are not very comforting to the layman, which is why you should use simple and easily comprehensible words in your email. The idea is to focus on the pain area and offer a solution via the email. If you are into finance solutions writing an email to someone who has no idea about financial terms, using words like amortization may put them off. They will neither understand nor connect with your content. The word may sound in sync with the email content you are drafting but, it may not help win over the audience’s interest. Personalize the Emails When you are crafting the content, make sure you refer to the person individually. You don’t want to make it sound very generic. At the same time, you want to make sure that your personality is reflected through the email. The image should be striking and connect with the audience. https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/did-you-know-we-ve-made-big-changes-in-the-last-year/ Test Before Hitting Send It is important that you test all your emails and then send the content that you believe will work with the target audience. Always craft two different versions of the email copy and use the available online tools to test these variants. The test results will help understand which version will work with the target audience. Bonus Tip As important as it is to create responsive HTML email templates that render well on every device and email client, you should always consider the buyer’s journey and their mindset before drafting your email copy. For example: According to Chet Holmes Pyramid, only 3% of your prospects are ready to buy. You should also take into account whether the prospect is in the awareness, consideration or decision stage. Another tenet suggests the usage of nine-word email template for re-engagement emails that asks the subscriber is they are still interested in the concerned subject. This formula can be successfully used to revive dormant customers. For instance, Are you still interested in the trip to Paris? would work as a great subject line to win back a dead lead. Wrap up Powerful copy results in captivating the audience, engaging them and helping you attain your conversion goals. You should ideally write for a single segment with a single conversion goal in mind. Think of how you can include all the information without complicating the copy or increasing the length of the email. The key to increasing open rates is personalization and simplicity. Author Bio Kevin is the Head of Marketing at EmailMonks – one of the fastest growing Email design and coding companies, specializes in crafting templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and provides free email templates. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and breathes ‘email marketing.’ Get the latest updates on email marketing trends at his EmailMonks blog.
How to Write a Marketing Blog that Ranks on Google Posted on September 17, 2019September 8, 2022 by Allie Wolff Writing a blog post is easy. Writing a blog post that performs well in Google rankings, though? That’s another story. Your goal with all marketing blog posts is to get them in front of as many people as possible. And while social media and email marketing are both great ways to spread the word about your content, you’re going to have to rank if you want a post to be truly effective in drawing in traffic and converting leads. Google content rankings are based on a wide range of factors — many of them known, many of them a mystery. Everything from the keywords and links you include to the overall quality of your blog post impacts where it shows up on the search page, and with 75% of people never scrolling past the first page of results, it pays to put in the time and effort required to rank. Getting your marketing blog ranking on Google isn’t rocket science, but it does require some forethought and research. Below, we’ll go over each step that you need to follow in order to increase your chances of nabbing one of those coveted top spots. Step One: Come Up With Your Idea Sometimes figuring out what you want to write about is the trickiest part. Be strategic when choosing your topic, opting for an idea that is relevant to your business and shows off your authority. Google doesn’t like redundancy, so be sure that it’s a topic you haven’t covered before. It’s okay to write articles on similar topics, but you’ll need to make sure they have a different spin — and different keywords. Having trouble coming up with ideas? Head to Google yourself. Look up a question you think your leads might have and use that as a jumping off point for seeing what you might be able to cover on the topic. Step Two: Research, Research, Research Blog post optimization starts long before you write your first word. Once you know your topic, you’ll need to start diving into the research. And while research on your topic itself is obviously key here, it’s keyword research that you really want to prioritize. If you haven’t yet, you may want to consider investing in a comprehensive keyword tool like SEMrush or Spyfu, though you can start with a free tool like Google Trends or Wordtracker Scout and see if that provides you with enough guidance. There are a few major factors you want to consider when choosing your keywords and phrases: Do I already rank for this? (If so, see if you can improve on your existing post to make it rank higher, otherwise skip it.) Does this term have a high search volume? Does this search term have medium to low competitiveness? The best keywords are the ones that have a high search volume and low competitiveness, since that suggests a gap in content needs that your post could fill. Step Three: Write Well, Write Original You’ve got your topic and you’ve got your keywords so now you actually have to write. Google may just be a bunch of algorithms, but it can tell the difference between high quality and low quality content. It’s important that your marketing blog post is well-written and logically formatted. It should also be 100% original, since you’ll take a big hit for any instances of plagiarism (plus, avoiding plagiarism in general is always a good idea). Step Four: Edit, Fine Tune, and Publish Always have your post go to another set of eyes (or two) for edits. Our brains have a tricky way of overlooking flaws in our own work, so having an outside editor helps ensure your writing flows well and you’re efficiently addressing your topic. Once your copy is clean and ready to go, it’s time to publish. Google loves images and videos, so aim to include at least one of either type with your post, and include alt text or captions as needed. This is the time to bolster up your link game too. Aim for a mix of internal and external links, with your external links going only to relevant, high-quality pages that rank high themselves. Do a preview to see how your post looks on both desktop and mobile. To rank high, your post will need to be mobile optimized. It will also need to load quickly and look good once it’s displayed on the page. Step Five: Share! Getting on Google’s good side requires some work after you publish, too. Help strengthen the authority of your post by doing some legwork to get as many clicks on it as you can. Share it throughout your network, including on social media and email newsletters. This isn’t the biggest deciding factor in how your post ranks, but it’s worth the effort (and besides, nothing wrong with getting more clicks!). Keep a close eye on your site’s analytics so you can track how your marketing blogs are performing. Not all posts are going to rank high, but the more you can get in those top spots, the more effective you’ll be.
How Should I Prioritize the Marketing Budget for My Small Business? Posted on September 16, 2019September 18, 2019 by Jessica Lunk Effective small business marketing requires a savvy mindset. It also requires having a proper hold on your priorities, including what you should be spending on marketing and where you should be spending it. A small business marketing budget tends to be limited — but that’s okay! It may even be a good thing. The less that you have to work with, the more cognizant you’re forced to be about only spending your money where it’s really going to count. That means less wasted money on marketing endeavors that make only a small impact and a greater focus on campaigns that are truly designed to convert. And that’s a good strategy for any business — small, medium, or large. To really stretch your SMB marketing budget as far as it can go though, you need to go in with a plan. Below, we’ll go over some of the most common steps related to prioritizing your market budget to help guide you through the process and, hopefully, come out with a plan that puts each dollar you have to spend to work in the best way possible. 1. Figure Out How Much Should You Really Be Spending on Marketing For most small businesses, the best way to determine their marketing budget is to consider the number as a percentage of total revenue. The average small business spends 1.08% of its yearly revenue on marketing, reports Small Business Trends, though some types of businesses — furniture stores and real estate brokerage firms, for example — spend closer to 4%. And according to Web Strategies, B2C companies tend to spend more on marketing than B2B companies. There is no hard and fast rule for how much you should be spending. Instead, look to your industry and your own finances for guidance on how much you should (and can) devote to your marketing budget. Because you’re working with a smaller pool of funding, start out by budgeting less and see if that works out for you. Then, pay attention to your results and determine whether allocating more budget to a specific channel will net more revenue. 2. Measure Your Success Where you spend your marketing dollars depends largely on what your goals are. If you’re trying to build up a web presence, for example, you’ll want to funnel more of your marketing budget to digital marketing efforts, such as website development and social media. If you’re more focused on establishing yourself in your community, you’ll want to spend more on local ads and demographic-driven email marketing. No matter where you decide to spend, measuring success is the most important piece of the exercise. If you want more leads from social media, for example, have a process for measuring how many leads you’re generating and how many of those leads buy from your business. If your goal is less concrete – brand awareness, for example – you can still measure success. For instance, is there a boost in branded searches for your business after sponsoring a big event? When you measure success, you can see where your time and budget is best spent to drive your business forward. 3. Gather the Right Tools As you measure success and decide which strategies are driving results for your business, it’s simple to prioritize spend on small business marketing tools that can help you manage your growth and achieve more results with less money, time, and effort. The exact tools that are right for your business will depend on what your major marketing priorities and where you’re seeing success. As you establish an online presence, begin driving traffic to your website, capture leads online and in person, and follow-up with new and repeat buyers, you need the right tools. Here are some categories to think about as you tackle your marketing goals: Establishing online presence: Website Social Media Driving website traffic: Google Analytics (free with basic features!) SEO software Capturing more leads online: Lead generation software Connecting with leads and customers: CRM software Email marketing tools Marketing automation Generating referrals: Affiliate marketing software To ensure that you check off all of the right boxes for your small business’s marketing needs, circle back to your big goals, decide how you will measure success, and look for the tools that will help you get where you need to go. There are a ton of options out there — both in terms of strategy and software — and they’re all worth considering as you develop your budget. Each of the steps above will be integral in helping you prioritize your small business marketing spending and get as much value as possible out of the money that you allocate. Keep a close eye on your results so that you always know when, where, and if you need to make adjustments. Over time, you’ll get a clear picture of where you can make the biggest impact and what just isn’t worth it.
Leading CRM and Email Marketing SaaS Providers, Hatchbuck, Benchmark, Merge Posted on September 10, 2019September 10, 2019 by Jonathan Herrick The combined company, Benchmark, will enable businesses to flourish with powerfully simple sales and marketing tools. St. Louis, MO – September 10, 2019 – Benchmark Email and Hatchbuck, leading SaaS (software as a service) providers of sales and marketing solutions, today announced they have merged, creating a global customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing automation technology leader. The combined entity will operate under the Benchmark name and has U.S. offices in St. Louis and Los Angeles with international presence in 15 countries. Jonathan Herrick, previously CEO and Co-Founder of Hatchbuck will assume the role of CEO. Curt Keller, previously CEO of Benchmark, will assume the role of Chief Innovation Officer and Chairman of the Board. The newly merged company brings together 130 employees serving over 150,000 users in 15 countries and 9 languages worldwide. With businesses rapidly adopting digital sales and marketing technology, the combination of Hatchbuck CRM and Benchmark email solutions will enable the newly formed company to better serve its customers and gain market share in an ever growing CRM and marketing technology market. By 2025 the CRM market is projected to reach nearly $82 billion and the email marketing market is expected to reach $22 billion (Grand View Research). “Email marketing has always been a cost-effective way to connect with customers,” said Keller. “As SMBs invest more heavily in digital channels, they need a centralized place to track the relationships they’ve worked hard to build. We’re extremely excited about partnering with Hatchbuck to make CRM central to our robust email marketing platform.” “Combining the two entities is a win for businesses on a global scale,” Herrick said. “Benchmark’s vision is to take our email marketing platform to the next level by incorporating CRM tools and making both facets accessible to small and midsize businesses. Hatchbuck’s expertise in the CRM space is going to be key to enriching Benchmark’s product offering.” “CRM software is the largest of all software markets and growing 12% year over year,” added Cliff Holekamp, Co-Founder and General Partner at Cultivation Capital. “The future is bright for Benchmark, and we are thrilled to support their success.” The new leadership team includes veteran SaaS leaders from both Hatchbuck and Benchmark that bring over 350 years of combined experience. Hatchbuck and Benchmark will continue to operate as two separate brands and platforms and merge the combined best-in-class functionality into one innovative platform by 2021. Portland-based Alkali Partners, a boutique technology-focused investment bank, served as an advisor during the merger process. The terms of the deal were not released. About Benchmark Benchmark Email offers an integrated, automated and robust feature set built to help the enterprise of any size. A powerfully simple and simply powerful email marketing solution designed to help you create and send compelling campaigns with ease. Learn more at https://www.benchmarkemail.com/. About Hatchbuck Hatchbuck is sales and marketing software for small businesses and marketing agencies. We help agencies and small business owners propel relationships into sales with all-in-one CRM and marketing automation. Cut through the clutter and complexity of bulky tools with a simple, affordable platform made for you. Learn more at https://www.benchmarkone.com//. Read the original press release here.
Which Paid Ads are Best for Your Business or Agency Clients? Posted on September 5, 2019 by Jessica Lunk Organic traffic is the holy grail of internet eyes on your website, but building your SEO strategy and seeing results can take time. If you’re launching a new business or marketing a new product that doesn’t have strong organic traffic behind it yet, paid advertising can pave the way to your company’s success. Of course, when spending money comes into play, it’s important to be strategic about your ad spend. Not every paid ad platform is the same, and some serve niche audiences. Testing ad spend across several platforms is key to finding out if you have an audience there or not. Before you start doling out the dough, here’s a quick review of the major players in paid ad providers. Google Ads Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) is an extremely powerful service. There are 160 billion+ monthly Google searches, giving Google Ads incredible reach. Through the Google Ads platform, you can create pay-per-click and pay-per-impression ads for Google searches, display ads on websites, video ads on YouTube, and even email-like ads on Gmail. Ads, when used right, can get you in front of just about everyone on the internet. They also offer targeting options that can easily focus in on local customers within a certain radius (one mile out or more). Google Ads is incredibly robust, but with that benefit also comes some complications. With so many settings and options, it can be difficult for beginners to get started creating campaigns that get in front of the right eyes, for the right amount of money. It takes seemingly endless trial and error to get it right. Fortunately, Google Ads offers free training for small businesses, both online and in-person seminars. If that sort of time commitment isn’t in the cards, it may be best to get a certified AdWords professional in your court. AdWords is the most wide-reaching platform out there. If your goal is to get traffic to your website through web searches and organic traffic isn’t cutting it, Google Ads is the way to go. Bing Ads While it seems like Google completely dominates the search engine field, Bing is starting to catch up. In fact, Bing accounts for about 33% of web search traffic. The benefit of using Bing Ads is you reach a network that is untouched by Google. The users of Bing tend to skew a little older—3/4 of them are over the age of 35. This older demographic tends to have a higher income, as well. Also, Bing Ads has been reported by many users to have a lower cost per click. Google AdWords campaigns are easy to import directly into Bing. If you’re using AdWords, it’d be wise to throw a little money into the Bing pot, especially if your demographic skews older or more affluent. Facebook Ads Facebook is the third most used website in the United States. With all those eyes on their feeds, it’s the perfect place to build brand awareness. Facebook Ads integrate into Instagram as well, so your ads can do double-time on Facebook. Facebook is a great platform if your brand is highly visual, or if you sell a B2C product. Dynamic ads that feature multiple products, videos that educate customers about products in exciting ways, and beautiful product photography can soar to success on Facebook. Facebook ads can also be highly customized, with dynamic ads that retain the same copy but change visuals for different ad segments. If you’re looking for a cost-effect way to reach your audience, Facebook may be worth a test. While Wordstream reports that across all industries, Facebook ads average $1.72 per click and $18.68 per conversion. Narrowing down your target audience and experimenting with ad copy and creative can help you find big potential in this huge network. So, who can use Facebook for ads? Just about anyone. Their platform shines for businesses large and small if they have a great visual style. Small, local businesses and large corporations both use Facebook sponsored ads with great success. Twitter Ads Twitter’s platform is like Facebook, but there are some key differences. First, Twitter allows you to target potential customers interestingly. So, Facebook allows you to target by location, demographics, and interests—Twitter, on the other hand, targets by keywords. This means if your business or agency has its finger on the pulse of hot trends or you want to focus in on conversations that are extremely relevant to your operations, boom! You’re in. Only people who fit that hashtag or keyword selection will see it. Once your highly relevant post racks up engagement through reads and interactions, guess what? You can create remarketing campaigns that target those same people again. This is an amazing way to build followers and brand awareness. Interestingly, 40% of users say they’ve made a purchase because of an influencer’s tweet. If you’re testing ads on Twitter, you may want to consider an influencer strategy to build brand recognition and trust among your target audience. What type of company suits Twitter ads, best? Ones that can begin conversations. Companies that have an interest in politics, socially conscious messaging, or perhaps just have their finger on the pulse of the latest entertainment or technology trends work great on this platform. LinkedIn Ads LinkedIn is for professionals. It has a shorter reach but is great for business networking. The benefit of LinkedIn ads is that their network is already targeted. So, if you sell business-to-business products, work in recruiting or are looking for students for higher education efforts, LinkedIn ads are where it’s at. If you’re selling a B2B product or service, a test with LinkedIn ads is warranted. The space is dominated by Fortune 500 decision-makers and nearly 45% of LinkedIn users are in upper-level management, according to Forbes. Like any platform, honing in on your audience and aligning your offer is key to engaging with decision makers and driving leads. Paid advertising is the best way to build brand awareness and get the word out about a new business, product or service. Just remember, even with the best ad platform, you may not find success with your first round. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your ads and to test spend on different platforms — just remember to measure success and monitor your results. You’ll find that special sauce of ad magic in no time.
5 Marketing Strategies to Help Grow Your Agency Retainer Business Posted on September 4, 2019October 6, 2022 by Allie Wolff Long-term clients are the bread and butter of a successful marketing agency. While it’s certainly a good idea to always be working on ways to bring in new business, it’s those long-term clients who are going to help you build a strong and sustainable portfolio — especially if you’re running a small or mid-size firm. Not convinced that long-term clients are more valuable than shiny new ones? Consider that just a 5% increase in your firm’s customer retention rate can increase your profits by 25-95%. Add to that the fact that it costs five times more to attract a new client than to keep an existing one on board and it’s pretty clear where you should be focusing your efforts. Knowing that long-term clients are important is one thing though — actually retaining them is another. Here are five marketing strategies your firm should employ to attract clients with long-term potential and keep them coming back for more. 1. Know exactly who you’re looking for. Your ideal clients — and the ones who are going to stick around — are the ones who are looking for the exact thing that you excel in. Maybe that’s lead generation or conversion-boosting email marketing or social media or a whole other host of marketing-driven services that companies need if they’re going to succeed. Likely, it’s more than one of these things. Defining what you’re best at will help you hone in on who the clients are that will benefit most from what you have to offer. From there, you can target them directly. You should be able to answer a number of key questions about your preferred clients, including how big they are, how much they have to spend, and what their biggest pain points are. You’ll narrow down your pool of preferred clients, but you’ll be able to attract those who have the most to gain from your services. 2. Celebrate the small (and big) stuff. Marketing is all about goal setting. So when you meet or exceed your client’s goals, that’s a big win for both of you, and definitely something worth calling out. Celebrating achievements is a great way to keep your clients apprised of your value, and serves as a useful benchmarking tool, too — no one’s going to be looking to your competitors when they see how much they’re already getting from you. So when you hit those goals, and especially when you blow them out of the water, make it known. Pick up the phone, send an email, send a gift — anything that will say “we did it!” and communicate clear and undeniable value to your client. 3. Be available. It should never be difficult for your clients to get in touch with you. While you don’t need to have a pager and be on 24/7 call, you should make client communications a high priority. Make sure that you respond to all messages on the same or next business day (depending on when the message was received). And have a method in place for continually displaying progress, such as a spreadsheet or organizational platform that both you and your client can access. That way, your clients will be able to get some of their questions answered without ever even having to reach out, which will save them a lot of time and effort. 4. Offer plenty of opportunities for feedback. Regularly checking in with your clients regarding how they feel about your services will help solidify your relationship. It will also allow you to identify areas where you should be improving if you want to increase your chances of retaining their business. Check-in meetings are helpful, as are feedback surveys during and after campaigns. If your customer does have a complaint, don’t look at it as a failure. It’s always better to know about an issue, since it gives you a concrete opportunity to fix it. Nobody is expecting you to be perfect. Instead, your customers want to see that you actively address criticism by owning your mistakes and offering solutions. Giving them a platform to air that criticism if it exists shows that you care. 5. Show your gratitude. Never underestimate the power of a genuine “thank you for your business.” Clients like to feel appreciated. Even more so, they like to know that you value your relationship with them and take it seriously. You don’t have to go over the top with it, but making sure to occasionally show your gratitude in small ways, or to make a big gesture like a handwritten letter or a deal for future services after an initial campaign has ended, goes a long way. Here’s the deal: if you’re doing great work and offering your clients respect and transparency, you shouldn’t have any trouble growing your agency retainer business. Focus on doing your best — both in the marketing services that you provide and the way you engage — and your clients won’t have any reason to seek assistance elsewhere.
The Anatomy of a Perfectly Built Sales Pipeline Posted on August 29, 2019 by Allie Wolff Studies show that if your business has a well-defined sales process, you’ll see higher revenue growth than those that don’t. One study by Vantage Point Performance and the Sales Management Association showed “an 18% difference in revenue growth between companies that defined a formal sales process and companies that didn’t.” As a blueprint for the different stages in the sales process, your sales pipeline lays out the steps to convert leads into customers. This visual snapshot of your sales process helps you keep track of every single deal as it moves through each stage. Clearly, a sales pipeline is a crucial tool for your sales force that can make a critical difference in your bottom line. Read Jonathan’s full post on the Tsheets Blog.
The Key to Updating Evergreen Content Posted on August 28, 2019February 22, 2021 by Allie Wolff Evergreen content is the centerpiece of many business’s blogging efforts — and for good reason. By its very nature, evergreen content serves to provide brands with long-term value extending far beyond its publication date. By focusing on content that is always relevant — such as how-to guides, case studies, resource guides, and pillar pages — a business can future proof its content offerings and establish a strong SEO foundation. With evergreen content, however, as with all content you’re creating to build brand awareness and strengthen your footing with the search engines, updates are occasionally required to keep the content highly ranked and relevant. Platforms like Google prioritize newer content, and may penalize content that’s outdated. Updates are a great strategy for getting more life out of the evergreen content that you create and making sure it stays at the top of the rankings. If you’re wondering how to update evergreen content for more SEO success, you’ve come to the right place. Follow the best practice tips below to get more out of the valuable evergreen content you’ve already created. Tip #1: Accurately identify your evergreen content Not all content you create is going to be evergreen, even if it’s something that you think might maintain interest over time. Being able to identify what is (and isn’t) evergreen content on your site is important, since it will help you focus your efforts on the articles that have the most to gain from an update. Evergreen content is: Enduring Sustainable Searchable Shareable Non-time sensitive Evergreen content is not: Trend-focused Pop culture focused Current events focused Holiday or seasonal Lists of statistics (these get outdated fast) You probably had an idea about what would constitute evergreen content as you were producing it, but just in case, go through your site and pull out the evergreen pieces that could use a refresh. As for anything that’s old and not evergreen, you may want to consider deleting it to keep your SEO future friendly. Tip #2: Start with the most popular posts Prioritize your updating efforts by starting with the posts that garner (or have garnered) the most engagement. Look at metrics like page views, session duration, and social media shares to determine what the most popular content on your site is, with an eye toward the articles that have already made a substantial impact. Keep in mind though that impact is relative — it’s not necessary that a post went viral. It just needs to be strong in comparison to the other content that you’ve shared. Tip #3: Say it again — but in different words Once you know what posts should be your first priority, you can get to work on the actual tasks needed to update evergreen content. And the best place to start is with the text itself. Remember: the value of evergreen content is in the topic it covers. But the wording itself, and the format it’s presented in, could almost always benefit from a refresh. Doing so will give you an opportunity to tighten up your message and create a stronger post. It will also create something “new” in the eyes of the search engines, and thus something more up to date and relevant. Tip #4: Bring your links up to date Go through each link in the content — including backlinks and links that lead out to other sites — and evaluate whether there’s a more optimal replacement for it. A better link could be one that goes to a more relevant or recent page, or it could be a site with a higher page ranking. While you’re at it, see if there are any additional links you can add to the page. If you’ve been working hard on your content between when the post was first updated and now, perhaps there are additional pages that tie in and could warrant being added as links. Likewise, see if you have other pieces of content that could be bolstered with a link to the evergreen piece you’re working on once its complete. Tip #5: Add new images The graphics that you use are important to search engines, so prioritize them just as much as text when you’re updating. Whether the images on the page are original or from a stock photo site, go through and make sure that they have a modern look and are still an appropriate fit for the content. Consider whether the page could use more images, or even whether there is an opportunity to add in video. Check to make sure that all images have alternative text too, which is necessary to comply with today’s web accessibility guidelines. With the right updates, evergreen content can pull its weight on your site for many years. Make it a habit to regularly check in on your evergreen content to make sure it’s still up to date, and do a more thorough overhaul of text and images every couple of years. It’s a great way to keep your content relevant without having to completely reinvent the wheel.
How To Surprise and Delight Clients at Every Stage of the Funnel Posted on August 27, 2019August 29, 2019 by Guest Author If you love the idea of surprising and delighting your clients, but once you actually start to brainstorm options, your mind goes blank – don’t panic. Not only is it easier than you think to create enthusiastic clients, it can (and should) be done at every stage of the marketing funnel. So let’s start from the top of the funnel then, shall we? Delighting Prospective New Clients You’ve created awareness around your brand, and now you’re stuck trying to convince prospective clients that you are the right choice in a sea of competitors. Now, you nurture these prospects by demonstrating the value you provide. A great way to surprise and delight your prospective clients with something intangible (aka free for you – woo!) is to share helpful resources that are specific to their industry or potential use case. Like an article, video or report. By doing this, you’re proving that you understand their specific problem – all without having to further sales pitch yourself. Sending a helpful resource as an unprompted surprise shows that you are the type to go above and beyond to solve their problem. And that is the state of mind in which conversions happen. Once your prospects are farther down the funnel and close to converting, you can try and seal the deal by surprising them with an actual gift! You don’t have to go overboard here, either. There are tons of options out there for small, creative client gifts that won’t break the bank, but will grab attention. Going Above And Beyond For Current Clients Once you’ve nurtured your leads into paying clients, the surprise and delight game really kicks into high gear. Your most important job now is to make sure your clients go from liking you to loving you. Get to know your clients off the bat by sending them a new client survey. Set yourself up for success here by asking which communication methods they prefer, . By sending out a survey, you can avoid the guesswork and get down to delighting clients on their terms. Then, we recommend sending a surprise booking gift to your new clients, especially if you did not send a gift during the prospect phase of their journey. No matter what you get, make sure to include a message and emphasizes how happy you are to work together! And one extra pro tip: it’s easy to overdo it on the “swag” feel, so go with subtle branding. Once you’re reaching the end of your first big project together, an effective way to continue to delight current clients is to offer a loyalty or incentive program. Say you’re hired to put together one marketing campaign for a company. They’re impressed with your work so far and before the project wraps completely, you let them know that you offer a 10% discount for repeat clients. This will keep you top of mind, and incentivize them choosing you for future projects. And a repeat customer is born. Creating and Rewarding Brand Evangelists Finally, here is how to continue to surprise and delight your most important clients, your evangelists. We live in a world where we are met with faulty products and bad reviews so often that it’s usually more shocking to read accounts of impeccable service. With the power that reviews hold in influencing future clients – you should be extremely concerned with what your current clients are saying about you. You need to bring this process full circle and let your funnel feed itself by always: Engaging in impeccable customer service Asking for reviews in the moment once you have saved the day for someone Author Bio According to Inc.com, “Greetabl is the world’s easiest way to make people feel valued.” Creative professionals use Greetabl to send beautiful, personalized, and thoughtful gifts without the hassle. Their one-of-a-kind greeting card/gift box combo is the perfect way to bring people together. See how it’s done at greetabl.com.