Content Archives - Page 13 of 17

February 3, 2017

Why Comedy Central Is Replacing Commercials With Branded Content

Your eyes are glued to the screen as you watch your favorite TV show. The writers are about to reveal a huge secret about your favorite character. Then, just as you’re about to find out the details, commercials come on. You immediately mute the screen and start scrolling through Instagram. Even photos of your friend’s latte are more interesting than a 30-second spot for wrinkle cream. Anyone who watches television knows how frustrating that process can be. For networks and advertisers, the frustration is starting to impact them as well. That’s why Comedy Central has decided enough is enough—it wants to keep viewers hooked, even during its commercial breaks. Now, instead of a series of short spots, the network has started airing a custom two-and-half minute “ linear commercial pod ” once per month. In other words, Comedy Central is experimenting with the televised version of branded content. While […]

How to Build a Better Lead Form

Say you’re walking on the sidewalk, minding your own business on the way back from lunch, when you lock eyes with a street canvasser. The canvasser, dressed in some ill-fitting mesh vest and a visor, gets ready to sell you on a good cause. You want to support the cause, but you also hate the intrusion of the hard sell and don’t want to give away your personal information. She opens her mouth to initiate small talk, but you walk right by, avoiding eye contact and trying to stifle the guilt. Lead forms are the canvassers of the marketing world. In any exchange of value, both sides need to evaluate whether they’re getting something useful in return. On the street, it’s not worth it for most people to take out a credit card and hand over sensitive information to donate to a charity when they can just do so […]

What Would Steve Jobs Do? and 5 Other Stories You Should Read

Here’s what you missed while taking solace in the fact that you aren’t as dumb as these two people … The New Yorker: Doomsday Prep For The Super-Rich Selected by Dillon Baker, tech editor As the Doomsday Clock ticks closest to midnight since 1953 , the elite of American society are preparing their apocalyptic retreats, and no expense is being spared. Fears of AI, technological job displacement, wealth inequality, climate change, and failing institutions have all led to an extravagant prepper movement among tech executives and hedge fund managers. The rub here is that most of these Doomsday preppers have made their massive wealth from the very industries that helped spur the changes they fear, which some of the preppers readily admit. As Evan Osnos writes: “Faced with evidence of frailty in the American project, in the institutions and norms from which they have benefitted, some are permitting themselves […]

Take Complete Charge of Your Content

< All Articles    In 2016, content was in supreme power expected to be delivered in the form of compelling, personalized and interactive stuff that can be rated well and ranked high in all search engines. Overall, the strategy of content marketing saw a significant shift in 2016 compared to a year ago. The year 2017 is predictable. Brands, big or small are slowly preparing themselves to deliver value added real-time contextual content with videos, images, GIFs and infographics. Content creators and marketers get a chance to enrich their customers with a more personalized content, those that can add value to the brands and those that can stand out. The key point here is to keep appearing with different sets of quality content. But, the majority of the marketers are still lacking the confidence to take complete control of their contents. Campaigning such content is no doubt […]

Enough Already About the Value of Content

There’s a simple way to fix all the bad content brands publish: spend time with your audience I am sick of reading everyone’s trends for 2017 about content value: “For 2017 it’s not quantity, it’s quality.” “Marketers will be producing for value, not volume.” “You’ll see better content out there, not more content out there.” Right. Because marketers are always looking to produce content with no value. Makes a lot of sense. Let’s publish a lot of nonsense and see if we can do our jobs with it. As long as we check that box off on the editorial calendar (that no one is looking at, ever), we will be “getting it done.” Stop, Stop, Stop You know what the real problem is? Someone (a lot of people) had to write about what was going to happen in 2017. And this ‘everyone’ knows we’re producing way too much content […]

How to Stop Overthinking Your Content and Start Writing What Your Customers Love

You might find it hard to believe, but content doesn’t have to be game-changing to perform well and achieve its objectives. In my experience, a lot of marketers are fixated on creating that “perfect” piece of content. They tell themselves they won’t settle for anything less, but the reality is that what they wind up creating is rarely as revolutionary as they hoped it would be. There are a few reasons why. Perfectionism isn’t healthy It causes stress, which in turn can cause high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems, and increased susceptibility to infection, and much more. If that’s not enough to worry you, consider this: However hard we try – perfection is unattainable . Perfecting your content is unhealthy, and on top of that, you’re setting yourself up for failure. That brings me nicely to this next point. ‘Create the best content ever’ isn’t a tangible goal If you […]

How to Create a Killer SEO Plan for 2017

How to Create a Killer SEO Plan for 2017 2017 is here! I get excited with the changing of each year because it always presents new opportunities and new ways to improve both in marketing and in life in general. It also gives me motivation to make any adjustments I need to be a better marketer. Of all the forms of online marketing, I think SEO is the most dynamic. That’s simply because the state of SEO is ultimately in the hands of Google that’s perpetually tweaking and improving its algorithm for optimal user experience. This means plenty of potential for those who stay on top of things and continually rethink their game plan. And to me, success largely comes from planning ahead and always having a strategy in place for getting to where I need to go. That’s why I brainstormed some key aspects of SEO that I […]

Agencies and Content Marketing: Predictions, Trends, and Challenges

Some 84% of marketing agencies say content will become more important to their clients over time, according to recent research from CopyPress . The report was based on data from a survey of 300 marketing professionals who work for agencies, brands, and/or themselves. More than half (54%) of respondents who work for agencies say their clients know nothing about content marketing. Just 5% say their clients are very knowledgeable about content marketing. Some 82% of agency marketers say they create 1-10 pieces of content, on average, for each of their clients each month. Some 92% of agencies say they produce blog posts for clients; Web copy is the next most popular content type (70% of agencies produce for clients), followed by interactive media/videos (45%), infographics (30%), and illustrations (16%). Agencies say their biggest content marketing challenges are understanding/meeting client expectations (33% cite it as an issue) and scaling up […]

3 Website Hacks to Radically Improve Your Conversion Rates

Is your website getting good traffic but not converting the way you want? Effectively guiding visitors down the conversion funnel is no easy task and there is no magic formula to success. Ecommerce is a trillion-dollar industry. In the United States alone, online sales are expected to reach $523 billion by 2020 . This could mean a number of things for consumers. For ecommerce business owners, it means that optimizing their online platform needs to be a top priority, if it isn’t already. The problem, however, is that competition is tougher than ever. There is no shortage of online shopping outlets and consumers have no problem bouncing from platform to platform to find the best options. With an infinite number of choices literally at their fingertips, it is essential to go above and beyond to meet the wants and needs of visitors in as many ways as possible. Let […]

How to Run LinkedIn Ad Campaigns: A Beginner’s Guide

But if you’re new to LinkedIn ads, fear not — we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to setting up your first LinkedIn ad campaign. Bookmark this post, and refer to it when you’re ready to get started. How to Run LinkedIn Ad Campaigns 1) Create a New Ad Campaign To start, go to https://www.linkedin.com/ads/ . Once in the ads platform, select "Create Ad." From there, you’ll be taken to your member dashboard, where you’ll be prompted to add billing information to your account, if you haven’t already. Don’t worry — you won’t be charged until your campaign is live, and from there, you’ll be charged periodically for ad clicks and other engagements. On your dashboard — or "Campaign Manager," as it’s formally called — you’ll see a call-to-action (CTA) to create a campaign. Click that button, and you’ll be redirected to a site where you select what kind of […]