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Why Social Media Should Be Included in Your Marketing Strategy
As marketers, we are tasked with mapping the customer journey in order to understand how they interact with our brand. However, it can be difficult to pinpoint every interaction that a consumer has with us due to the many different channels that are available today. In a world where almost 3.5 billion people use social…
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Mobile User Experience Best Practices in 2019
Designing a good mobile user experience and interface is not an effortless task. Today’s mobile users are sophisticated, impatient, very goal-oriented and expect to be able to immediately get what they need. (Sound familiar?) As mobile user experience/user interface (UX/UI) design trends come and go, interface simplicity, ease of usability and valuable, relevant content will…
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Is Your Website Crippling Your Marketing Efforts?
We’re more than halfway through 2019, but ineffective, outdated and unhelpful websites still hamstring a majority of organizations’ marketing efforts. New technology and experiences continue to push the web forward daily. But, often, sites go untouched for years. Your organization’s website should be the cornerstone of your marketing efforts, not something your most talented and…
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5 Steps for Building Stronger Customer Relationships Through Content Marketing
Unlike paid advertising, content marketing is about more than prompting an immediate purchase. It’s about cultivating awareness of your brand and deepening trust in your ability to understand what your customers want. It’s also about empowering them so that when they do make their decision, it’s with the confidence that you have what they need.…
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Own Google Search Results With Featured Snippets
Getting your page rewarded with a Google featured snippet appearance is great for visibility and improving click-through rates, especially if it doesn’t already merit a top ranking. Getting there, however, requires improving your SEO skillset.
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Reflections on Leadership: A One-Year Anniversary
Today marks my one-year anniversary as a small business owner. I’ve never thought of myself as an entrepreneur, but I believe hard work can create opportunity. So when the chance to purchase Blue Flame Thinking came up, I took it. To say I’ve learned a lot in the last year is a gross understatement. I’ve…
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Beyond Words: How Businesses Use Visual Social Channels to Connect With Customers
For many businesses, having a social media strategy means posting to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. All are highly effective channels for communicating with current and prospective clients—both on a B2C and B2B basis. But with the use of Instagram and Pinterest soaring, these visual channels shouldn’t be overlooked when planning an integrated marketing campaign, especially…
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Mythbusting: 3 Mobile Misconceptions
Nobody likes to be labeled. Being painted with broad strokes rarely captures a true likeness and can lead to false impressions about mindsets, values, mobile technology and communication preferences. We see evidence of this when it comes to grouping target audiences by generation. It’s an action that easily leads to focusing on commonalities to the exclusion…
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Know Your Audience: Why Personas Are More Important Than Ever
Cleaner Targeting with Personas While programmatic media buys can help pinpoint where targeted audience members are likely to be when they are looking for the solution you are selling, you first need to be able to recognize these targets. That requires knowing what their interests are and what they care about. To do this, you…
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Data Detective: Building the Big Picture with Analytics
Dream big? Start small. Analytics. We’ve all been there: an annual or quarterly meeting, a state-of-the-organization address, a corporate debriefing. Leadership carefully reviews where the company has been and boldly plots the course for where it will go. Visions are shared. Goals are set. Then, the rallying cry goes out to the troops: “Engage customers!”…
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