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Marketing

AdvertisingBrandingMarketing

Can You Boost Brand Penetration with Native Advertising?

Last week, we looked at the role Native Advertising plays in the ever-shifting marketing landscape. If you missed that blog, get in-the-know with "3 Reasons to Try Native Advertising".   We concluded that many businesses, both large and small, can benefit from trying native advertising on social media. But what is the connection between brand penetration and native advertising? Can trying native advertising give your brand a boost? The answer is definitely a “yes,” when the native ads are carefully crafted. A brand is a lot more than a logo. It represents who you are as a company, including your mission and your core values. For a primer in branding, check out my blog “Your Brand – Is It Time…
Mike Morris
October 31, 2016
MarketingPPC

The Great Paid Search Debate: Google or Bing?

In this day and age, the digital world is a marketer’s dream. Among the variety of online channels, it’s even easier for brands to make waves and generate leads. Our team gets asked a series of questions pertaining to these channels, inquiring about our recommendations for delivering the strongest ROI. The most common question: Should I run my ads through Google, Bing or both? To help you navigate the paid search waters, we’re outlining each, helping you decide which makes the most sense for your business. Paid search marketing, also commonly known as PPC or SEM, is one of the most powerful tactics for generating qualified leads within a budget that’s comfortable for your business. Why is this, you ask?…
Mike Morris
September 16, 2016
ContentLanding PagesMarketingWeb Design

Maximize Online Conversions with Landing Pages (Part 2)

In our previous blog, we looked at how to get started with using landing pages to increase online conversions. This go-around we’ll delve into what makes a landing page truly great, and better yet, truly effective. Let’s get started! Headlines On your landing page, you need to have a headline and it needs to clearly communicate what you propose to do for your customer. Your headline should be bold and short. If you feel like you have a lot you must cram into your headline, your best bet is to break it up into a headline and then a sub-header. For example, which do you think would be most effective on a landing page: Our Software Download Can Find All…
Mike Morris
July 12, 2016
AutomationMarketingPPCSearch Engine Optimization

Paid Search vs. Organic Search

This week, the news hit that Apple is entering the paid search business. Ads will begin launching in the App Store this Fall, though the Beta version is available now. Apple’s entre has reignited the debate all marketers must enter at some point: in the world of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is better for gaining more results, more clients, and better ROI? But first, let’s establish exactly what SEM is: “SEM is a type of Internet marketing associated with the researching, submitting and positioning of a website within search engines to achieve maximum visibility and increase your share of paid and/or organic traffic referrals from search engines.” Are SEM and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) the same thing? Not exactly.…
Mike Morris
June 10, 2016
BlogsMarketingSmall Business

Budget-Friendly Digital Marketing Solutions

When you own a small business, especially during the start-up phase, your budget can be tight. But if you fail to market your business, especially online, your prospects for success will suffer. Even if you can’t hire an outside marketing firm right now, there are plenty of things you can do for little-to-no cost to boost your marketing efforts online. Here’s how to get started: Get the best possible website and online presence you can. Start accounts and build pages on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Submit your business information to online business directories for both your area and your industry. Make sure that your information is accurate and identical for every listing so that…
Mike Morris
June 3, 2016
BlogsContentContent StrategyMarketingSearch Engine Optimization

10 Big Reasons It’s Better to Blog (than not to Blog)

Does your business website have a blog? Business blogging is a key element of a great content strategy. Regular blogging has so many benefits to your business. Here’s ten big reasons to start (or keep on) blogging: 1 – The very biggest reason to blog is it drives traffic to your website. Who doesn’t want that? Ultra-successful businessman Warren Buffet is credited with saying, “Any business not bringing in new business is going out of business.” 2 – According to HubSpot’s “Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics,” 82% of marketers who post blogs daily reported earning at least one new customer through their blog, and 57% of monthly bloggers reported the same. There is measurable ROI for most business owners who blog…
Mike Morris
May 26, 2016
MarketingSearch Engine Optimization

Sweet Success! 3 Ingredients For Quality SEO

If you’re baking a cake for a friend or family member’s birthday, you probably follow a detailed recipe from a book or website. These recipes will not only give you exact measurements of ingredients, but it will also list each step to bake, and decorate the cake. Having a recipe to follow is helpful when baking the cake, but it can also reduce the stress that comes during the baking process. As a business owner, you may also search for a recipe to create quality SEO content for your website. While there are millions of cake recipes in print and online, finding a full recipe for web content is a bit more challenging. Thankfully, understanding which ingredients are necessary for quality,…
Mike Morris
May 17, 2016
AutomationAutomationMarketingSmall Business

Is it Time to Add Marketing Automation to your Marketing Toolbox?

Are you interested in Marketing Automation Technology (MAT)? Wondering how it might benefit your small or medium-sized business in Raleigh and the Triangle? Marketing automation technologies have been around for a couple of decades, originating as a way to automatically add customer contact information into a standard letter. In the last 5-6 years, though, Marketing automation technologies have evolved into systems that enable businesses to identify, nurture, and contact leads who show interest online and convert them into buying customers. How do you know it’s time to invest in MAT? According to the Aberdeen group, businesses that use some form of MAT have over 105% higher lead conversion and 40% larger deal-size to boot. Marketing automation technologies consist of software…
Mike Morris
April 18, 2016
BrandingMarketingSmall BusinessWeb Design

How to Build Brand Trustworthiness

Every small business owner wants to succeed and every business has a brand, whether they created one of not. Success and a business’s brand are intimately linked. Consumers’ perception of a company is their brand, and without the perception of trustworthiness, a business will rarely succeed. What steps can small businesses take to further their brand perception of trustworthiness? 1 – “Do what you say you are going to do.” This is the way marketing values expert Robert Ferguson sums it up. When a business follows this advice in all that they do, from interactions with customers to internal decision making, consumers will associate that business with security and trustworthiness. Authenticity also breeds trustworthiness, especially among millennial customers. Most buyers value…
Mike Morris
April 7, 2016
MarketingSmall BusinessWeb Design

5 Proven Methods for Directing Traffic to your Business Website

Leveraging Offline Sources If you have a business website, you already know that you want your customers and potential customers to see it and interact with it. You may already be trying online tactics to drive customers to your website, like social media activity, PPC ads, marketing emails and the like. But did you realize that what you do offline can have a big impact in gaining new customers too? Try these 5 techniques to prompt more customers to find you online: 1 – Promotional Products: Order and distribute promotional products! These can be things like pens, small toys, memory sticks, or t-shirts. I recommend buying the highest quality products that you can afford to give away. If an item…
Mike Morris
March 24, 2016

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