webris Before investing in content, you need to understand it I hate marketing buzzwords. “Growth hacking”. “Big data”. “Hyperlocal”. “Content is king” [shudders in disgust]. It’s the most overused and misunderstood buzzword on the planet. This notion has led business owners to spend millions on content that provides no value to their target audience. In other words, wasting valuable resources on non valuable content. Content isn’t direct response marketing Don’t expect a skyrocket in sales because you wrote a good blog post. Content marketing is about having a presence and providing value where your audience hangs out. Honestly, I can’t even begin to tell you how valuable this can be to your business. It’s highly unlikely that your “buy now” promotions on Instagram, cold calling, purchased email blast, or banner ads drive sales. We live in the [over] information age. Look, I don’t like it anymore than you do. This guide is going to show you exactly how to create, track and promote content.
Management Craft This will be the last blog post I do for the foreseeable future. I will not bore you here with the “why," but if you are interested I have included a bit more about my reasons at the bottom of this post. I have distilled the essence of great leadership and management into five beliefs. Take on and act based on these beliefs and you will lead well. I promise! These five beliefs reside deep inside the very best leaders I have had the pleasure to work with over the years. Five Beliefs at the Core of Great Leadership 1. These five beliefs will help you with all the opportunities and challenges you face as a leader. Thank you for being a part of the Management Craft community. If you would like to refer back to the very best posts from the blog, or share them with others, please consider picking up a copy of my “best of” book called, Never Ending New Beginnings. Cheers and happy new year! Why I am retiring the blog: Blogging about management is just not making it to the top of my list.
Blog Skip Advertisement This ad will close in 15 seconds... Young Entrepreneurs Today's Most Read 9 Proven Ways to Get People to Take You Seriously 4 Intangibles That Drive CEOs What It Takes to Go From Dead Broke to 6 Figures in 6 Months The Mentality of a Successful Career 4 Big Challenges That Startups Face These Siblings Are Cooking Up America's First Meatless Butcher Shop Kim Lachance Shandrow 3 min read News and Articles About Young Entrepreneurs Failure 6 Stories of Super Successes Who Overcame Failure They're perfect examples of why failure should never stop you from following your vision. Jayson DeMers Podcasts Top 25 Business Podcasts for Entrepreneurs Podcasts are as easy to use as old-school radio but as specialized as blogs. Murray Newlands Entrepreneurship Programs Saxbys and Drexel Team Up to Promote Entrepreneurship Saxby's founder Nick Bayer talks about the one-of-a-kind program and why he wishes there was one for himself years ago. Carly Okyle Presented by Young Entrepreneurs Laura Entis Fear
How to Match Great Content to Your Sales Funnel | Oracle Marketing Cloud In the B2B marketing world, the buying cycle is long. Unlike in B2C marketing, your future customer doesn't simply walk up to your vending machine, make a purchase, and become a closed sale. There's a long cycle that has a lot of money and resources at stake, so you need to nurture your prospects all the way through the process. It's about driving them through to the sale by creating great content at each stage of their journey. Navigating the Sales Funnel 1. The top of the funnel includes content related to the topic of your industry and offering. This stage of the funnel is all about helping, not selling. 2. The middle of the funnel is often thought of as the "black hole" of your sales funnel, since the top of the funnel is clearly owned by the marketing department and the bottom of the funnel is clearly owned by sales. This is the middle ground where organizations tend to get lost and prospects tend to slow down. Middle-of-funnel content is where the product starts to get woven in. 3.
Online Marketing Blog | Internet Marketing Blog 14 fantastic things we found on the internet this week This round-up covers a whole two weeks’ worth of brilliant entertainments, distractions and hijinks that we found on the internet. Yes the round-up took the extended Easter weekend off. It gorged itself on roasted meats, truffle chocolates and port before swearing at its family and waddling off back home to watch the entire first series of Hannibal in bed. Does that mean that this week’s edition will be a double-bumper load of wonderful content? Here’s the round-up, that will no doubt include a Game of Thrones reference somewhere... Read more... Eight inspirational examples of mobile innovation from Asia If you are looking solely at Western countries for new mobile innovations, you are looking in the wrong place. Asia is where to look for new and interesting insights into our mobile future. China and India, in particular, with their large populations and geographies are seeing new mobile innovations take off. Read more... Read more...
Entrepreneurship Ideas | Entrepreneur Blog Comparing the ROI of Content Marketing and Native Advertising Many companies today rely on content marketing and native advertising to gain visibility for their brand — after all, 70% of people say they’d rather learn about products through content rather than through traditional advertising. But is either content marketing or native advertising a surefire way to boost brand awareness? And which one offers more bang for the buck? To answer this question, we at Fractl, a content marketing firm, collaborated with Moz to survey over 30 agencies specializing in content marketing about content formats and the metrics they use to track ROI. And I’ll get to what we found, below. But first, let’s remind ourselves how each approach is different, and what each approach aims to do. Content marketing agencies produce campaigns for brands (this is an example) and then pitch these to multiple top-tier publishers for coverage. We took a data-driven approach to compare the efficacy of native advertising versus content marketing. How much does this cost?
Paroles d’entrepreneurs Lancé il y a quelques mois par l'accélérateur du groupe Beaumanoir.Silicon B dévoile les résultats de son premier appel à projets. Ainsi, ont été sélectionnées le 22 juin dernier La Boutonnière et Clickndress. Les startups choisies par les membres du jury (Beaumanoir Orange, Niji, Ouest France, Digitaleo, Ubiflow et Go Capital) pourront bénéficier d’un programme d’accompagnement gratuit d’une durée de 4 mois. « Nous sommes ravis de cette première édition ! La Boutonnière et ClicknDress auront ainsi l’opportunité de : - Présenter leurs solutions aux différentes marques du Groupe Beaumanoir et à leurs partenaires retail, - Bénéficier du soutien et de l’expertise d’industriels du commerce, - Confronter rapidement leur projet auprès du client final et ainsi juger de la faisabilité de leur concept en conditions réelles, - Bénéficier d’une mise en avant auprès de business angels et de fonds d’investissement. Fondée par Coralie Loum et Ralph Speyser.
Create a Killer Business Plan - Martha Stewart Community You've got the idea, now package it well! The way you present your company and vision will determine whether you get the right financial partners and the right deal. Marketing Your IdeaLife is marketing. As a former entrepreneur and a start-up consultant today, I've certainly seen more business plans than I care to remember. Make your business plan shine with the three "Cs" to success: Be ConciseA concise plan provides a simple explanation for why the business is a great idea, as well as how it will be executed. Be CompellingThe goal is to make your company appear to be deeply compelling. Be CompleteYou must have a trusted third party review your plan to ensure it addresses all possible issues an investor may have. A Lesson to RememberHere's a sample paragraph from an executive summary I read a while ago: Freight trucks in America travel 30 billion miles empty each year. Wow! Here's how to do it: Do not use a business plan package. You'll also need a financial model.