2018, March 3rd
Content Marketing: What’s In And What Is Definitely Out (According To The Experts)
by Tricia Goss
Content marketing is the foundation of a successful digital marketing strategy.
Consistently delivering relevant, valuable content can garner new leads and keep your existing audience engaged. In fact, Content Marketing Institute reports that content marketing generates more than three times as many leads as outbound marketing while costing 62% less.
But as with all aspects of digital marketing, content marketing is always evolving. To get a handle on what’s hot and what’s not while the year is still young, we asked some of our favorite marketing experts for their opinions on content marketing trends for 2018.
Simple and Cost-Effective Ideas for Small Business Marketing
by Derek Cromwell
Don’t have a huge budget to spend on small business marketing, but feel like you’re losing ground because you’re not taking action? You’re not alone.
According to the SBA, 2017 saw nearly half of small businesses invest less than 3% of their budget into marketing activities. More than half of micro businesses (those with fewer than 10 employees) put even less than 3% of revenue toward marketing.
While the SBA recommends small businesses invest upwards of 8% on their marketing, it’s important to note that there are plenty of tactics you can employ as a small business owner that have little to no cost. In fact, a number of small business marketing tactics take little more than time to execute. Here’s a list of simple, effective ideas you can put into practice immediately.
Marketing Automation: The 4 Secret Don’ts That Nobody Tells You
by Kyle Gray
Marketing automation is one of the best ways for business owners to save money, time and sanity.
Many business owners get derailed by trying to do too much, or by getting too involved with their marketing.
By automating, they can set many of these repetitive tasks on autopilot, so they can put their creative energy toward tasks and projects that actually need it.
Marketing automation is commonly used in tasks such as lead generation, in the sales funnel process and in nurturing customer relationships through email, direct mail, and other media.
3 Principles of a Successful Freelance Career
by Amanda Layman
When I began working as a freelancer, I wanted to find clients to pay me in the thousands. I sought out how-to books and blogs. I thought, with the right information, I would finally earn what I deserve. These books did help me fill in skill gaps and get better at the technical craft of writing—all the things I should have been doing anyways.
Once I figured out how to get writing jobs, I was working longer hours, seeking more clients, and somehow still getting paid next to nothing. I was missing something on the business side of things. An essential piece of the puzzle.
I figured it out in a coffee shop a couple years later, while I was busy trying to get some work done. I kept overhearing a business owner interviewing a potential employee for his security company.
Radical Efficiency (The Most Powerful Work Habits That Will Increase Your Effectiveness In Life)
by Thomas Oppong
The most productive people are masters of efficiency — scheduling on purpose, focusing on high-value work, and making the most of every minute.
Efficient work begins with separating your important work from urgent tasks and knowing everything else that’s a distraction.
Resist the tyranny of the urgent. Urgency wrecks productivity. Your ability to distinguish urgent and important tasks has a lot to do with your efficiency.
Urgent tasks are tasks that have to be dealt with immediately. Important tasks are things that contribute to your long-term mission, values, and goals.
Your ability to distinguish urgent and important tasks has a lot to do with your success. Peter Drucker once said, “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
Topics: Social Media, Headway Daily Digest, Content Creation, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Coaching Business