The value that SEO contributes to personal injury law firms is undeniable, but measuring ROI and cost per signed case can be a challenge, and not understanding cost per case and ROI for SEO can lead to not truly understanding how SEO is contributing to your overall marketing mix and signed cases. In this Plain […]
Personal injury law firms operate in one of the most competitive marketing environments of any profession. In that environment, nothing is more competitive than the battle for the prospects who are looking for legal services and find your firm through organic web searches. These leads can drive down your cost per case, deliver valuable referral […]
As a full-service agency with more than 80 clients, we often get asked our opinions on which CRM solution is best for a given client’s situation or if a certain CRM software is any good. While we have our favorites and can often provide insights on which is best for a client’s needs, the answer […]
Show of hands if you’d watch a reality show called “Your Money or Your Life.” I mean, who wouldn’t?! I can picture the beautiful, backstabbing cast now. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), in this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll talk about how Google protects your money and your life when you’re searching online. More importantly, we’ll […]
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” While this sentiment, credited to Eleanor Roosevelt, is often expressed when discussing finances, I like to think the same can be said for financial services SEO. From investment strategies and risk management to services for individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and governments – money and […]
Now that it’s 2023, it’s time to discuss this year’s new social media trends! Social media environments have drastically changed in the last year, focusing on short-form videos, viral video views and the utilization of influencers of all sizes; however, 2023 will continue to shake up social media and how we interact with brands and […]
You already know the importance of trust but are you thinking about this important form of capital the right way? In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll explore brands looking at trust as something to be built rather than just simply something to protect. For many years trust was viewed as something individuals or groups […]
Brands spend a ton of money getting the word out, driving engagement and generating sales, but fraudulent practices are costing advertisers billions every year. In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll talk about three shady practices separating you from your hard-earned ad dollars and costing you sales. We’ll discuss: What are click and form fraud, […]
Practicing online reputation management and using reputation management software is nothing new. Millions of service-oriented companies like medical and dental offices, law firms, restaurants, retailers, roofers, and more have benefited from improved reviews and ratings by surveying customers and clients after each touchpoint and enabling them to quickly and privately address complaints as well as […]
For years, writing articles to help your website rank on Google has been important for generating traffic. For just as long, being found online has sometimes taken a divergent path from providing the most topical content for the user. If you haven’t heard, on August 18th, Google announced their “Helpful Content Update.” This might prove […]
Good SEO has always provided the best bang for your buck in LeadGen. As SEO becomes increasingly more sophisticated and users demand better and faster answers to their queries, Google has a difficult job uncovering high-quality content and promoting the most relevant results for a user’s intent. Continuing our discussion of The Evolution of Modern […]
Burnout has impacted so many people over the past two years (if I’m being honest, including myself). It’s a topic that hit home with many people from all walks of life and across all industries throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to keep up with the constant demands of […]
Yes, you have a digital spirit animal. We all do. The question is, how do you know which one you are, and how can you keep it from messing up your digital marketing efforts? In this edition of Plain Talk, we will define the most common digital marketing biases (spirit animals) and give you a […]
There’s an invisible battle being waged for your attention in the background of the internet. Brand websites, social media apps, and search engines are all vying for your attention by applying algorithms that facilitate showing you content based on the probability that you’ll want to see it. In today’s edition of Plain Talk, we’ll walk […]
Businesses today are investing an increasing amount of effort, strategy and creativity in the content they produce for existing customers and prospects. In this edition of Plain Talk, we will talk about some of the top content marketing tips to consider when developing your marketing content strategy and how to ensure your content is developed […]
Have you ever been to a webpage that wasn’t optimized for your phone properly, and the ads blocked the content? Have you had the page collapse on your article, then the banner ads block the scrollable part of the article? How about waiting so long for an ad to disappear that you clicked on the […]
Inflation is everywhere. Mortgage rates have increased by more than 2.5 percentage points this year. There’s a shortage of housing inventory. The housing market is cooling off quickly. We’ve all seen the headlines, and it does paint quite a picture, but it isn’t time to liquidate your mortgage marketing and lead-gen strategies just yet. It […]
In media, understanding a consumer target can ultimately mean the difference between success and failure. Understanding who your ideal consumer is, how they use media, how they spend their time, what their interests are, how they behave, and what they believe all help build a picture of who is most likely to use your product […]
In 1990, the Canon EOS Rebel camera ad featuring tennis star Andre Agassi boldly told us, “Image is Everything!” Back then, it certainly was something, but was image more important than it is today? You needn’t look any further than your friend’s and family’s social media pages to realize that the “ideal self” is still […]
During the two years that were the pandemic, we were forced to stay home and not travel. Business was anything but “business as usual.” The B2B world overnight had to grow new synapses to remotely reach, educate, and sell to new and existing clients. While the phone and Zoom calls picked up much of the […]
For many years brands, and not surprisingly, the advertising industry shared the opinion that it was between difficult and impossible to bring the services that a traditional marketing agency provides “in-house” to the client company. There was pretty good evidence that this was the third rail of advertising as many large companies tried to build […]
Influencer marketing is here to stay. Let me repeat this one more time for the people in the back. Influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere. We all probably thought that influencer marketing was a fad at one time. We saw social media influencers first start on Facebook promoting products, then came the thousands of long-form reviews […]
Community is a multifaceted word. There are hundreds of touchpoints where your firm can connect with and do good for your local communities. Every day the phone rings or something arrives in the mail with a new suggestion on how your firm can help and give back to your community. In today’s Plain Talk article, […]
The chatter about Customer Experience (aka CX) has been growing for the past few years. Initially, this was an offshoot of user experience (UX) for e-commerce companies but quickly grew to be the catchphrase that seeks to map the activities in each consumer funnel, quantify their quality and measure their impact. This has been critical […]
Over the past year, the hype around the metaverse has accelerated at a dizzying pace. With all the talk, it was natural that speculation would run wild with what this means for various industries. In this article, we will look at what it means for the financial services industry. In today’s edition of Compound Interest, […]
We’ve all heard more than once that people today are overstimulated with information, and their attention is stretched thin. We all feel it, too – the subconscious tug of a thousand different things vying for our attention. In a single morning in a household like mine, kids are repeatedly asking the whereabouts of their favorite […]
Let’s be honest. The last two years have been brutal. The COVID-19 pandemic continues, a lot of us haven’t seen a majority of our co-workers in person since 2020, and many businesses continue to cut back, not by choice but as a result of the hard hit they’ve taken to their bottom line. What, if […]
When COVID first hit in 2020 it brought a lot of uncertainty and along with it a lot of changes to the way people, brands and companies were engaging with each other. As the world collectively began to come to terms with the pandemic, we started to see a lot of brands and companies making […]
Recently, a 13-year-old in your world may have asked for and received a popular virtual reality (VR) headset. You’ve seen them game in it. Maybe you’ve even ventured into their game world out of curiosity. Then, at the end of 2021, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a rebranding of Facebook into “Meta,” its new parent company focused […]
In the interest of time, if your website is currently WCAG 2.1 AA or AAA compliant, and you’re reading this article because you’re worried about the new imminent WCAG 3.0 compliance threshold, or you think there will be negative SEO ramifications for not immediately adopting these new standards, you can stop reading now. Your website […]
What to Expect in 2022 As we head into 2022, it’s time to refresh your social media strategy and make sure you are up to date on the latest social media development and management trends. In this edition of Plain Talk, we’re diving into five popular and influential trends to consider including in your New […]
There’s no question that maximizing your email marketing as part of a robust performance marketing program is one of the smartest and most cost-effective things you can do to help boost your marketing horsepower. In fact, we’ve got a great article stuffed with tips for high ROI email campaigns if you’d like to check it out. However, […]
In 2015, super brand Adidas realized they had a problem—they were optimizing their marketing efforts against the wrong metrics. Yikes. They discovered they were overinvesting in performance-based digital marketing and underinvesting in brand building. They prioritized efficiency and real-time attribution of digital media and ignored brand impact and brand desire. Since then, Adidas has been […]
Several years ago, a marketing professional from a large company told me trade media simply wasn’t worthy of their marketing plan. Talking about their product in trade media before it was available to consumers didn’t make sense to them. They had a sales team to handle getting the word out. No offense to their team, […]
Comparing TikTok and Instagram Reels The average adult begins to lose concentration after just eight seconds, according to a 2020 study performed by Microsoft. In other words, we have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. When considering social media for customer engagement, our short attention span is further complicated by the glut of channel […]
Recruiting applicants should be an easy process…you post a job listing, you send it out on all the major job platforms, maybe have your employees share it on social media, and you’re done. Right? Well, not exactly. As many business owners have experienced in 2021, hiring quality applicants is getting harder and harder. In this […]
In a September 2014 interview with Fast Company, Andrew Ng, Chief Scientist at Baidu went on the record to state that in five years he anticipated 50% of searches on Chinese search engine, Baidu, would be image or voice searches. This prediction was concentrated into an article, which implied that “in five years, at least […]
Balancing Innovation and Branding for Long-Term Growth For traditional banks and credit unions that enjoy strong name recognition, the value of their name carries equity. For many years, this has been a fixed dynamic that isn’t lost upon anyone in the industry. Over the last few years, traditional institutions have been finding themselves having to […]
According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, there were roughly 9,400 business-to-business trade shows in the U.S. in 2019. These trade shows by some estimates represented a $15 billion industry that was forecast to exceed $17 billion in 2021. More importantly, these shows routinely represent critical sales opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Then […]
When I was a kid, my near-scratch golfer dad spent a lot of time trying to teach me his passion. There were many steps on how to approach the ball. And there were corrective instructions for most practice swings, but when it came to the actual swing, there were only two things I was told […]
In today’s hyperconnected, digitally focused world, reputation management is a 24-hour job. With countless social media platforms available for both fans and foes to say anything, anytime about your brand—like that they found fish tails (well, shrimp) in their box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch—these posts can easily influence a company’s success and even redefine a […]
When we think of online influencers, it’s easy to instantly think of a celebrity or someone on Instagram with a blue checkmark by their name and one million plus-followers; sharing their favorite makeup or facial cleanser – but in reality, these types of influencers aren’t what’s driving the high user engagement rates – rather their […]
The healthcare industry has been slower to accept and embrace digital in the past, and it’s not completely their fault – there are federal privacy regulations, and other challenges have made traditional advertising more appealing. In addition to traditional marketing, healthcare providers also made good use of in-office marketing tactics. But with COVID-19 and the […]
You know that a healthy flow of great content is an essential way to inform and stay in touch with existing healthcare patients, and it’s also a way to help bring in new ones. However, you also know that the best content often comes from our healthcare professionals, physicians and experts who have never been […]
When it comes to overused phrases, “the possibilities are endless” ranks pretty high. However, for anyone talking about digital engagement for a financial institution, the phrase isn’t hyperbole. If you’re aiming to deliver an end-to-end digital experience for your customers, then you know that it means not only thinking of everything, but also continuously analyzing […]
Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past decade or two, you have probably heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). It has invaded our lives, taken residence in our homes and garages, and – thanks to the advent of the smartphone, become a welcome guest to nearly every moment […]
Is it just me or has everyone been getting an influx of text messages lately? And no, not from your mom or BFF – from politicians, brands and advertisers. Obviously COVID-19 has brought a ton of changes, but maybe it’s also renewed or increased interest in one-to-one communications and new (old) ways to connect with […]
Just 25 years ago, email users would get home and excitedly log in to their AOL email accounts, and after the horrible nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of their modem connecting to the internet, wait with anticipation to hear, “You’ve Got Mail!” Back then, electronic mail was new, rare and definitely under commercialized. A lot has changed since […]
In 2021, it’s safe to say that a big chunk of our days are spent online, whether thumbing through social media, shopping, researching a project or big purchase, or gathering information about current events. Of those daily website visits, how many of them stand out to you as being really great, personal experiences? In this […]
If you are working at home with your children or your dog right now, you don’t need me to remind you that COVID-19 has changed the way we live and work. In the B2B industries, the changes have been tougher than just working from home. We’ve seen critical tradeshows, events and travel mostly cancelled. Reductions […]
For years, we’ve used digital advertising as an efficient and effective means of reaching exactly who we want to reach, with the right message, at the right time. Ad tech and publishers have been competing to offer better targeting, more capabilities and better tracking, and each ad tech call offers something new – some new […]
It’s certainly easy to get into the habit of developing creative resources or websites in a vacuum, believing that these strategically sound, well-designed and expertly curated assets will be the doors through which your customers and prospective customers will first experience your brand. In reality, several gatekeepers can stand between your brand and your customer. […]
Effectively targeting and attracting Generation Z depositors must be a key component of bank marketing plans in the mid- and long-term in order to replace the current boomer customer base as these consumers transition to drawing down assets in retirement. In this edition of our Compound Interest series, we’ll help break down critical experiences, characteristics […]
Today we can’t think of any B2B or B2C business that doesn’t need more leads. With increasingly limited access to brick and mortar services, trade shows and shopping opportunities, those leads really need to be digital to keep your business healthy. Unfortunately, this is not a secret. Your competitors are likely upping their digital game […]
Whether your focus is on B2B marketing or B2C, there are few topics more relevant today than generating qualified leads to move your sales forward. There are a great number of ways to do this (in combination for best results), but in today’s edition of Plain Talk, we’ll be discussing the anchor tactic for “pay-per-click” […]