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Do’s and Don’ts for This Year’s Product Launch

shutterstock_161159720There’s no disputing the fact that you have a product launch on this year’s strategic roadmap. After all, the product market was predicted to reach nearly $221.3 billion by the end of 2013 and industry pundits expect it to surge to $284.6 billion by the end of 2018, according to the 2013 “Antiaging Products and Services: The Global Market” report. But just because your team meetings and budgets are centered upon expansion and great unveils does not mean your launch will be a walk in the park.

Just consider that fact that as many as 95 percent of new products that are introduced each year fail, according to Cincinnati research agency AcuPoll. So how do you break away from the majority and enjoy success this year? By keeping the following do’s and don’ts top of mind:

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The Majority of Consumers Want to Find Their Own Answers; Content Marketing Can Help

A new study by Forrester Research shows that 67 percent of consumers use Web self-service knowledge to find answers to their questions. This information is very useful for those interested in getting involved with content marketing, which moves beyond the traditional ways that marketing has been used in the past, allowing businesses to create a wealth of great content that showcases not just what is new within their company, but what’s happening within their industry at large.

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Why Every Industry Needs Content Marketing

I was recently walking through a pet store, when I happened to stop to look at a tank of rare Japanese Snapping Shrimp. Noticing my perplexed expression, an attendant walked over and asked if I had any questions about the rare bottom-dwelling specimen.

It was while the attendant was explaining how the Japanese Snapping Shrimp could easily be confused with a Mantis Shrimp due to the sound it makes when its pincher opens and closes that it hit me: I had a ton of questions. In fact, I could not tell you anything about shrimp. And in the process, I realized a critical thing: content marketing can be used in absolutely every industry.
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5 Content Marketing Statistics That Your Boss Can’t Ignore

Mr. Burns

Last week we gave you three reasons your boss would say ‘yes’ to content marketing to help you work up the nerve to march down to the corner office and propose a content marketing initiative.

Hopefully your boss saw the light and you’re busy developing a killer content marketing plan with his or her full support.

But if not, and your boss still needs convincing, read on for five content marketing statistics that simply can’t be ignored: Continue reading “5 Content Marketing Statistics That Your Boss Can’t Ignore”

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How to Bring Social to Your Business Model

Have you ever noticed that many of your favorite TV shows—especially reality-based ones—have a new reoccurring character each episode? Its name is Twitter. From regular series promoting show-specific hashtags to reality TV programs displaying live tweets, there are very few shows on prime-time television that have not made a main character out of Twitter. The Bachelorette, America’s Got Talent, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, So You Think You Can Dance… the list goes on and on.

twitter stream

We have become so accustomed to Twitter on TV – whether it’s  live Twitter streams at the bottom of the screen  or the redundant plea of TV hosts to follow or vote for contestants,  – that in just a few short years, this type of social behavior has become commonplace.

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The Dangers of Inconsistent Branding

Do you hate it when someone spells your name wrong? Like when they add an “h” to the end of Sara or assume that Jamie is always—unequivocally—written as Jamie. In my case, I see a variety of misspellings for my name from Kari to Cari to Kerry. Drives. Me. Nuts.

brand strategySo why do we get so bothered when someone misspells or mispronounces our name? Because our name is quite possibly our chief identifier. It’s what makes us who we are. It’s what “brands” us, as we marketing folk say.

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Marketing Lessons from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West

What do blazing guns, bucking horses and covered wagons have to do with your website? A lot.

In fact, one could argue that cyberspace offers much of what our young country did just before the turn of the 20th century—new opportunity, innovation and excitement. Just like miners used to examine mountain shafts and riverbeds for nuggets of gold, today people comb through social media to find new bands or artists. Likewise, finding new ways to edge out your competition online is like striking oil. The rugged, unknown path to glory on the Internet is free for anyone to traverse down just like the journey out West.

The thing is, it took a lot for people to pack up and leave home—which is where people like William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody came in. Cody was a master marketer, whose traveling caravan of “Rough Riders of the World” catered to the imagination of settlers to be. The show would rope people into buying a carefully constructed image of the great American West through his circus-like exhibitions. It was a place where citizens could come face to face with danger, without getting killed. And as it turns out, May 19th marks the 130th anniversary of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

 
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjIH5AUglos]

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Look Ma No Hands! The Power of Trying New Tricks with Marketing

There was an awesome trick I used to do with my BMX buddies when I was a kid where I would balance—hands free—down a hill on the main frame of the bike. It had no particular name like the “bunny hop,” an “endow,” or a “wheelie,” but it was the scariest thing ever, especially since it entailed not falling and breaking your face, among other body parts. It’s no real surprise that all the kids in the neighborhood placed bets on who would most likely wipe out.I did eventually join the ranks of the few kids who made it the entire way down the hill without falling.  This of course didn’t happen over-night. I set a goal and did not stop until I made it. Every Saturday we would try the stunt and every Saturday there would be broken teeth, twisted ankles and someone who would sprint home in shame after chickening out at the top of the hill.  This was a huge no-no especially since the neighborhood girls would be watching.

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How to STINK at Content Marketing

Content marketing is King. We all know the importance of it. There are countless studies, data and reports that remind us that websites feed off of the time and energy we inject into our content.

Content is the protein that websites need to make them strong, vibrant and profitable. Content Boost can help you improve audience engagement, traffic to your website and augment social media presence.

But for all you B2B, B2C, not for profit, entrepreneurs or solo-preneurs out there, who want to see how other companies effectively sabotage their content marketing strategies, please take a look at this awesome slideshow:

How to STINK at content marketing

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Is Content Still King?

The saying has remained the same, the more content on your website the better. While this is still true the way we interpret this comment is changing. Gone are the days of pushing as much content to your website to ensure a higher ranking than your competitor. The focus is shifting to quality and not quantity. So what does this mean?

Content for SEO

Google likes authority websites when it is indexing accurate, up to date and credible content for the end user. Google has changed its algorithms in a way that it is smarter in the search results it delivers. It used to be true that the more content we dropped into our websites on a daily basis we would outrank our competitors based on the amount of content that is new.

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