Vanity metrics are frequently criticized in public relations and marketing circles. You would think that they are accursed numbers that lead to horrible death. Vanity metrics stroke the ego but reveal little or no meaningful information and accomplish nothing, the critics say. Fa … | Continue reading
Social media wins most of the attention these days. Many marketing and public relations professionals expected email use among teens and millennials to fade away as younger folks used social media and messaging apps more often. However, research from Adestra, a marketing tech s … | Continue reading
Email marketing is one the digital marketer’s strategies of choice when trying to build conversations with prospects as well as existing clients. The fact that email is more or less free while remaining an effective way to send messages means that you don’t need a big budget to d … | Continue reading
Digital marketers and search engine optimization specialists would love to see Google’s search engine algorithm. The formula that ranks websites is secret, even though SEO experts contend they understand how it works. Google has published what might be the next best thing: Search … | Continue reading
Being an entrepreneur – especially a young one with little to no money – often means having to go without the luxuries in life. It means having nothing but a head full of rich ideas to call your own. It means sleeping on a futon that should’ve been thrown out five years ago, when … | Continue reading
The new Google Analytics 360 Suite is good news for marketers. The centralized web analytics platform offers a significant improvement in marketer’s ability to track and store information about customers and their behaviors. Some observers even compare the development to an earth … | Continue reading
Marketing Automation (MA), while quite effective at what it does, is sometimes perceived as a magic solution to all marketing problems. Some marketers still believe that as soon as they acquire marketing automation software, then all their problems would be solved. They imagine a … | Continue reading
Although unglamorous and often neglected, the About Us page is one of the important web pages for companies and other organizations. About Us pages – or About Me pages in some cases – often register high traffic volumes. Even if they do not, visitors who read About Us pages have … | Continue reading
AdWords is one of the best places to waste money. And Google knows it. Just a few miscalculated steps and you could be giving them your whole marketing budget. Experts at LeadUpMarketers believe that the biggest issue may lie in marketer’s failure to manage their keywords. Let’s … | Continue reading
Commentators routinely recommend that PR and marketing professionals be honest and transparent on social media. Yet some PR observers wonder if tweets from the San Francisco-area Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) showed too much candor. BART is an overburdened public transit system p … | Continue reading
Snapchat, a fast-growing photo- and video-messaging app, offers brands that act now an opportunity to stake their claim in a new digital land grab. Snapchat’s user base is already substantial. More importantly, its fans are extremely active on the network. It boasts about 100 mil … | Continue reading
On this day – 24th March 2016 – I have come to the conclusion that I am a shitty writer. Fiverr, Freelancer, Upwork. They’ve been my bread and butter for years. I manage to make enough money to sustainably live in Istanbul, the city I love. Writing wasn’t enough to live comfortab … | Continue reading
This post is not meant to dis Millennials. In truth, I’ve had my fill of Millennial-bashing comments and commentaries in recent years, often promulgated by the not-so-silent ranks of disdainful Boomers and disgruntled Gen Xers, much of it undeserved. The largest demographic group … | Continue reading
Social media has drastically increased the speed that public relations crisis can develop and spread. News can quickly spread and “go viral” through multiple social media channels. Slow or inappropriate responses during a fast-moving crisis can cause severe reputational damage on … | Continue reading
Automated sentiment analysis is becoming more popular for media measurement as the computer-based software programs improve and organizations seek to analyze enormous amounts of mentions quickly and affordably. By automatically grading news articles and social media posts as posi … | Continue reading
Get Your Readers’ Attention Without Promotion There are no sure-fire strategies to article writing; every author uses different techniques. Even with these differing techniques, authors typically have the same goal. They strive to use their full writing potential to get their con … | Continue reading
Content marketing has proven to be one of the most effective digital marketing strategies of the 21st century. Aside from the fact that it is a lot less costly compared to paid strategies such as PPC, content marketing is easy. In fact, you could start it all alone today and as l … | Continue reading
Although press releases have evolved, they have not disappeared; they remain a core public relations tool for businesses of all sizes. Polished publicity releases can be especially effective for smaller businesses and local businesses that don’t have outsize marketing budgets. … | Continue reading
Data is a vital element of most every type of presentation. It’s absolutely crucial to present credible statistical evidence to explain results of marketing, advertising or public relations campaigns convincingly. Collecting valid data, analyzing it thoroughly and uncovering the … | Continue reading
Twitter. I hate it! I really do. I know it gives us a way of being informed of everything going on in our circles, industries and places at a brisk, 140-character space but I just can’t find the thing entertaining at all! Everything moves far too quickly for any real level of abs … | Continue reading
Proving and measuring return on investment (ROI) remains a challenge for marketers, according to a new survey. The 2016 Planning Report from the Leapfrog Marketing Institute shows a surprising drop in accountability for marketing budgets. Only 10% of C-level executives surveyed s … | Continue reading
It’s been a busy month here at Moondog since our last show – just the way we like it. We’ve put out three sites for clients, several brochures and direct mail pieces, not to mention other small projects for our clients on retainer! In this week’s show I look at: Payment gateways … | Continue reading
It may sound like a simple concept, but picking the right thought leaders can get tricky since thought leaders are born, not bred.The post America’s Next Top Thought Leader: 14 Questions to Identify A Spokesmodel appeared first on D Custom. | Continue reading
Yoast SEO is an amazing plugin for WordPress blogs to bolster their Search Engine Optimization. One cool feature that I really like, yet find really stressful, is its breadcrumbs feature. If you don’t know what they are, it’s this part of this website: Basically, these are “bread … | Continue reading
LinkedIn is a great place to market yourself or your businesses. With more people using the network for professional connections, to seek new employees, and to find the next business opportunity, there is a lot to gain from the platform.The key, however, lies not in whether or no … | Continue reading
I’ve met some pretty incredible people over the years. One such individual that I wanted to introduce to is Bryan Elliott, an entrepreneur, writer, event producer and advocate for innovative thinkers and businesses. I originally met Bryan at Blog World Expo back in the day, one o … | Continue reading
Instagram’s new plan to move from a chronological to an algorithm-based feed will increase competition for social media marketers on the network. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, says the change will improve users’ experience. As the photo-centric social media network has g … | Continue reading
A speaker list filled with real practitioners of digital commerce … An integrated agenda that covers the deep process underlying digital product and service creation, marketing, and distribution … An exclusive performance by one of the most beloved bands to come out of the altern … | Continue reading
A colleague once asked me to come up with a simple formula for success in online content marketing. After pondering the question for far too long, I came up with this response: Write as yourself. Write for your audience. | Continue reading
Content marketing is hard, we all know it. But sometimes we make it harder by confusing our strategies. If you want to taste any form of content marketing success, organization is critical. You need to know what you want to achieve and map out a step by step plan to achieve those … | Continue reading
For the last few years, “mobile first!” has become the mantra among savvy digital marketers. But a mobile first approach seems to be more of an ideology than it is a standard in digital design. Recent research shows that marketers still invest in mobile as an afterthought or as a … | Continue reading
It’s an unfortunate and unavoidable truth—today’s digital media is saturated with clickbait. Even a few traditional news sources seem to have given up “fighting the good fight” and have started using clickbaity headlines themselves (and you won’t believe what happens … Continue r … | Continue reading
Donald Trump has received plentiful media coverage in his presidential campaign – far more media coverage than any other candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign. The real estate mogul has more delegates than other Republican candidates while spending far less for paid adverti … | Continue reading
Buzz the bee mascot for Honey Nut Cheerios has gone missing. The cereal character is out to save the real bees. In a superb example of cause marketing with an inspired product tie-in, General Mills temporarily removed the picture of the bee mascot from boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios … | Continue reading
Customers complain about companies and their products and services more than ever. With a smartphone, they can complain online from almost anywhere and at any time; there’s no cooling off period now after a customer feels offended. Aggrieved customers can spread their comments qu … | Continue reading
Placing articles in media outlets is far more difficult for PR these days because many newspapers and trade journals have closed while others have laid off staff and decreased editorial space. The solution: Create a news bureau. More PR firms and corporate PR departments are cr … | Continue reading
Content marketing is one of the fastest growing methods of digital marketing. Aside from the fact that internet users really value informational content, content marketing also makes you more findable on major search engines. There are several other benefits of content marketing … | Continue reading
Have you ever wondered when you should be posting on social media? We have discovered that the best days and times vary across each social media platform. Keep our infographic on hand the next time you want to optimize the number of likes, clicks or retweets on your post. Read o … | Continue reading
Which is more effective? Content marketing or native advertising? The difference between the two is that websites charge sponsors to place native advertising that looks like editorial content whereas websites accept and publish content marketing pieces as an actual part of their … | Continue reading
Influencer marketing has emerged as one of the most successful online PR and marketing strategies. Various studies illustrate the effectiveness of influencer marketing. Marketers who implemented an influencer marketing program in the first half of 2015 received $9.60 in earned me … | Continue reading
Google just published best practices for bloggers who receive free products or services. If bloggers don’t follow the practices, the search engine giant may consider them in violation of its webmaster guidelines and eliminate them from search results. PR and marketing departments … | Continue reading
Instagram is currently one of the biggest social media networks and by extension one of the best places to market your brand. Once considered an app for retailers, hotels, and restaurants, the photo-sharing app has quickly transformed into an effective brand-building tool for all … | Continue reading
Reddit is difficult to ignore. One of the oldest and perhaps one of the most controversial social media services, Reddit claims 230 million unique monthly visitors, based on Alexa ratings. Its discussion forums, or subreddits, cover almost every topic imaginable. It even has subr … | Continue reading
It doesn't matter if you're a small business or a large corporation. Every marketer has a desire, nay, a NEED, to connect with your target audience on a deep and personal level. If you listen to what your target audience is asking for, you can use social media marketing to point … | Continue reading
Email marketing, if done well, can consistently win you new leads while making it easy to build business relationships. For this reason alone, email marketing is something you must never ignore. But a problem arises when someone has already subscribed to your email lists and now … | Continue reading
PR firms are justifiably fighting back against a New York State agency’s ruling that would require PR firms involved in public policy issues to register as lobbyists. Five New York PR firms filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan against New York’s Joint … | Continue reading
At one time or another, almost all organizations seek media coverage. Most businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies strive hard for positive media attention. Whether with in-house PR staff or a PR agency, they use many avenues to gain media coverage, ranging f … | Continue reading
Controversy surrounding tennis star Maria Sharapova illustrates the difficulty brands often face with celebrity endorsements. Sharapova admitted she tested positive for the drug meldonium, a medication the World Anti-Doping Agency only recently banned. The International Tennis As … | Continue reading