Marketing Power Processes #1-Be the Lord of the Rings

The power of a ringing phone gets noticed. If visitors to your site start calling your sales team, it will be noticed. You need to be able to measure the calls and toot your own horn as well. Unlike leads, calls have a power beyond a graph in a PowerPoint presentation. To become an indispensable marketer, make the phone ring.

Highlights (click to tweet):

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From the MarketingLand Analytics and Marketing Column.

I got a VHS video tape in the mail. Yes, a VHS. [Grasshopper Video]

That’s right. In 2013, I got a VHS tape FedEx’d to me. In the cheesiest font, the label read:

“So you want to be an ENTREPRENUER”

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I’d never heard of the person who sent it to me, one Ted Gantry of “Training Video Series.”

At this point, I’m thinking, either this is a really bad or really good come on.

I couldn’t resist.

For on the back of the tape was a PostIt note: “No VCR Player? playvhs.com.” Malware be damned, I was going to visit.

I couldn’t even wait to get home. Here’s what I got on my phone.

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More intriguing still, but no real clues as to why it was sent.

I hit play and was treated to a Dollar Shave style video that worked.

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Who was it from?

It was from my virtual PBX company Grasshopper.com. But this wasn’t clear until the end of the video.

I watched. And you will, too.

I’m already a paying customer of Grasshopper. Why would they send this to me? Probably because they though I might write this and share it with you.

They were right. The VHS and Grasshopper video are Social Content Marketing at it’s best.

 

Thanks Grasshopper. You’ve made me a customer for life.

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Content Marketing Mistakes, And How to Avoid Them

We have a great guest post over on Conversion Scientist from Brittany at Powered by Search, and we definitely wanted to share it with you.

It’s no secret that content marketing is a huge resource for leads. But before you start writing that e-book, churning out those blog posts, and designing those infographics, ask yourself a very important question; How am I going to optimize this to ensure I generate leads?

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We don’t want to give anything away, but here’s this teaser: Hubspot is the master of the blog CTA.

Brittany will break down the main downfalls of content marketing and show you the best way to avoid them. Commonly (and perhaps overly) used phrases like “content is king” can help convey the importance of creating content, but fails to include the importance of solid content marketing.

She also talks about the need for quality content, and avoiding the use of tons of mediocre content to get leads. As with shoes, friends, and fried chicken, content is all about quality over quantity.

Head over to The Conversion Scientist to read the entire article HERE.

For more news from The Conversion Scientist, follow Brian on Twitter and LIKE him on Facebook.

 

Your Customer Creation Equation Gets Reviewed, And More!

It’s always great hearing from happy customers that are reaping the benefits of Your Customer Creation Equation. We’ve received emails, tweets, blog posts, and pictures from many colleagues, clients, customers and friends that are seeing tremendous results from the book. It warms our hearts!

However, we have something really special we want to share today. Kathryn Aragon (one of the biggest brains over at Crazy Egg) was kind enough to write an amazing review on Your Customer Creation Equation. She lays out the basic principles of the conversion, and gives a great overview of what it means for you and your business.

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Just a taste of Kathryn’s great review.

 

She makes Brian sound pretty darn smart. And let’s be honest; usually the lab coat does most of the work.

Please take a minute to check out her awesome review. We’re thrilled to have her support!

 

Which Video Game Character is Your Visitor Persona?

It’s pretty amazing to see how creative some people get with their posts. Yes, infographics are great, but what about the almost-lost art of just plain graphs? The brilliantly creative minds over at Orbit Media Studios came up with a pretty great graph to describe visitor personas…… using characters from classic 80’s video games.

Sneak peak

Video game personas

 

 

 

Well we can’t give them all the credit. As they point out in the bottom of the article “This article is based on a presentation given by Jenny Magic and Brian Massey at Content Marketing World. The original methodology is theirs. I just added some content types and the video game references. Brian’s got a book out called Customer Creation Equation. Check it out!”

The visitor personas are broken down into four categories – Mario, Galaga, Frogger, and Pac-Man. How does each character act? What are their characteristics?

To find out more, read the article HERE.

Three Must-Have SEO Tools, Featuring The Conversion Scientist

The fine folks over at Powered by Search put together a great post asking a pretty important question;  If you could use only 3 tools to excel in your digital marketing specialty, what would they be and why?

They reached out to seventeen different digital marketers and SEO experts, and Brian was one of them. As always, Brian has a lot of feelings on the subject and on what tools are essential in his digital marketing arsenal.

A huge THANK YOU to our friends at Power by Search for including Brian in this piece!

Read the full article HERE.

The Chemistry of Landing Pages that Convert with LIVE Critiques Webinar

It’s no secret that Brian loves a great landing page. But what exactly makes a great landing page? How do you know if yours is good, or great, or just plain bad?

Brian has partnered with Contact Point to bring you a webinar that answers those questions. He’ll explain what components make up a great landing page and how to ensure they are a part of your page.

But it gets better! Brian will also be taking real landing pages submitted by webinar attendees and critiquing them LIVE. You will get to see firsthand how the Conversion Scientist looks at and evaluates a landing page.

Don’t worry folks, he promises to be gentle. 

So how do you get to be a part of this webinar? Here are all the details.

Date: Thursday, April 4th

Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm EDT

Click HERE to get registered for the webinar.

Thanks to Contact Point for inviting Brian to be a part of their webinar series, and we look forward to having you attend!

 

Brian’s Interview on Content Marketing 360 – Website Optimization Tips

Brian was honored to be a guest on Content Marketing 360 to share his best website optimization tips. Download the podcast below and check out what Brian has to say about tips and tricks for optimizing your site.

Brian talks about his beginnings as a computer science major at Texas A&M, which somehow took him into sales. Eventually that led him to marketing. He did some consulting work, then ended up developing his own original analytic packages. All of the skills and experiences came together to create The Conversion Scientist.

In this interview, Brian breaks conversion down to it’s most basic parts; people coming to your site, and people taking action on your site. He explains how knowing your conversion rate can help you maximize your buyers and potentially lower your marketing costs.

To hear more of Brian’s best tips for optimizing your site and boosting your conversion rate, download the interview below.

Shopify Blog’s 30 Books That Will Help You Increase Sales

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks around here. First, Brian was named one of the Top 40 Digital Strategists by OMI, then SEO Copywriters recognized him as one of their top guest posters of 2012. And today, Your Customer Creation Equation was recommended by Shopify Blog as one of the 30 books that will help you increase sales.

This calls for streamers and champagne!

Shopify included some really amazing titles on the list. There are books for conversion, books for entrepreneurs, books for marketing and PR, and every type of online marketing under the sun.

It’s pretty cool to see Your Customer Creation Equation listed with so many great books. It’s not often a conversion and optimization book gets to be listed with Tony Robbins or Malcolm Gladwell, so this is definitely worth celebrating. Congratulations Brian!

Thank you SEO Copywriting – Top 12 Guest Posts of 2012

January 2013 seems to be full of honors and mentions and shoutouts.

First, I was recognized by OMI as one of the Top 40 Digital Strategists, and now SEO Copywriting has chosen me as one of the of their Top 12 Favorite Guest Post Writers of 2012.

It’s an honor to not only be invited to post on SEO Copywriting, but it’s even more awesome to be included in this bunch. While there are some familiar faces on the list, it’s exciting to see so many new contributors that are making great contributions to our space.

You can also check out my original post from August.

Thanks to SEO Copywriting for inviting me to share and thinking I’m good enough to make the Top 12 list!

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