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8 Steps To Write a Blog Intro Like a Pro

blog introductions

Did you know that after the headline, your blog intro is the most important factor in determining whether a visitor will actually read your article?

In fact, the average time people spend reading a blog post is only 15 seconds. But if we can get them past that first 15 seconds, most readers will stay for 7 minutes (according to Fast Company.)

Blog intros must be interesting and clearly show the value of the article ahead if you want people to keep reading. In other words, you need a hook! 🪝

Fortunately, there are several tried and true ways you can make sure you always hit the mark. We use these tips to train all our writers so our clients are getting the very best in the most important part of their content: the introduction!

In this post we’re gonna show you 8 proven methods to write a blog article intro like a pro.

Quick Takeaways

  • There are specific formulas that grab readers attention.
  • Asking questions in your blog introductions gets readers actively thinking.
  • It’s important to strike a balance between telling readers what to expect without giving everything away in the intro.
  • Effective blog introductions emphasize the value and benefits offered by the article.

The PPB Formula For Awesome Blog Intros

We are always looking for tips, tricks and best practices for creating the perfect blog post.

So a couple of years ago I received an email from Brian Dean of Backlinko describing his favorite formula for writing blog intros called “the PPB Formula.”

I had never heard of this so I was pretty interested. The PPB Formula stands for:

  • Promise (or Preview)
  • Proof
  • Bridge

Here’s an example:

  • Promise: Writing good blog intros can get your readers to actually read your blogs.
  • (or Preview): Today I’m going to share with you how to write an amazing blog intro.
  • Proof: Research shows that readers who read the first 15 seconds of your article, will likely read your entire article.
  • Bridge: Let’s dive in . . .

I like the “Promise” one a little better right? The “Preview” one seems a little bland and generic. But test them. They both work! Let’s break them down a little further.

Preview or Promise

Here’s where you let your reader know EXACTLY what to expect from your content. Or the main BENEFIT of reading your article.

That way, when someone lands on your post, they know they’re in the right place. Which one do you like better?

Now Offer The Proof

Here’s where you show people that you know your stuff. I like to use stats or some 3rd-party credibility but your proof can be in the form of:

  • Your own personal results
  • Your years of experience solving this problem
  • Specific client examples
  • Other forms of 3rd party credentials like stats, experts, quotes

For example:

This is the approach we have used to generate tens of thousands of search rankings, 1 million readers per year, and nearly all our new clients.

🤫 ~ From How We Rank #1 Get a Million Visitors (And Win All Our New Customers)

Bridge From The Intro To The Article

Here’s where you transition people from your intro into the body of your content. In other words: you build a bridge from your intro to the meat of your post. I also like to repeat the promise in some form, ideally using the main key phrase for the article:

  • Let’s dive in . . .
  • I’m going to show . . .
  • You will learn . . .

Here’s a similar “hook” methodology shared by Digital Marketer that includes “short and punchy, curiosity-laden” openings that get you to “slide” into the rest of the article:

8 Proven Ways to Write Amazing Blog Introductions

Be Relatable

Most people search for quality content to help them solve a problem or accomplish something important. Maybe it’s completing a challenging project at work, or organizing their homes better, or understanding a complex situation happening in the world.

Whatever the issue at hand, you can keep readers engaged by crafting blog introductions that tell them, “Hey, I relate.”

Here’s what we mean:

Let’s pretend a user is searching for ways to drive more conversions from their content. Rather than just diving right into the ways they should do it, you can start by saying something like: “Converting customers isn’t easy,” or “Many businesses create great content but struggle to get customers to take the next step.”

Statements like this create a connection between you and your reader because it makes them feel understood. They know they aren’t the only ones experiencing this pain point. They’ll also believe that because you understand the problem, you’re more likely to provide a real solution.

Research has shown that this type of pain point focused content is extremely effective at keeping customers engaged, and it starts with a clear mention of it in your blog introduction.

Some tactics you can use to uncover user pain points are doing keyword research (to see what they’re searching for) and engaging with current customers to ask them directly. You can also do your own exploratory research. Here’s a deeper dive into how to explore customer pain points that your products or services can solve:

Ask a Question

Asking a question is an effective way to engage people in a blog introduction because it gets them actively thinking. You can also use questions to highlight what’s coming in the body of your blog post (more on why that’s important coming next).

Questions can center around your customer pain point (it’s a great way to execute the previous tip) or to get the user wondering about the content you’ll include in your article.

So, to use our customer conversions example again, your question could be: “Are you driving traffic to your website but struggling to convert paying customers?”

This question addresses your user’s pain point in a way that makes them ponder.

If you want to use a question to preview how your article will help, you could instead say: “So how can you drive traffic to your website and convert customers at a higher rate?”

Now your customer is more likely to keep reading because they anticipate they’ll find the answer later on in your article. It’s your job to make sure that it’s there.

blog post what is content marketing

Tell People What to Expect

Here’s the thing: people want answers fast. Especially on the internet. They won’t wait around until you get to the point 1,000 words later.

Like we mentioned before, you’ve got about 15 seconds to make people engaged enough that they’ll keep reading. A blog introduction that leaves customers in the dark won’t do it.

I’m not saying you should jam everything into the first few sentences. Instead, give the quick, high-level version of what customers will find in your article without adding all the details.

For example: “In this article we’ll cover 8 effective tactics you can use to convert paying customers with your content. Then, we’ll give you specific action steps to help you implement them right away.”

Now your user knows exactly what they’ll find if they choose to read on, but they’ll still have to actually keep reading to get value from your article.

Emphasize Value

One of the most important things content marketers need to know is the difference between features and value/benefits.

Here’s a simple example that demonstrates the concept:

People don’t care about product features unless they know how that product can help them personally. The same goes for blog articles.

Simply listing what you’re going to include in your article isn’t enough. You also must emphasize how the content will he helpful for your readers.

An easy way to do this is to talk directly to your readers. Let’s revisit the previous example. We said that we’ll tell our readers what to expect in the article by saying:

“In this article we’ll cover 8 effective tactics you can use to convert paying customers with your content. Then, we’ll give you specific action steps to help you implement them right away.”

Notice the use of the second person. What if we had phrased this: “We’ll cover 8 tactics that increase customer conversions for companies.”

OK, you might say, this still gives you the same information. While that’s true, it doesn’t speak directly to why it’s important to me. “You can use” and “implement them right away” both tell our users that this content is for them, and they’ll benefit from it directly.

To be even more effective, I might drive it home with something like: “Successfully executing these tactics will lead to higher conversions and sales that drive revenue for your brand.”

Now my reader knows that I understand their pain point, they’re clear on how I’ll address it in the article, and they can see exactly how it will benefit them directly.

Provide a Unique Perspective

The average Google search yields millions of results. Even the first page, where almost everyone is looking, shows 10 different results for any given query. How can you stand out among all that other content? One way is to provide a unique perspective on the topic you’re covering.

Think about it: how many times have you searched for something only to find multiple articles that pretty much say the same exact thing. Not helpful.

You can catch your reader’s attention with a blog introduction that takes a different approach. Even for topics for which there are specific right answers you need to cover, you can be unique by showcasing your brand’s personality or writing with a different tone.

You can also take a totally different stand on a topic that’s grown stale or repetitive in your industry. Take, for example, the title and blog intro for one of our articles on personas, where we argue that “Personas are great. Except when they suck!”

Huh? Personas don’t suck! They’re the be-all and end-all of knowing your customer! Right?

Not necessarily, and definitely not when they’re done ineffectively. This article has been one of our most-read pieces, in no small part because it challenges the standard opinion on a common marketing tool brands are using.

I don’t suggest always being the contrarian, but going against the grain when it’s warranted (and emphasizing it in your blog introduction) is a sure way to get people interested.

Don’t Give Everything Away

Alright — here’s where we need to talk about balance. So far, we’ve covered that you should tell readers what to expect in your blog article. That’s absolutely true.

What you should not do is give everything away in the first few sentences. Your blog introduction should be a teaser for what’s to come. If your reader can get the information they need in the intro, what would be the point of going any further?

Let’s go back one more time to our customer conversions example:

“In this article we’ll cover 8 effective tactics you can use to convert paying customers with your content. Then, we’ll give you specific action steps to help you implement them right away.”

Notice that we let readers know they’ll find 8 tactics, but we don’t say what those tactics are. If we did, we’d risk our readers going off to Google them each on their own. Instead, we tell them to read on for more information about what they are and how to use them.

Write The Blog Intro Last

This might not seem intuitive, but trust me when I say: writing your blog introduction last will save you time and make your intros better.

You’ll know if you write blogs that you can never totally predict the direction or content of an article until it’s complete. Inspiration hits as you write, new ideas emerge, and your content evolves during the writing process. If you write your blog introduction before the body of your article, it’s nearly a certainty that you’ll have to go back and edit.

Instead, write the article first to get a sense of your content’s most important takeaways and the overall tone and message. You’ll find that writing your intro will come a lot more easily.

Always Deliver On The Blog’s Promise

Last but not least — I can’t emphasize this enough — always deliver on the promises you make in your blog introduction.

There’s no quicker way to lose your reader’s trust than to tell them you’ll give them something and then fail to deliver it. Content that is genuine and trustworthy will get you a lot further than articles with a great hook but no follow through.

🔥 See Also: 5 Blog Post Templates to Help You Create Remarkable Content

Did you spend 7 minutes reading this post? That translates into 1600 words but we’re cruising along here at 2143 words. Getting your blog word count matters too!

Publish blog content that delivers results

You can publish blog content that jumpstarts your entire content strategy! At Marketing Insider Group, we have a team of writers and SEO experts who can deliver you ready-to-publish content every week for an entire year (or more!).

Check out our Content Builder Service or schedule a quick consultation with me to learn more and get started.

The post 8 Steps To Write a Blog Intro Like a Pro appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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3 Essential Elements for Delivering Exceptional Experiences

3 Essential Elements for Delivering Exceptional Experiences

Today, the importance of delivering high-quality experiences to customers as they encounter and interact with a brand cannot be understated. In fact, a whopping 85% of marketers who participated in a recent Ascend2 survey said that delivering an exceptional customer experience is an extremely important part of their strategy. 

Businesses of all sizes and industries have learned that improving customer experience can improve growth, loyalty, and efficiency. But with customer expectations on the rise, the threshold of success has become increasingly difficult to meet and exceed. Only about one-quarter (27%) of marketers would describe their strategy to improve the customer experience as very successful, or best-in-class compared to their competitors. 

So what contributes to an exceptional customer experience today and what is getting in the way of successfully improving the customer experience? Below we will dissect some recent data from our Building Better Customer Experiences research to give you three essential elements to build better experiences for their customers.

Only 27% of marketers would describe their strategy to improve the customer experience as very successful.
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Essential Element #1: Service with a Smile 

The customer experience is created through every touchpoint across all channels and should be associated with far more than just customer service, but ensuring that customer issues are resolved effectively and efficiently is the most essential element to delivering exceptional experiences according to 57% of marketers surveyed. 

success elements for customer experience

Customer preferences on methods of contacting a business vary greatly depending on many factors such as whether or not they are contacting on behalf of another business (B2B vs B2C), the specific issue they are attempting to resolve, and even by generation. Businesses can prepare for this by providing multiple channels for communication, customer self-service options, and predictive customer service capabilities. 

Businesses could also benefit greatly from focusing on enabling the employees who provide these experiences. Ensuring proper training and coaching for service agents on technology and workflows, as well as improving employee access to product and service knowledge are reportedly the most important ways to empower employees to provide exceptional experiences according to 45% and 41% of marketers surveyed, respectively.

Essential Element #2: Keep it Real(Time) 

Real-time engagement is essentially being where your customer needs you, whenever they need you, in a relevant way. This can mean a wide range of automated and live interactions and feedback mechanisms across all channels. 

Connecting with customers in real-time can improve trust and loyalty with your brand, building retention and directly impacting your bottom line. 

Whether you engage customers via chatbots, in-app or on-site guidance, social media responses, or videos, it is the strategy and data behind these interactions that create exceptional experiences. This is why creating and prioritizing a strategy is reportedly a top priority for 43% of marketers as they work to improve the customer experience. It also ranks at the top of the list of greatest challenges to a successful customer experience, but creating and optimizing a strategy to use data, create personalized and real-time interactions, and build successful customer experiences is critical.

Creating and prioritizing a CX strategy is reportedly a top priority for 43% of marketers.
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CX priorities for improvement

And speaking of personalization… 

Essential Element #3: Get Personal

Offering personalized experiences is a critical element to successful CX according to 40% of marketers surveyed. Delivering tailored messaging and interactions across channels requires accurate and relevant data, and that data needs to be contributed to and accessed by various adjacent teams throughout your organization (e.g., marketing, sales, customer service, operations, etc). 

Interestingly, less than half (41%) of those surveyed report an extensive ability to use and share data and information across teams at their organization. 

ability to share information

When a full view of customer and prospect data isn’t accessible across teams, organizations will have a difficult time catering to the specific needs and preferences of individual customers. Personalization should be based on a full and accurate picture of the customer, rather than a fragmented look at one element of the customer’s journey with your brand. 

What does this all mean?

The importance of delivering an exceptional customer experience is undeniable, and regardless of target audience, it is important for businesses to acknowledge that CX is built across multiple channels and encompasses a wide range of tactics and strategies. 

To learn more about building better customer experiences, download the 14-page Ascend2 research study.  

The post 3 Essential Elements for Delivering Exceptional Experiences appeared first on Convince & Convert.

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Finding the Balance Between Offline & Digital Marketing – 3 Tips to Ensure a Healthy Marketing Mix

Offline marketing is not dead. In fact, it’s never been more alive. The surge in digital marketing has brought enormous competition into the digital media market, which in turn drives up advertising cost. Digital spending is estimated to grow by 10% this year, despite some CEOs from both big and small brands agreeing that digital ads are a “waste of money”. It’s an interesting contradiction.

When allocating marketing budget to digital and offline channels, many marketing organizations are throwing in the towel with offline marketing. Let’s face it; digital marketing solves the Offline marketing complexities that many smaller marketing organizations are not set up to solve. Offline channels have complex operational schedules with significantly longer lead times and are difficult to measure. Both unique challenges make offline marketing a secondary choice to the more agile, lower-risk, easier-to-measure digital channels.

In the face of these challenges, the largest and most successful brands continue to invest in offline marketing. What is it these organizations know that the other organizations don’t?

The recipe consists of operations (the planning), measurement (the data), and organization (the people). Simple, but not easy. The below three tips are a surefire way to integrate digital and offline marketing and ensure your 2023 is successful.

Quick Takeaways:

  1. Focus on operations. Operational challenges often cause a lack of cohesion between marketing content across channels. With Offline decisions made months out and Digital decisions made at the moment, be sure to develop a well-defined content calendar & offer strategy to ensure inter-channel cohesion.
  2. Level the playing field with logical measurement. Many standard and straightforward attribution methods often favor digital but do not confuse demand collection for demand generation. Branded search is often a product of mass media, so be sure to include branded search when looking at non-digital ROAS.
  3. Minimize the labels within your marketing organization. Operational challenges and improper attribution methods often create silos between groups. Encourage your team to see themselves as marketers and as one team while fostering healthy competition between the groups.

Operations (the planning) – a well-defined content calendar & offer strategy:

Agility: the buzzword of the decade. In the digital marketing world, this is undoubtedly true. Offline, well, not so much.

Digital marketers can make changes on a dime. If something is not working, you pull it. If something is working well, you inject more spending into it. You can launch a multi-variate test in minutes (assuming you have the assets ready). There is no physical stock. Overall, the risk is minimal.

Offline marketers must be much more stringent. They buy media months, sometimes quarters ahead, the shelf life is long (and somewhat permanent), and the risk is high.

So, how can offline marketers compete if digital marketers want to change weekly, daily, or even hourly?

Here’s an example of what happens when these marketing channels each operate correctly but not cohesively:

 Sam receives a flyer in the mail for a special offer. A 20% off coupon. Sam then goes on the website, and as many consumers do, they see the company is running a flash sale for $99 off. Problem. 20% off, $99 off.

We are in the decade of Twitter and TikTok – we have about 7 seconds to get the consumer’s attention and keep it. In this situation, the organization already lost Sam’s attention by asking them to overthink. We know that social media is not the cause of shrinking attention spans, but instead highlights the importance of storytelling and cohesion.

In this situation, it’s safe to assume the flyer was printed months ago, and the flash sale was a recent digital test that performed well. We can’t fault the digital marketers here because they’re doing what they should be – remaining agile in a test-and-learn environment. We also can’t blame the offline marketers – this is a product of the channel having longer lead times. So, how can this situation be avoided?

Operational excellence and a rock-solid content and promotional calendar. Spend a significant amount of time at the beginning of each year cultivating a content and promotional calendar. How much time? There is no singular answer here, but a marketing leader should spend as much time planning their team’s content and promotional calendar as the leader of the finance organization spends planning out the financial projections for the year. There will be a core content calendar that is the nucleus of both digital and offline, and it’s crucial to commit to that marketing calendar to avoid disruption.

While this is a crucial piece in your marketing plans for the year, it’s important you leave yourself some wiggle room. For instance, if you are going to run a flash sale, you can determine the amount later. It may be a percentage or a dollar amount discount, but that shouldn’t hold up your offline schedule. You can run it as a mystery sale and direct people to the website to claim their offer. This example is one way to navigate operational challenges with proper planning creatively, but there are countless combinations of ways to do so.

Measurement (the data) – leveling the playing field

Attribution. One of the most dangerous words in marketing. While numbers are important, you cannot throw out all instinct. It’s the middle of the vend diagram where numbers and instinct collide.

Digital measurement is constantly evolving. It’s complex on it’s own, but combining it with offline measurement creates additional complexities. As consumer behavior continues to shift in favor of digital, your attribution needs to get more intelligent. As marketers, we know that data is the primary key to measuring marketing returns.

Sometimes, though, we can turn a blind eye to the obvious in that data can often not consider the challenges of measuring offline marketing.  When allocating a budget, it will be tempting to exhaust digital channels before giving media dollars to offline channels. A logical shift in mindset is separating demand collection vs demand generation. What’s the difference?

Let’s take branded search as an example. Instead of seeing it as a form of demand generation, shift to seeing it as a form of demand collection with the purpose of collecting the demand generated by another channel. In some ways, branded search is similar to an inbound phone call. In an ideal world, we would have enough inbound phone calls (or branded search) to drive the business without spending on marketing. We know, however, that it takes media to make the phone ring (or drive branded search).

Keep in mind that when looking at the returns of each channel, some channels only account for the direct expense for that channel. In this example, the branded search expense is only a fraction of what it takes to get someone to engage in that search. It’s much more than the cost of the click – but also the cost of the offline marketing that drives that behavior. Pair this with the difficulty in attribution and dividing up that marketing budget becomes a bit of a circular reference. The old school “it all works together” approach to marketing measurement has withstood the test of time, it’s presumably the least data-driven model and is purely instinctive. If we push 100% data, short-sighted decisions get made. Where’s the middle?

When stack-ranking the channels within your marketing organization, be very careful where the expenses and the revenue falls. Oftentimes with last click attribution the expense falls in one bucket and the revenue in another. What’s another way to look at this? Consider the correlation between media spending and branded search instead of the ROAS of branded search in and of itself. That’s step one.

Organizations (the people) – breaking down barriers between groups

The complex marketing operations and challenge to pinpoint attribution often leave digital and offline marketers jostling for departmental media dollars and recognition. After all, in performance-driven organizations, competition is critical. Digital marketers acknowledge the importance of offline marketing, as it acts as a source of traffic for their digital campaigns. The difficult issue is that the opposite is only sometimes true.

Each marketing leader should encourage their marketing organization to see themselves as just that – the marketing organization. Too often silos are put up between groups, and labels come about. Digital marketers are considered one team, offline another. While it’s good to foster competitiveness within the organization, remember that each channel can learn from another, and the principles of advertising apply across channels. Foster a community of marketers – without the channel as a label.

Putting These Tips to Use

Where to head next? Step 1 is ensuring your content and promotional calendar are ready for 2023. Then, focus on finding the middle of that Venn diagram when it comes to attribution. These can take time, but breaking down the barriers between groups can be started today. Remember, while your organization may view digital and offline marketing as two different groups, consumers don’t consciously see it this way. In the end, there are more things alike between the groups than there are differences, and the things that are different are solvable with the above tips in mind.

Are you looking for additional content on offline marketing? Here’s how to nail a yearly marketing calendar.

The post Finding the Balance Between Offline & Digital Marketing – 3 Tips to Ensure a Healthy Marketing Mix appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sydneysocialmediaservices.com/?p=4352

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4 Best Practices for Association Web Design

man explaining association web design

Your association needs a strong digital presence to stand out from the crowd. In fact, it’s estimated that you only have seven seconds to grab someone’s attention before they click away to the next website. With such a short time period to keep your users engaged, you’ll need a solid web design.

A well-designed website can help your association convert prospective members into applicants and retain existing members’ interest in your organization. As a result, you’ll have a thriving member base, allowing you to reach your objectives and grow at scale.

However, if you’re new to web development, creating your association’s website can feel overwhelming. With the right tools and strategies, you can jumpstart your web design and confidently build the association website of your dreams. Use these essential practices to boost existing members’ support and bring new people to your organization:

  1. Use consistent branding.
  2. Adhere to accessibility guidelines.
  3. Add an intranet network and private pages.
  4. Ensure your website is mobile friendly.

Before diving into these tips, keep in mind that a content management system designed specifically for associations will arm you with the tools and features needed for your industry. Let’s begin.

1. Use consistent branding.

Your association’s brand is made up of your mission, values, tone, and visual elements like logos, fonts, and color schemes. These elements work together to show the world what your association is all about. That’s why your website’s branding should be consistent with other public-facing materials from your association, like your marketing collateral and social media pages.

Branding can help your association web design look more professional. 

According to Morweb’s guide to web design best practices, branding is crucial to your website’s success for two reasons:

  • It builds online visibility in your community and beyond. Good branding helps with publicity, so if you’re looking to recruit more members or get people to register for your upcoming conference, having a consistent brand will help them find you on the web.
  • It helps your association appear professional and organized. A generic website looks less put together and reduces credibility. Instead, use branding to show that you’re a reputable organization providing an excellent member experience.

If you’re struggling to identify what your association’s brand actually is or feel like it’s outdated, it might be time for a thorough brand refresh. Revisiting and re-evaluating your brand in these cases can help your team streamline your public messaging and increase your association’s brand recognition among your target audience.

2. Adhere to accessibility guidelines.

One critical component of good web design is accessibility. Having an accessible website means that people of all abilities are able to easily navigate and engage with your website’s content.

Here are some easy ways to put inclusivity at the forefront of your digital strategy:

  • Use text and graphics that have a high contrast ratio. A high contrast ratio makes it easier for people with visual impairments to read your web content. For example, black text on a white background stands out and ensures it’s easier to read the featured content.
  • Choose easy-to-read fonts. No one likes to waste time deciphering a complicated font. Keep things simple by choosing a sans-serif font, as these are typically better for web content.
  • Add alt-text to images and graphics. Alt-text, or alternative text, is added to the HTML of images or graphics on a website, providing a description of the image. This ensures that visitors using a screen reader won’t have any gaps in their browsing experience.
  • Offer closed captioning and transcripts for multimedia elements. If you’re including videos or podcasts on your websites, create a complete transcript so people with hearing disabilities can still interact with your content. You can also use free online tools to provide closed captioning on videos.
  • Include an accessibility widget. The right CMS for associations will allow you to add an accessibility widget to your website. This puts power in the hands of your website visitors, giving them the ability to change the coloring of the website to greyscale, increase the font size, and highlight links for easy access.

Web accessibility can open your organization up to diverse audiences. 

An accessible website will allow you to connect with people of all abilities who might be interested in working with or joining your association. Plus, your reputation will likely get a healthy boost when people see you’re making a concerted effort to welcome every visitor to your site.

To stay up to date with current accessibility standards, make sure to actively review the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Created by the World Wide Web Consortium, these guidelines can help your association evolve its digital strategy to meet growing web accessibility initiatives. Use an association-specific CMS to easily implement these changes without having to code.

3. Add an intranet network and private pages.

One of the greatest benefits of association membership is the opportunity to network with other professionals. To promote professional development and connect members with each other, add members-only resources, like member directories, forums, job boards, private event pages, or a members-only blog, to your website.

With a CMS built for associations, you can easily keep these sensitive and exclusive parts of your website secure by creating a password-protected intranet network. This will help you establish a strong community within your association and prove to your members that being part of your organization is worthwhile.

A secure website will help members feel more confident interacting with your website. 

Here are some tips to ensure that your members-only web resources stay secure:

  • Monitor account registration and deny any suspicious-looking registration attempts.
  • Encourage your members to regularly update their passwords.
  • Consider requiring a two-factor authentication sign-in process to preserve the security of your site.

On top of providing valuable information and resources to your members, emphasizing a secure intranet network also shows your current and prospective members that you’re a trustworthy organization. People will be more willing to give you their contact information or payment information when they feel confident in your web security measures.

4. Ensure your website is mobile friendly.

With people spending more time on their phones than ever, it’s a good idea to optimize your website for mobile users. This can help your organization expand its reach to a mobile audience and create a smooth experience for supporters interacting with your content on any device.

Make your association website mobile-friendly to increase your reach. 

Here are a few things you can do to optimize your site for mobile devices:

  • Use a CMS that takes care of mobile responsiveness automatically.
  • Make your donation or dues pages “thumb friendly” by including drop-down menus and single input areas.
  • Ensure pop-up windows scale to mobile devices so that website visitors can easily exit out of them.
  • Compress images to increase your website’s load speed.

When your website is mobile friendly, it is much easier for your association’s members to use it on a regular basis. Plus, a mobile-friendly website can encourage users to share your content straight from their phones, whether they’re emailing a webinar registration form to a colleague or sharing a blog post on social media.

The Gist

Your website serves as an invaluable marketing tool and resource for members. Even if you don’t have any web development experience, these essential tips can help you create an engaging and comprehensive website. Conduct research to find and invest in a CMS with association-specific features so you can easily create a strong digital presence tailored to your audience.

This is a guest post from Murad Bushnaq

Murad Bushnaq is the Founder and CEO of Morweb. Since its inception in 2014, Murad has acted as Creative Director and Chief Technologist to help nonprofits spread their vision online through engaging design, intuitive software and strategic communication.

The post 4 Best Practices for Association Web Design appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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What Defines a Quality Content Marketing Strategy

quality content marketing

Not all content marketing is created equal. In fact, in a world where every brand is creating content, quality content marketing can feel hard to find.

That’s because it takes a concerted, extended effort. But the ROI on a strategy that works is undeniable — brands that do best at content marketing earn higher visibility, engage more potential customers, and consistently outperform their competitors.

In the sections that follow we will:

  • Cover some content marketing basics to set the foundation
  • Walk through 6 traits of a quality content marketing strategy
  • Explore actionable, realistic ways you can level up content quality right away

Quick Takeaways

  • Quality content marketing earns 3X the leads and 6X the conversions as traditional marketing methods. 
  • Traits of a quality content marketing strategy include customer focus, consistent and frequent publishing, a diverse content library, and a data-driven approach.
  • Ways to level up the quality of your content include using a content calendar, using data analytics tools, and refreshing old content.

What is content marketing and why do you need to be doing it?

Content marketing is the creation of high-value content to attract and engage new potential customers for a business.

In a world where more than 90% of all online experiences start with a search engine, content presents a huge opportunity for brands to build their visibility and audience.  Using search engine optimization (SEO), brands can develop content specifically to make it appear on search engine results pages (SERPs).

This has massively leveled the playing field across the board for companies of all sizes and in every industry. It used to be that big marketing budgets were required to beat out competitors and get noticed by consumers. Today, it just requires a website and a content team to execute your strategy.

The ROI is undeniable. Research shows that content marketing earns 3X the leads and 6X the conversions that traditional marketing methods do — all at a 62% lower cost.

Quality content marketing earns 3X the leads and 6X the conversions that traditional marketing methods do — all at a 62% lower cost.

Image Source: Convince and Convert

Still, content marketing is not a magic cure for marketing ailments. It requires a focused effort, execution on best practices, and a commitment to high quality. Publishing content that doesn’t meet quality standards can actually hurt your business more than help it because it suggests your product and/or service offerings might suffer similar quality issues.

Fortunately, executing a quality content marketing strategy isn’t complicated if you know what you’re doing. The next two sections will outline 6 important traits of quality content marketing and ways you can achieve them in a few actionable steps.

6 Traits of a Quality Content Marketing Strategy

Customer-focused

Quality content marketing is executed with the customer top-of-mind. The goal of every piece of content should be to address a specific customer problem, need, or area of interest. This is the best way to engage users, build connection with your target audience, and show why your brand is relevant to them.

A simple way to think about it is through the lens of features vs. benefits. When you focus on the features, you emphasize your own brand without connecting it to customer needs. When you focus on benefits, you emphasize how your brand can make your customer’s life better, a much surer way to get their attention.

The example below illustrates the concept in simple terms that you can apply to your own offerings:

Example of how to emphasize benefits vs. features.

Image Source: Lightstream Group

Consistent and frequent

Content marketing is a long game — Google rankings don’t happen overnight, and it requires creating and publishing content frequently and consistently over time to see results.

HubSpot found that brands publishing 11-6X per month (3-4X per week) earned more than 3X the traffic than brands publishing less frequently.

Companies that post 11-16 blog articles per month earn 3.5X the organic traffic as those that publish less frequently.

Image Source: HubSpot

There’s no doubt that publishing at this pace requires time, effort, and a solid plan. Creating a content calendar (more on them in the next section) can be a helpful tool for keeping you accountable and on deadline with your publishing schedule.

Creative and original

Have you ever Googled something only to find the first 5-6 articles say pretty much the same thing? It happens all the time, and it can be frustrating when you’re trying to do research and learn about something new.

Don’t be a brand that regurgitates what your competitors already said. Put an original spin on topics that are important to your customers, and let your brand personality shine through in tone, voice, design, and commentary.

Diverse

When people think about content marketing, most think about blogs. It’s true that an active blog is a core part of every content marketing strategy, but it’s not the only contributor. Having a diverse content library helps to expand your brand reach and engage different audience segments across channels.

There are plenty of content types to choose from, including:

  • Infographics
  • Videos
  • Whitepapers
  • Ebooks
  • Social media posts
  • Emails
  • Case studies
  • Guides

Not every content type is right for every brand — and it’s not a good idea to do too much all at once. Choose the content types that align best with your brand and strategy, start with one or two, and build on your success.

Data-Driven

In the past, marketers mostly had to cast the widest net possible and hope for the best. Today, however, data has made marketing all about targeting and personalization to earn results.

Brands have easy access to data about everything from user demographic and behavior to website performance to industry trends and more. Data-driven content marketing strategies harness the power of that data to execute highly informed content marketing strategies and provide high quality user experiences.

Technically Sound

Last but not least, quality content marketing adheres to basic quality standards like correct grammar, formatting, and the like. While these might seem obvious, they’re really impactful when it comes to engaging audiences.

Bounce rates for websites that have spelling and grammar issues were found to be 85% higher than those with well-written content. Similarly, poor website design or formatting can increase bounce rates because it makes it harder for users to get to the content they want.

Ways to Level Up Your Content Marketing Strategy Right Away

Know Your Content Pillars

Content pillars are the foundation on which your content marketing strategy is built. They’re the overarching topics most important to your brand. Content pillars typically have pillar pieces created around them, which are then backlinked by the more niche pieces you create around their subtopics.

Content pillars are important because they keep your content marketing strategy focused and your content library cohesive. Every piece you create should fall under one of your pillars, and the ideal number of pillars to have is 3-5.

Some of Marketing Insider Group’s content pillars, for example, are content marketing and SEO. We have our pillar pieces like “What is Content Marketing?” and “What is an SEO marketing strategy?” Then we have dozens of articles around subtopics that fall under these pillars (like this very article).

Develop a Content Calendar

Your content calendar is your ongoing reference point for article titles, deadlines, writers, and other responsibilities. It should be a central dashboard that can always be referenced to be sure you’re on track.

Even better news: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to build a content calendar that works for you. There are tons of content calendar templates to give you inspiration and many that you can even download directly and customize to your brand!

Here’s a snapshot of the one we use here at Marketing Insider Group:

Image Source: Marketing Insider Group

Revamp Old Content

Did you know that the content you’ve already created can be a source of renewed traffic to your site? It’s also one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve the quality of your content marketing. HubSpot found that refreshing old content for relevance and quality gave their page a huge boost — today, old content accounts for 76% of their page views and 92% of their leads!

Use Data Analytics Tools

Almost every platform you use to execute your content marketing strategy — CMS systems, email marketing platforms, social media, Google and more — all have data analytics tools built in so that you can analyze performance and gather insights to drive your strategy.

To execute a quality content marketing strategy, my advice is simple: use these tools!

If you’re going to start with one, make it Google Analytics. You can find tons of data in one place — user demographics, page metrics, SEO performance, keyword opportunities and more.

There are also tons of SEO-specific analytics tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs where, for a monthly fee, you can get insightful data about site and strategy performance.

Measure Your Progress

Looking at available data is a great first step, but you also need a plan for measuring and analyzing it over time. It helps to maintain a data dashboard (similar to your content calendar) where you record and track metrics that are most important to you. Put processes in place to ensure your team meets periodically to analyze key KPIs and take appropriate response actions as needed.

Over to You

If you’re ready to jumpstart your content marketing but need support with content creation, you’re not alone! More than 70% of businesses outsource content creation so they can execute a high-quality strategy while staying focused on their core business.

The team of writers and SEO experts at Marketing Insider Group can deliver you optimized, ready-to-publish content every week for one year or more. To learn more, read about our SEO Blog Writing Service or schedule a quick consultation with me!

The post What Defines a Quality Content Marketing Strategy appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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Retargeting vs. Remarketing: What’s The Difference?

retargeting vs remarketing

Retargeting vs. remarketing: are they different or the same? Which one is better?

If you’re a marketer, it’s a debate you’ve likely heard before. Retargeting and remarketing are in fact different tactics, but the truth is the distinction between the two isn’t always clear. They can overlap, and their shared goals often means they’re both part of the same strategy.

To earn the highest ROI from retargeting and remarketing efforts, it’s important to understand the terms separately and know you can optimize each. That’s what we’re going to cover in this article.

In the sections that follow, we will:

  • Outline the differences between retargeting and remarketing
  • Discuss why so much confusion exists about the two tactics
  • Walk through when to use retargeting and when to use remarketing

Let’s get started.

Quick Takeaways

  • Retargeting and remarketing both aim to re-engage users who have already interacted with your brand.
  • Retargeting happens primarily through display ads, while remarketing uses email.
  • Technology tools have blurred the line between the two concepts (like display ads targeting customers from an email list).
  • Retargeting is effective for increasing brand awareness and maximizing ROI on a limited ad budget.
  • Remarketing is effective for re-engaging inactive past customers and converting abandoned cart users.

Retargeting vs. Remarketing: Breaking Down the Differences

First thing’s first: what is the real difference between remarketing and retargeting? I find it most effective to delineate the two using two key factors: audience and channel.

Audience

The audience for retargeting efforts is users who have interacted with your brand but have not yet made an actual purchase. They may have visited your website, read your blog content, followed you on social media, or clicked on a display ad.

Remarketing, on the other hand, aims to engage current and past customers who have already made a purchase and have either become inactive or may be interested in new offers.

Channel

Retargeting mainly happens through display ads. Brands can use a small piece of code (called cookies) on their website to track user activity while they’re on your site and elsewhere on the internet after they leave. Based on their activity, you show them an ad that’s relevant to their interests and makes them more likely to convert.

For example: if a user spends time browsing a certain product on your website, you may show them an ad with that product and even offer an additional discount offer to incentivize them.

Remarketing happens primarily through email. Since brands are reaching out to current customers, they can use their contact information to send hyper-relevant offers, like product recommendations based on past purchases.

Why the confusion?

There are a few reasons that defining retargeting and remarketing as separate concepts has become so confusing. First, they do have a common goal: to engage people who have already interacted with your brand and/or are exceptionally likely to convert to paying customers. It’s easy for brands pursuing this goal to blur the lines between the two similar strategies.

Second is that the terms are used so interchangeably and inconsistently. A quick Google search explains much of the confusion — many of the articles tell a slightly different story about how retargeting and remarketing are each defined and different from each other. If resources on the topic aren’t in total agreement, it’s no wonder there is no wider consensus on it.

But the most significant reason behind the retargeting vs. remarketing concept is that modern technology tools have enabled the two strategies to bleed into each other in new ways. Most notably is the ability to upload email lists to platforms like Google Display Network or Facebook Ads and show targeted ads to audiences you typically interact with through email remarketing.

Brands can upload a list of customer email addresses to Google Ads.

Image Source: Search Engine Journal

It begs the question: what is the true defining factor between retargeting and remarketing? Is it the level of interaction users have had (i.e. interacted with your brand vs. already made a purchase) or is it the channel through which you’re engaging them (email vs. ads). If we’re using the standards that originally dictated each strategy, it’s the level of user interaction.

Those display ads shown to people on the email list you uploaded to Facebook Ads, then, are technically a form of remarketing.

I expect, however, that the retargeting vs. remarketing debate will continue to evolve as tactics behind each strategy become more sophisticated and integrated with each other. My advice is to worry less about the exact definition of each and instead hold a general understanding of the two concepts. Then, focus on which approaches from each fit best into your strategy.

Which one should you use?

The shore answer: both! Retargeting and remarketing each have a role in moving potential customers down the funnel. The real question, then, is not if you should use both strategies, but when you should use each.

Let’s take a look at specific scenarios ideal for each strategy.

When to use retargeting

Increase brand awareness

Retargeting ads are an extremely effective way to keep your brand and products top-of-mind for your audience. This is important for two important reasons. First, if someone visited your website but didn’t take action, a retargeted ad can be the nudge they need to make a purchase.

Second, even if someone isn’t quite ready to make a purchase, retargeted ads make them more likely to remember and choose your products when it’s time to buy.

Steal leads from competitors

One of the ways you can retarget ads is to people who have viewed brands and products similar to yours. Gain a competitive advantage over your competitors by targeting their website visitors and showing them ads for your own products. You can even offer special discounts to incentivize people to choose your products over other options.

Make the most of a small budget

If you’ve got a limited budget to dedicate to ads, retargeting can get you the most bang for your buck. Sellers using Facebook Ads, for example, earn $8-12 on every $1 they spend. That’s a 10X ROI (or more) at 33% lower cost than the industry average.

Facebook retargeting ads earn a 10X ROI at 33% less cost than the industry average.

Image Source: Socioh

When to use remarketing

Upsell and cross-sell

Remarketing to customers who have already purchased your products presents the perfect opportunity to both upsell (getting customers to upgrade current products) or cross-sell (sell items that complement the products your customer already owns).

Warm up cold leads

Remarketing emails can reengage users who made a purchase in the past but have since been inactive in your pipeline. They have high levels of personalization and customization that make it easy to show hyper-relevant product recommendations and other offers that draw customers back to your brand.

Reduce card abandonment

Nearly 70% of all online carts are abandoned by users without making a purchase. When you consider mobile users only, that rate is even higher — a whopping 85%!

Nearly 70% of online carts are abandoned by users without making a purchase.

Image Source: Sleeknote

Remarketing emails to remind users about products they’ve abandoned have an open rate of 41% and a click rate of 9.5% — significantly higher than standard marketing emails.

Retargeting vs. Remarketing: Putting it all Together

Let’s recap what we know about retargeting vs. remarketing. We know that retargeting is used to reach users who have interacted with your brand, but haven’t made a purchase. Remarketing is used to re-engage current and past customers. Retargeting is mainly executed through display ads, and remarketing usually happens by email.

While the strategies are technically different, they have a shared goal: to engage users most likely to convert.

The best way to leverage retargeting and remarketing is to use them both, optimizing use cases for each to increase conversions and earn new customers.

Over to You

Consistent, high-value content can enhance your retargeting and remarketing efforts and establish your brand as an industry leader. The team of writers and SEO experts at Marketing Insider Group can deliver you optimized, high-value content every week for a year (or more) that drives your strategy forward.

Check out our SEO Blog Writing Service or schedule a quick consultation to learn more!

The post Retargeting vs. Remarketing: What’s The Difference? appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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