Time to Write My Blog…I Wrote My Blog…Time to Write My Blog

Remember the iconic Dunkin Donuts campaign from the early 80s featuring Fred the Baker?

What a classic campaign. 30 years later the lessons we can learn from Fred are relevant and applicable to modern content market.

It is hard….It is time consuming…but it can really pay off when done right. In my estimation a disciplined approach to blogging and content marketing can be a relatively low cost way of tilting the playing field for your products or services.

We have built one of the strongest content marketing practices in D.C. by working with our clients to create aggressive, consistent content marketing campaigns that ensure they have a strong presence across the web with their key audiences. We create quarterly editorial calendars that align with key company and product milestones, as well as industry events where we can help amplify messages. We instill content marketing into the DNA of our clients so that they can experience the benefits of a disciplined approach.

Content marketing, however, is not something you can just set and forget. It takes care and nurturing. It takes discipline and an entire team effort. And it takes some creativity.

So the next time someone says they don’t have time to write a blog or are too busy, tell them to give me a call. We can share war stories and I can show them significant results. I think it will make them think twice and find that extra 30 minutes each week.

In today’s mobile dominant world, app indexing is signaling the beginning of a seismic shift in the direction of search, and marketers need to pay attention.

Google has been offering app indexing for over a year and its algorithm for mobile apps has grown in complexity in lockstep with the potential impact they can have on your company’s search rankings. While the advent of mobile optimized, responsive websites has worked wonders for appealing to a now mobile dominant crowd – brands can no longer afford to ignore the online visibility advantages of a dedicated app.

Not only can mobile apps do everything that websites can – they can also deliver a more intuitive, convenient and accessible user experience – so much so that if Google has its way – apps are destined to replace websites at the speed and voracity that desktop was overtaken by mobile browsing.

According to Google, “App Indexing allows us to index apps just like websites. Deep links to your mobile app appear in Google search results, letting users get to your native mobile experience quickly and easily, landing exactly on the right content within your app.”

From a practical perspective, this means that when you perform a Google search on a mobile device, the search results will include not just web pages, but also relevant content that is within an app – even if the app is not installed on your mobile device – further assisting users in the discovery of new apps.

Google’s expansion of in-app search increases the amount of content that is being indexed – improving the search experience for mobile users – and at the same time driving higher engagement with apps.

The clear takeaway here is that brands need to grow their mobile presence to stay relevant – period. Marketers need to leverage mobile to gain traction among users and work with digital agencies like Bluetext who are already tuned into the full conversion optimization potential that mobile delivers.

This is the beginning of a mobile dynasty – and marketers need to optimize it in every way possible.

We have all been there. The requirements start stacking from all areas of the enterprise and the politics are thick. Companies are ignoring some white lies they are preaching and it is impacting a major driver that can impact your business….THE LOAD TIME OF YOUR RESPONSIVE OR MOBILE-OPTIMIZED WEBSITE.

WHITE LIE 1: “Just throw that 3rd party code snippet in the header”
Technical Saying: Minimize HTTP requests

What this means:

The quickest way to improve site mobile speed is to simplify your design.

• Streamline the number of elements on your page.
• Use CSS instead of images whenever possible.
• Combine multiple style sheets into one.

And more. Contact us if you would like an SEO assessment.

WHITE LIE 2: “Servers are all the same, it’s the cloud, ya know….right?
Technical Saying: Reduce server response time

What this means:

Your target is a server response time of less than 200ms (milliseconds). Bluetext recommends using a web application monitoring solution and checking for bottlenecks in performance. Contact us if you would like help measuring this.

WHITE LIE 3: “You don’t need compression with these fat pipes we have now”
Technical Saying: Enable compression and Optimize Images

What this means:

Large pages (which is what you could have if you’re creating high-quality content) are often 100kb and up. As a result, they’re bulky and slow to download. The best way to speed their load time is to zip them via a technique called compression. Compression reduces the bandwidth of your pages, thereby reducing HTTP response. You do this with a tool called Gzip. Oversized images take longer to load, so it’s important that you keep your images as small as possible.

WHITE LIE 4: Just throw a redirect on that problem…
Technical issue: Reduce redirects

What this means:

Redirects create additional HTTP requests and increase load time, so you want to keep them to a minimum. Considering redirecting your digital business to another agency? Contact Bluetext

WHITE LIE 5: “As we co-develop just throw the JavaScript up top”
Technical issue: Anchor pages with JavaScript vs Leading with JS
You want to place all your JavaScript at the BOTTOM of the page. This will optimize the perceived latency because as the page is loaded it stops upon encountering JavaScript. Putting scripts at the bottom allows the user interface to display before the JavaScript is loaded.

If you haven’t yet heard, adult coloring books are in. No, not coloring books with naughty drawings—these are designed for adults, using colored pencils and markers, with intricate designs and geometric patterns. We started hearing about them last year, and they soon became the sleeper hit of the Christmas season, especially among millennials and college students.

The media stumbled upon their popularity after the holiday season. CNN.com discovered that:

Coloring books are no longer just for the kids. In fact, adult coloring books are all the rage right now. And while researchers and art therapists alike have touted the calming benefits for over a decade, it’s childhood favorite Crayola that’s gotten adult coloring books some serious grown-up attention.

CNN reported that the iconic crayon maker—the one that everyone knows from their own childhood—had launched a set of markers, colored pencils and a collection of adult coloring books, called Coloring Escapes, to take advantage of this new-found market.

Cute story, but what does it have to do with smart marketing?

At Bluetext, we thought it might be fun to create a page from an adult coloring book and push it out through digital channels to our clients, colleagues, prospects, friends and others in the marketing world. We thought it might strike a chord of both nostalgia for our crayon years and curiosity on this new trend. We also thought it would differentiate us from other creative agencies, who may not always be looking for new ways their clients can differentiate themselves in their markets. You can see it for yourself here.

And we were right! The response has been amazing. We’ve had far more downloads than we ever imagined. It’s just another way for us to keep top of mind with our clients and prospects, one that does it in a fun and little bit different way. That’s smart digital marketing.

This is the creativity we bring to Bluetext. Imagine what we can do for your brand.

Perhaps the most critical component of the dozen or so enterprise websites Bluetext currently has in development is personalization. This shift in focus to personalized customer experiences is becoming increasingly important for B2B companies because of the significant impact it can have on increasing engagement and conversion rates with your target audiences.

Website personalization allows companies to serve up a custom experience based on the characteristics, preferences, actions, and perceived intent of an individual or persona group. Personalization goes beyond simply accommodating a user with content we think they like, and if done right, establishes a relationship between you and the user to drive specific actions designed to achieve specific objectives for your business.

The drive to personalization is being accelerated by the fact that your B2B customers are also engaged in the B2C space, where they are active on highly personalized consumer sites like Amazon and Netflix. Because users of these sites have become accustomed – if not addicted – to the personalized content and buying recommendations these sites are known for, they are more likely to be responsive to B2B sites that deliver that same kind of personalized experience.

So just like their B2C counterparts, B2B companies are clamoring for personalization functionality because of the impact the increase in the relevance of content and calls-to-action have on their ability to attract and acquire customers. So as the expectations of B2C users increase – the more their B2B alter egos will expect websites to reflect their unique business preferences. However, this in turn will enable increased conversions by constantly meeting your customers’ expectations, building customer trust and loyalty, and making it easier for buyers to make purchasing decisions to acquire your products and services.

At Bluetext, our personalization process begins at discovery – segmenting your database according to target customers with similar qualities such as size, industry, revenue, and location. From there we develop buyer personas within those customer groups and customize calls-to-action for that persona at different stages in their buying journey to deliver the right message to the right person at the ideal time in the buying process.

It is clearly time for B2B marketers to get personal…

In the crowded and highly-competitive non-profit market, how do you differentiate your brand from your competitors?

While you’re thinking about how to stand out from the crowd, download a poster from our Adult Coloring Book that you can bring to life, and let Bluetext solve your bigger marketing challenges.

Download our Adult Coloring Book here!

Today’s landscape requires the need for constant database care and feeding…smart marketing campaigns, hyper targeted, very personalized, with highly engaging and rich creative presentation. Spray and pray marketing tactics have not worked for quite some time, and just trying to mimic the new hot buzz wordy marketing approach doesn’t also pay off as well as a thoughtful, disciplined and collaborative developed marketing strategy between a client and its marketing agency. So where does the” certified” and the “vegetarian” come in?

Vegetarian Marketers love TOFU.   That’s their meat!

What’s TOFU?

Top of Funnel focused marketing activities.

Or better defined.

Good top of the funnel content marketing serves to commence a relationship (by way of opt-in) with a prospect visiting your site who otherwise might leave without making contact

Here are the key questions you should ask when putting together top of the funnel content.

• Does this intersect my prospects’ information journey at the right point?
• Does this look to take control of the information journey thereafter?
• Is this too obviously marketing?
• Have I considered what else I’ll back up this content with?

Why TOFU (Top of Funnel)?

There is no middle of the funnel or bottom of the funnel without the top of the sales funnel. The challenges brands experience in the middle of the funnel usually fall into one of two areas. The first area is non-opportunities. These are the “deals” that aren’t qualified opportunities at all. The second group is stalled opportunities. These opportunities are usually missing some of the commitments necessary to move them forward internally. The end of the funnel problems are usually around capturing value. But top of the funnel problems are far trickier. Think about how a funnel works. If you feed it in dribs and drabs you get dribs and drabs out of the other end. But if you keep a nice steady stream pouring into the funnel, you get a nice steady stream out of the skinny end.

Make a long story short.  Worry first—and most—about the top of the sales funnel.

Now for the “certified” part of the equation

Bluetext works with many marketing automation and CRM systems, including Eloqua, Hubpost, Marketo, Pardot, and Salesforce – integrating, configuring, pushing creative through them, optimizing with them. These tools are the personalization marketing brain and the central data hub of value that all of our blood, sweat and tears deliver for our clients every day.

Bluetext is proud to announce we have expanded our credentials by being named a certified Hubspot agency. 

Why work with an agency that has certified credentials versus a lot of lip service?

There are a lot of agencies that offer marketing automation services, but not all of them have the appropriate certifications. For organizations looking to partner with an agency to help them with their marketing automation readiness and implementation it is important to verify that an agency has the expertise to do so. A HubSpot Certified Agency Partner provides validation of the depth of an agency’s inbound expertise.

Bluetext delivers innovative content marketing campaigns for many consumer brands like Google, WeatherBug and SoundExchange.  Contact Bluetext to learn how we can build your sales funnel with innovative digital content marketing services.

One of the most popular video series anywhere right now is comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee,” where Jerry takes other comedians out for rides in classic cars, and then they get coffee. It sounds simple, but it’s very funny, and very well-done. But what’s unique about the series is how it is designed: The videos are made first and foremost to be seen on mobile devices, not on television sets or even desktops or laptops. These aren’t just “mobile-friendly,” they were shot on video for the very small screen.

Once you know that, you can watch and see how that is done. All of the shots are tight on Jerry and his guests. Images of people and cars fill up the screen. Colors are rich and saturated, coffee cups are shown in close up, even the froth of the cappuccino is given over to the screen. There is no small type to get lost or details that can’t be seen on a small device. And while they still look good on larger screens, this is a mobile-first design in its purest form.

What does “Comedians in Cars” tell us marketers about video campaigns?

Number one, it’s a clear sign that consumers are comfortable ingesting rich content in its most compact form—on the small screen of a mobile device. If Jerry Seinfeld is creating for the smallest of video sizes, then that is where the audience is moving. And if marketing is going to reach this audience, it needs to create content that works well in that format.

Number two, creating a mobile-friendly video cannot be an after-thought. Every aspect of the design of the video, from concept and storyboard to shooting and post-production, must contemplate the mobile device as the primary focus. Not only must all of the key images be seen in tight focus, but any calls-to-action must be large and easy to read. Text must be minimal and clear. Subtlety is not your friend. Actions must be obvious and dialog crisp.

Number three, and assuming the video will be hosted on your company website, the video player must be capable of managing a responsive video, and your video size must be device agnostic. Your video content should be visible on an iPhone, a larger mobile device and a large monitor.

Number four, choose a bold image for your splash screen while the video is loading. It will draw viewers in and it’s good for search as it will make your video easily recognizable. Here’s an example of a bold splash screen image:

Finally, think carefully about your Call to Action. CTAs in videos on a mobile device may not be clickable. If you are unable to create a clickable CTA, consider a CTA that’s external to the video but still on the landing page.

As consumers rely on their mobile devices for gathering the information they need to make purchasing decisions, a video that is truly mobile first can move you ahead of the competition.

Apologies in advance if you now have the 1981 Olivia Newton-John classic stuck in your head for the rest of the day. If you live on the East Coast you have no doubt been getting “very physical” the past few days if you catch my snowdrift. After all, it’s hard work moving bottomless mounds of snow from one heap to another. What did you think I referring to? C’mon now, let’s keep it kosher.

Digital marketing became increasingly essential to consumer marketers in 2015, but there is strong evidence that digital is being elevated from just another item in the CMO toolbox to a pervasive ingredient to all marketing activities.

Exhibit A is findings from the Gartner 2015-2016 Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Spend Survey, that focused on business leaders responsible for marketing – digital marketing in particular – across 339 large and extra-large (whatever that means) companies in North America and the U.K. A whopping 98% of CMOs consider digital marketing mainstream and that online and offline marketing are merging.

Commenting on the results, Yvonne Genovese, group vice president at Gartner, notes: “Marketers no longer make a clear distinction between offline and online marketing disciplines. As customers opt for digitally led experiences, digital marketing stops being a discrete discipline and instead becomes the context for all marketing. Digital marketing is now marketing in a digital world.” 

In our marketing projects with leading consumer, business and public sector organizations, we are seeing significant demand for the “digitally led experiences” that Gartner references. There are a few digital marketing trends in particular that consumer marketers should keep their eyes on in 2016:

Smartphone ad geo-fencing

Consumer marketers recognize the need to map digital marketing into the consumer buyer’s journey when these digital assets can have the biggest impact. At what moment and location will the consumer be most inclined to play a video, read a text message or view an in-app ad? Smartphone ad geo-fencing enables marketers to reach an audience when they are most receptive to your brand, product, or service marketing.

Think about a consumer’s mindshare when entering an airport. In the traveler waiting for a flight, you have a captive audience thinking about various aspects of their business or leisure travel. Do they need accommodations, transportation, dinner reservations, or other concierge-type services? Smartphone ad geo-fencing can feed location-based ads to travelers once they enter an airport at a time when they are primed to take action.

Virtual Reality

Yeah, yeah, you’ve been hearing about virtual reality headsets for years. But VR is primed for mainstream in 2016. Oculus Rift has set an April release, in addition to other planned releases for HTC Vive and Playstation VR, are poised to put VR in the hands of consumers for hundreds – not thousands – of dollars. But the fact is that consumers don’t need to even shell out this kind of cash to experience virtual reality.

My colleague Michael Quint recently blogged about how Bluetext is leveraging Google Cardboard to bring virtual reality to the masses. Today, we are designing a digital briefing center for a client in virtual reality by marrying, in Michael’s words, “our creativity, advanced video capabilities, and cutting-edge app development to help a software company more effectively tell its story.” In this case it’s a b2b company, but we fully expect b2c virtual reality projects to become increasingly commonplace as the year progresses.

IoT

Consumer marketers are not alone in trying to get their hands around the Internet of Things, and how to leverage IoT for digital marketing efforts. In my end-of-year blog post, I looked at the IoT opportunity for digital marketers in 2016, and what it comes down to is that marketers will be able to capture a growing volume of data on consumer behavior and consumption patterns from connected devices and sensors, and then engage with consumers more effectively based on this data.

Marketing Automation

In a Forrester report, “2015: The Year of the Big Digital Shift,” more than half of marketers admitted their digital marketing is more tactical than strategic. Digital marketers are a victim of their own excess: Forrester reported that investments in marketing technology grew 3.4 percent in 2014 and is projected to rise another 4 percent this year. So consumer marketers will not lack for tools and options, but 2016 is the year when CMOs and their teams must invest time to identify the optimal set of tools to catapult their initiatives. They also most move beyond an understanding of the ‘basic’ capabilities of marketing automation tools, and shift from students to experts fully versed in the in’s and out’s of marketing automation.

 

In the digital age, digital marketers, companies, and thought leaders are constantly introducing new ideas making it almost impossible to keep up. Lingo overload can leave you:

• Out of touch with the latest digital marketing jargon
• Feeling left out of the marketing conversation.
• Paranoid that your boss will catch on.

That’s why Bluetext has put together a complete guide to Digital Marketing Cybersecurity Lingo!

Bluetext, an award winning integrated digital marketing agency, has created a Digital Marketing Lingo e-Book to ensure you’re up to speed on digital marketing’s latest and greatest.

Click here to download our e-book and sharpen your cybersecurity lingo!