In this week's episode of Marketing Smarts, author and social media strategist Jay Baer explains why the easiest way to be successful in social is to "be social about content instead of being social about your company." more

The growing popularity of visual content platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram shows that people crave eye candy. But do companies need to hire expensive graphic designers or buy expensive software to create visual content? Not at all. Businesses of all sizes can craft inexpensive visual content that engages current ... more

If your email marketing campaign doesn't generate the kind of ROI you expect, take a look at your typical call to action (CTA). Does it tell a customer how to take the next step? Does it create a sense of urgency? "When your audience is left with no direction and no ... more

Long-form content—defined as videos lasting longer than 10 minutes—accounted for more than one-half of the total time people spent watching online video across all connected devices in the first quarter of 2012, up from 25% six months earlier, according to Ooyala's Global Video Index Report. more

In this week's Marketing Smarts podcast, Summer Joy Boone, director of assimilation and social media at a Florida church, and Janet K. Altman, principal and marketing director at the second largest accounting firm in Florida, offer unique perspectives on a host of marketing topics. more

Just as education has its three R's (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic), content marketing has its three E's: engage, educate, and earn. Or so writes Zach Michonski in his Brafton blog article, "The Three E's of Successful Content Marketing." Those E's make it easy for businesses to remember the most important ... more

To attract customers, you spend hours creating content, blogging, tweeting, and replying to comments. But a few unprofessional missteps could damage your online reputation—and send customers straight to your competitors. more

Telling ordinary, made-up stories isn't what makes your content marketing engaging for your customers and would-be customers. What matters is telling interesting true stories that help your audience understand your product, service, or business. So, to help your company unearth real-life stories from within your organization, ... more

Even experienced email marketers agonize over subject lines—polishing, editing, tweaking, and perfecting 50-character phrases until they're just right. After all, a single word can make the difference between a subscriber's indifference and interest. So how do you get recipients to open your messages? In this post at Mass Transmit, Anthony Schneider outlines ... more

Ah... mobile mania. It's everywhere. Whether your target audience is B2B or B2C, your marketing needs to go mobile. Here's a three-step framework to help marketers effectively integrate mobile into the marketing mix. more

What can gardening techniques teach you about growing a keyword plan? Quite a lot, it turns out. "When you plant seedlings, you need to plant them in groups according to how much sun they need and how aerated the soil should be," writes Jenny Halasz at Search Engine Land. "You ... more

Case studies are meant to satisfy every professional's voyeuristic impulse—each an inspirational opportunity to observe the secret process that took a company from challenge to success. But just how useful are they? more

You're a new blogger, bursting with energy and excitement. You're sure your new blog will inspire myriad comments and countless social shares. But even though you've published a few posts, your blog isn't getting any comments or shares at all. What are you doing wrong? Perhaps you're making some of the ... more

Despite the naysayers who like to predict the imminent demise of email marketing, one fact remains true: It's highly profitable. "Email averages a return on investment (ROI) of $40 for every $1 spent, far outstripping banner ads ($2) and keyword ads ($17)," writes Eric Didier in an article at MarketingProfs. So ... more

We took Marketing Smarts on the road and recorded the podcast live in Los Angeles, where I interviewed Eric Granof, CMO at the largest underwriter of surety bail in the US, and Brad Abare, communications director of a Los Angeles-based church. more

A strong SEO program relies on backlinks—links to your website from external sources. "Those backlinks signal to search engines how influential and relevant your business is online," writes Chris Sheehy in an article at MarketingProfs. They "trigger local citations of your business and aid in deepening your local market penetration," ... more

Content curation is everywhere: 95% of surveyed marketers say they have curated content in the past six months (i.e., shared content from blogs, industry publications, or other online channels with customers or prospects), according to a survey from Curata. more

We all know it: There's nothing like a viral video to boost awareness and response. Why, then, are many B2B companies still hesitant to incorporate video into their marketing efforts? Businesses have been slow to produce and post marketing videos for three key reasons, Chris Peterson notes in a post ... more

What separates a legendary rock band that plays in sold-out stadiums from a one-hit wonder warbling at the local fair? According to Peter Krainik, writing in Forbes, one difference—besides the obvious (fame and fortune)—is that successful bands are dedicated to both playing what the audience wants to hear and sharing ... more

You've got a killer online video, but now what? In Part 2 of this online video master class, you'll learn essential tips for marketing an effective online video. more

Only 20.5% of surveyed mid-market technology companies have a corporate blog, according to a survey from Percussion Software. However, software companies, particularly smaller ones, are far more likely to have an active blog. more

When you work in SEO, it might seem that Google is always trying to trip you up. But that's not really the case, argues Brandignity: "They don't dislike all SEOs because ... we actually help catalog information and pages; that in turn helps their search identify which pages make sense to ... more

Art museums inspire visitors by selecting for display—curating—meaningful pieces. Like them, you can engage your customers by sharing quality content produced by others (you give the authors due credit, of course). But how do you know what content to curate? The fine folks at Percolate have created a video (titled ... more

Let's say your small business doesn't have the resources to hire a professional copywriter for email campaigns. That means you—or someone on your overtaxed team—is trying to create effective messages without a solid knowledge of what works and what doesn't. So, what must you know? In a post at his blog, pro ... more

Why should you hire a brand journalist? In this episode of Marketing Smarts, Joe Chernov, Eloqua's vice-president of content marketing, explains why hiring a brand journalist can make all the content you produce better. more