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How to Increase AI Visibility Through Content Marketing

If you use SEMRush, you’ve probably noticed a new metric sitting on your dashboard like a silent dare. It looks like a speedometer and it measures something most marketers only started talking about this year: AI visibility. In plain English, it tracks how often your site is surfaced inside AI platforms like ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, and Google’s Gemini. These tools are already carving into Google’s search dominance and if your content doesn’t show up where people are actually asking questions, your traffic will shrink regardless of how “optimized” your pages are.

This article breaks down what drives AI visibility, why your traditional SEO strategy won’t cut it alone, and how smart content marketing puts your brand in the line of sight of large language models, not buried three pages deep under display ads.

The Major AI Search Platforms You Need to Care About

AI search is no longer theoretical. It’s here, it’s dominating query share, and it has zero patience for the old SEO games. If you want visibility, these are the platforms where your content needs to appear:

1. ChatGPT
Still the go-to for most AI users. Millions of daily queries, both consumer and business. LLM-based, not link-first, but it does cite sources when the content is clear, structured, and authoritative.

2. Grok (X AI)
Elon’s black-and-white, slightly feral search model that pulls aggressively from real-time data. Early, but gaining adoption fast. Heavy on news, thought leadership, and social content.

3. Perplexity
The most “search-like” of the AI tools. It surfaces links openly and gives clean summaries, which makes it one of the most important new visibility channels.

4. Claude (Anthropic)
Known for precision and safety. More conservative about citing, but still relies heavily on well-structured content and FAQs.

5. Google Gemini
Google’s AI search overlay that’s going to change their results whether you like it or not. If you think ranking in Google was hard before, just wait until AI summaries push organic listings further down the page.

Each platform pulls from structured, clear, specific, and deeply informative content. If your site feels vague, lightweight, overly promotional, or doesn’t answer actual questions, AI tools will skip you in favor of someone who does.

What Drives Traditional SEO Performance

Before we talk about AI, let’s ground ourselves in the basics. Google still rewards:

Domain Authority
Depth, accuracy, original insight, expert positioning.

Trust Signals
Clean site structure, no spammy links, legitimate sources, stable domain.

Useful Content
The biggest factor in the last two years. Not 500 words of fluff, not “best of” keyword stuffing. Real substance.

Technical SEO
Schema markup, page speed, linking, mobile performance, crawlability.

Search Intent Alignment
If your content doesn’t answer the exact intent of the query, Google knows and pushes you down.

So far so good. But here’s the problem…

Google Search Results Are Becoming More Frustrating

Users aren’t imagining it. The experience really has degraded. Here’s why AI tools are eating Google’s lunch:

You have to fight through ads before you even see the results. Often multiple scrolls of ads. You might as well be looking for a parking spot at Costco on a Saturday.

Search results lack specificity. Because Google tries to hedge and be “generally useful” to everyone, answers are often generic and vague.

You still have to click through multiple links to cobble together a real answer. Five tabs open, skimming paragraphs, manually gathering info. Not efficient.

You can easily lose your original query. One wrong click, the back button fails, and you’re basically starting over.

AI platforms fix all of this. You type a question, you get a direct answer. If your content feeds that answer, congratulations, you’re visible. If not? You’re invisible.

How to Increase AI Visibility Through Content Marketing

This is where the opportunity is. AI tools reward websites that make their job easy. That means:

1. Strong Page Titles That Match Real User Intent

AI parses titles quickly. If your title is cute, vague, gimmicky, or keyword-light, you’ve already lost.

Not: “Thinking About the Best Way to Manage Your Team?”
Instead:“How to Manage Remote Teams: Systems, Tools, and Best Practices”

Direct, clear, structured titles rank much higher..

2. Answer Questions Directly and Early

AI tools love content that gives the answer within the first paragraph. No grand journeys, no “storytelling intros,” no overly soft hooks. Answer the question, then expand.

3. Add FAQ Sections

FAQs are one of the biggest drivers of AI visibility. Use real People Also Ask questions, long-tail queries, and actual customer questions. Format questions cleanly and write to-the-point answers.

4. Use Schema Markup for FAQs and How-Tos

This is technical, but it matters. Schema tells AI “this is structured information, feel free to ingest it.”

5. Refresh Older Content

AI models love recency signals. If your blog was written in 2022, it may as well be in Latin. To this end, when you name your blog, do not put the date in the post name or in the permalink structure.  For example: Don’t have your permalinks set to: https:/yourwebsite.com/2025/11/21/sample-post/. And don’t name your blog post “P&C Insurance Trends for 2026” unless you plan to scrap the post in 2027. When you update content, if the date is not in the url, you can update, change the posted-on date and have a new blog with up-to-date information and not lose the search traffic or backlinks you had in the original post. 

6. Prioritize Depth Over Volume

One 1,500-word piece with real value beats ten 400-word filler blogs every single time. If you can say it in 400 words, maybe it’s a social post… or maybe it’s a video, not a blog.  To that end, talk about what you’re an expert in and embed your videos on your blogs for added Search Weight and interactivity, time on page and content depth, length and trust. 

7. Write for Humans, But Make It Structured for Machines

Clear headers
Short paragraphs
Direct language
Purposeful sections
Actual answers

How AI Chooses Which Links to Surface

This part is less mysterious than people think. AI chooses links based on:

Relevance: Does your page clearly address the question being asked?

Structure: Is the content easy to extract? Headers, lists, FAQs win every time.

Authority and Depth: Thin content does not get cited. Ever.

Clarity of Claims: If your blog confidently states facts and insights, AI will use it. If your content waffles or stays superficial, it won’t.

Non-Promotional Tone: AI deprioritizes content that reads like a brochure. If the whole page is “We’re the best, choose us,” you’re not providing answers to questions people are searching for..

A Real Example of How AI Visibility Works (and Why It’s So Easy to Miss)

We ran a live test for a client who ticks every SEO box. High domain authority. Strong time on page. Solid search volume. They dominate their niche. Perfect candidate to see how AI visibility behaves in the real world.

So we asked an AI tool a very specific industry question:

“What should I do if I get IRS Letter 6323?”

Our client ranks number one on Google for this exact topic. Not top three. Not top ten. Number one. So we expected a clean win.

What happened? Well, it was a mixed bag.

The good news: Every link the AI tool surfaced in its initial answer came straight from our client’s website. Three out of three. That tells us the content was trusted, relevant, and authoritative.

The bad news: When we asked the AI tool who a taxpayer should contact for help resolving the issue, our client wasn’t listed. At all. The tool offered several attorney names, none of them our client, despite citing their content just seconds earlier.

So why did the AI tool trust the content, but not recommend the firm?

Because the page title didn’t match the exact query. The ranking content lived under a broader title: “What do I do in an IRS audit?”

It was relevant. It ranked. But it didn’t contain the exact phrase “IRS Letter 6323,” so the AI didn’t associate the firm as the go-to expert for that specific situation. The content qualified for citation, but the title prevented the recommendation.

This is AI visibility in action. It’s not enough to rank. You need:

  • Specific page titles
  • Question-based variations
  • Non-cannibalizing topic clusters
  • A hub-and-spoke structure
  • Cross-linking between related articles
  • Enough depth that AI can map relationships between your posts

In short, you must make it incredibly easy for AI tools to identify not just what you know, but what you’re the authority on and when you should be recommended next.

This space changes constantly. And if you’re not paying attention at the granular level, you can be the most trusted resource in the room and still watch AI hand the referral to someone else.

Why Mastering SEO and AI Visibility Is Time-Consuming

Becoming good at SEO alone takes years. Adding AI visibility on top of it is a second career. You need to:

  • Monitor algorithm updates
  • Track changes in AI training data
  • Understand schema, markup, SGE, indexing and recency signals
  • Update old content constantly
  • Maintain editorial quality
  • Respond to shifts in user behavior
  • Build topics clusters
  • Structure pages that LLMs can easily parse
  • Test visibility inside AI tools
  • Stay ahead of your competitors

If you promote your EA to “head of marketing” and tell them to figure this out, here’s what happens: they drown, your search visibility tanks, and your competitors win. Marketing today is a specialization, not a hobby.

Why Outsourcing to an Agency Wins

An outsourced agency like Digital Storyteller brings something an internal generalist simply cannot replicate: a full, integrated marketing engine built for modern search and AI visibility. You get editorial strategy, SEO architecture, schema implementation, ongoing technical optimization, and writers who understand not only how AI tools interpret content but how to structure it so LLMs actually cite it. You also get competitor monitoring, analytics insights, consistent website updates, and a production team that can maintain the cadence required to keep your content fresh enough for both Google and AI models to trust. That includes design, content creation, social media, email sequences, CRM workflows, and the level of deep industry knowledge that only comes from working day in and day out with financial services, tax, legal, insurance, and related professional sectors.

The value is in the ecosystem, not the hours. You get a cross-functional team that executes at a pace and precision no single in-house hire could sustain, all for less than the cost of adding one full-time marketer to payroll. And in a landscape where AI visibility increasingly determines who gets found, who gets cited, and who gets recommended as the authority in your niche, waiting to “figure it out internally” is a losing strategy. The cost of inaction is higher than the investment required to do it right.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI Visibility

What is AI visibility?

AI visibility measures how often your website’s content is surfaced inside AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. It signals whether large language models view your content as authoritative, structured, and relevant enough to cite.

How is AI visibility different from SEO?

SEO optimizes your site to rank in Google’s search results. AI visibility optimizes your content to appear inside AI-generated answers. Google cares about clicks. AI tools care about clear, structured information they can extract. Modern content needs to satisfy both.

Does AI visibility replace SEO?

No. It sits on top of SEO. If your technical SEO and content fundamentals are weak, AI tools have nothing to work with. Strong AI visibility requires strong SEO as a base.

How do AI tools decide which links to show?

They prioritize content with clear answers, clean structure, authoritative depth, and schema markup. If your content is vague, overly promotional, or light on substance, AI skips it.

Can AI summarize my content without giving me credit?

Yes. That is the reality of LLM behavior. The only way to maximize credit and citations is to structure your content clearly, add FAQs, answer specific questions, and ensure your pages are the most authoritative version of the answer.

What content formats improve AI visibility the most?

Long-form guides, FAQs, How-To articles, structured list posts, and pages with strong H2/H3 hierarchy. AI tools prefer content that is easy to parse and grounded in real expertise.

How often should content be refreshed to maintain visibility?

At least every 6 to 12 months. AI tools heavily weight recency signals. Outdated content is deprioritized even if the core topic is solid.

Do backlinks matter for AI visibility?

Yes, but not like they used to. AI platforms care more about topical depth and clarity than sheer backlink volume. High-quality links still help establish authority.

Can an in-house marketing generalist manage AI visibility effectively?

Realistically, no. AI visibility requires SEO expertise, content strategy, schema markup experience, editorial skill, and continuous monitoring across multiple AI platforms. It is not a part-time side task.

Why use an outsourced agency for AI visibility?

An agency brings systems, tools, specialists, and speed. You get a full operational content engine for a fraction of the cost of building a team in-house. Better results, less time wasted, and a strategy that keeps pace with both Google and LLM evolution.

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5 Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Agency

Digital Marketing Team optimizing marketing for business

How do you know if you need a digital marketing agency?
 The simple answer: if you’re ready to focus on your business and do what you do best, then let a marketing agency do what they do best—help you grow and get noticed.

But there are also some clear signs that your business is ready to partner with an outsourced marketing team. If you’re experiencing any of the five below, it’s time to stop running your marketing on autopilot and bring in experts.

1. You Have a Reactive, Not a Proactive Marketing Plan

There’s a time and place for reactive strategy, but your marketing isn’t one of them. Reactive marketing is a band-aid, not a long-term solution.

It usually sounds like:

  • “Oh no, we don’t have any holiday posts scheduled for tomorrow!”
  • “We need more leads—ASAP!”

Last-minute posts are rushed, off-brand, and more likely to contain errors.

At Digital Storyteller, we help clients build proactive marketing plans with a content calendar that maps out weeks (and often months) in advance. Campaigns, blog launches, employee spotlights—everything has a place.

Need a Thanksgiving post? Added to the calendar. Celebrating an employee’s milestone? On the calendar. This kind of planning keeps your marketing consistent and stress-free.

2. You’re Not Focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A beautiful website and great blog posts mean little without SEO. If you’re not optimizing for search, you’re essentially invisible.

SEO is how you get found in the sea of Google results. When done consistently, SEO drives organic traffic, improves keyword rankings, and boosts your domain authority, a key measure of how likely your site is to rank.

At Digital Storyteller, we use tools like Semrush to analyze keywords, competitors, and performance data. With the right strategy, SEO compounds over time—delivering results long after content is published.

3. Your Content Isn’t Consistent

Be honest, how often are you posting? Consistency looks like:

  • Weekly blog posts
  • At least 3 social posts per week
  • Regular emails or newsletters

Posting “when you feel like it” won’t cut it in today’s market. Buyers look at how active and credible you are online. Consistency builds authority, trust, and keeps you top of mind.

Our audience knows they’ll see new blog articles weekly and regular social posts across our channels. That rhythm isn’t just for visibility; it builds credibility.

4. You’re Not Posting on the Right Social Media Platforms

Consistency is step one, but posting in the right places is step two.

As an organic digital marketing agency, we focus on platforms that align with B2B and professional services such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. But depending on your industry, you may need to consider TikTok or YouTube Shorts, which continue to gain traction even in B2B spaces.

The point: you need to meet your audience where they already spend time. And you need to show up with content that adds value, not just noise.

5. You’re Not Optimizing for Mobile

It’s 2025—if your content isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re losing business.

From emails to blogs to websites, everything should be easy to read and navigate on a phone. Why? Because that’s where your audience is.

According to Statista, over 60% of global web traffic now comes from mobile devices, and in the U.S., Google reports the majority of searches originate on mobile. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, visitors will bounce—fast.

A Final Note

If you find yourself nodding to one (or more) of these signs, it’s time to bring in help. Partnering with a digital marketing agency gives you access to a full team of strategists, writers, designers, and SEO specialists—all focused on building your brand, growing your visibility, and driving results.

Your expertise is running your business. Ours is making sure people find it.

→ Ready to see what outsourced marketing can do for you? Let’s talk.

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Analyzing Google Analytics Data: A How-To Guide

If you run a website, understanding how users interact with it is essential. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest and most powerful tool for doing just that. Unlike its predecessor, Universal Analytics, GA4 tracks user interactions through an event-based model — giving you deeper insights across devices and platforms.

But let’s face it: GA4 can be overwhelming at first glance. This guide will help you understand the essential metrics and how to interpret them so you can make informed decisions to improve your site and achieve your business goals.

What Is GA4?

GA4 is Google’s new default analytics platform, replacing Universal Analytics as of July 1, 2023. It focuses on tracking events instead of sessions, allowing for more accurate and flexible data. GA4 works across both websites and mobile apps, and it provides enhanced user privacy controls and predictive metrics.

Key GA4 Metrics You Should Know

Here are the most important metrics in GA4, what they mean, and how to use them:

1. Users

  • Definition: GA4 reports both Total Users and Active Users. Active Users are those who had an engaged session.
  • Use it to: Track how many individuals are visiting and interacting with your site.
  • Watch for: Sudden drops or spikes that could indicate tracking issues or campaign performance changes.

2. Engaged Sessions

  • Definition: A session lasting longer than 10 seconds, with a conversion event or 2+ pageviews.
  • Use it to: Understand how many sessions include meaningful interaction.
  • Watch for: A low number may suggest users aren’t finding value or are bouncing quickly.

3. Engagement Rate

  • Definition: The percentage of engaged sessions out of total sessions.
  • Use it to: Gauge user interest and relevance of your content.
  • Watch for: Drops that may indicate poor targeting or content performance.

4. Average Engagement Time

  • Definition: The average time users actively engage with your content.
  • Use it to: Measure how long users are paying attention.
  • Watch for: Declines could mean users aren’t finding what they need.

5. Events

  • Definition: Any user interaction tracked in GA4 (e.g., clicks, video plays, form submissions).
  • Use it to: Track key actions throughout your site.
  • Watch for: Gaps in event tracking may mean setup needs adjustment.

6. Conversions

  • Definition: Events you’ve flagged as meaningful, like purchases or lead submissions.
  • Use it to: Measure success based on business goals.
  • Watch for: Low conversion numbers can indicate friction in your sales funnel.

7. Event Count Per User

  • Definition: Total events divided by total users.
  • Use it to: Understand how interactive users are with your site.
  • Watch for: Low interaction might signal poor content or unclear calls to action.

8. Traffic Sources

  • Definition: Tells you where your users are coming from (organic, direct, paid, referral, etc.).
  • Use it to: Evaluate marketing channels and refine targeting.
  • Watch for: Underperforming sources that may need new strategies.

Best Practices for Analyzing GA4 Data

Segment Your Data

Break down traffic by channel, device, location, or demographics to identify patterns.

Align Metrics with Business Goals

Focus on metrics that support your KPIs — such as lead form completions, purchases, or newsletter signups.

Track Conversions Thoughtfully

Set up and label conversions carefully so you’re measuring actions that matter.

Use Custom Events

GA4 lets you define custom events for precise tracking. Use them for specific actions like button clicks or downloads.

Leverage Explorations

Explore user paths and funnels through GA4’s Explorations tool to find drop-off points and optimize flow.

Integrate with Google Looker Studio

Use Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) to create dashboards that visualize key metrics for your team.

Final Thoughts

GA4 is a major shift in how we measure and interpret digital behavior. With its event-based tracking and flexible reporting, it gives marketers and business owners more power than ever to understand and optimize the customer journey.

But like any tool, it’s only as useful as your understanding of it. By focusing on engagement metrics and aligning them with your goals, you can turn data into actionable insights.

Need Help?

At Digital Storyteller, we help B2B companies make sense of their data and use it to drive real results. If you’re unsure how to make GA4 work for your business, reach out to our team.

And if you’re ready to go deeper, don’t miss our Ultimate Guide to B2B Marketing for Financial Services Companies.

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What Happens When You Stop Posting Content? (Spoiler: It’s Not Good)

Let’s Be Honest: Silence Doesn’t Scale

You had good momentum. Weekly blog posts. A steady stream of LinkedIn activity. Maybe even a newsletter your clients actually read.

Then it stopped.

Maybe you got busy. Maybe your in-house person left. Maybe the leads slowed down and someone decided to “pause” marketing.

Whatever the reason, here’s the reality: when you stop posting, your business starts fading.

It doesn’t happen overnight, but it happens fast enough to hurt. Visibility drops. Referrals stall. Inbound leads disappear. And just like that, you’re back to chasing instead of attracting.

What Consistent Content Actually Does

Content isn’t about going viral. It’s about staying visible.
It builds trust, reinforces your positioning, and keeps your brand top of mind with the people who matter most.

Here’s What You Lose When You Go Quiet:

  • Search traffic from blogs that no longer align with current keywords
  • Engagement from social channels that fall out of the algorithm’s favor
  • Referral momentum from partners who haven’t seen you post in months
  • Credibility with prospects who research you and find digital tumbleweeds

And most importantly, you lose mindshare. Out of sight means out of pipeline.

The Algorithm Isn’t Waiting For You

Whether it’s Google or LinkedIn, algorithms reward consistency. When you stop publishing, your performance tanks. Not because the content was bad, but because the system assumes you’re no longer relevant.

And guess what fills that void? Your competitors. The ones who didn’t stop posting.

Buyers Are Still Looking. Just Not at You

In B2B, trust is built long before the sales call. Prospects are researching, comparing, and validating online.

If your blog is outdated, your social media is silent, and your last email campaign was last quarter, you’ve given them three reasons to move on.

It’s not about being everywhere. It’s about showing up consistently in the right places with the right message.

The Rebuild Costs More Than the Momentum

Stopping content isn’t a neutral decision. It’s a setback. And restarting takes time, effort, and budget.

You have to:

  • Rebuild audience engagement
  • Recover SEO rankings
  • Reestablish social reach
  • Re-train the algorithm to care about you again

It’s not just restarting. It’s starting over.

What Consistency Looks Like in a Smart Strategy

This doesn’t mean you need to post every day or publish 20 blogs a month. But it does mean you need a sustainable, structured plan.

The Essentials:

  • A content calendar mapped to your business goals
  • A clear brand voice that carries across platforms
  • Monthly blog content optimized for SEO
  • Platform-specific social media posts
  • Email campaigns tied to lifecycle stages
  • A system for repurposing content to extend its shelf life

Posting without strategy is noise. Not posting at all is silence. Both lose.

Final Word: You Can’t Afford to Go Quiet

Your business might feel stable now. But stability in B2B comes from momentum, and momentum requires visibility.

If you stop posting, you stop being remembered. And when people stop remembering you, they stop buying from you.

So the next time someone suggests pausing content, ask them what the cost of being invisible really is.

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How to Leverage Your Business Using LinkedIn

person holding their phone at desk using linkedin application

LinkedIn is more than just a place for inspirational quotes and flexing your job experience… This platform—primarily used for professional networking and career development—is also a great place to leverage your business.

The best part? You don’t have to rely solely on paid advertising when it comes to LinkedIn! (That’s a win in our book). While organic marketing on LinkedIn takes more time and effort, the results are well worth the investment.

Interested in learning more? Here are our best tips on how to leverage your business using LinkedIn.

What is Organic LinkedIn Marketing?

First, what is organic LinkedIn marketing? Simply put, organic LinkedIn marketing is your ability to reach a desired target audience without using paid ads or marketing (i.e. no pay-per-click, also known as PPC).

Now, let’s dive into how to do it.

Connect with Individuals in Your Industry

When it comes to organic marketing, it’s absolutely essential that you have a social element driving your marketing efforts.

This means making connections with individuals who are in similar industries and/or positions (aka individuals who will actually care about the information you put out!)

Why? Your content will resonate even deeper with these connections.

So, how do you start building your network? The search bar on LinkedIn is a great tool that can help build connections. Using the search bar, you can search for:

  • People
  • Companies
  • Groups
  • Posts
  • And more!

Don’t Shy Away from Thought Leadership

LinkedIn is known for rewarding those who engage in thought leadership. But what is thought leadership? Thought leadership is defined as “the expression of ideas that demonstrate you have expertise in a particular field, area, or topic.”

Use your industry knowledge to your advantage; become a thought leader! This effort can have an even bigger impact if you’ve grown your social network intentionally as mentioned above (this means all the right people will see your awesome insights!)

Use Video Content to Your Advantage

We’ve said it a million times over… Video content is GOLDEN—especially in today’s day and age! Why? Video is a great attention grabber. Plus, it keeps things authentic and personable!

Think: Would you rather read 300 words on a page or watch a real person speak for one minute on camera? We’d choose the latter. So, use video content you have to your advantage on LinkedIn.

Interested in learning more? Read on in our article “Want to connect with your prospects? Use video.”

Don’t Be Afraid to Engage

You want people to engage with your content, right? So, don’t be afraid to do the same… Practice what you preach!

Next time you’re scrolling through LinkedIn, consider: Is there a piece of content that you think your audience would like? If so, share it and add some of your insights or thoughts in the caption. Have you enjoyed something that someone posted? Let them know in their comments!

Comments and reshares are a fantastic opportunity to showcase your own expertise while also getting your business’s name out there.

Use Hashtags

Just like any other form of social media, hashtags are a great tool you should be taking advantage of on LinkedIn. Using hashtags can increase your chances of showing up on someone’s feed as well as the ability to be found by search.

For example, in a piece on the importance of SEO and content marketing, hashtags might include #SEO #ContentMarketing #DigitalMarketing #Marketing and so on.

Let People Know You’re on LinkedIn

Shout it from the rooftops! People should know what social media platforms your business is on. Let people know that you’re on LinkedIn by cross-promoting it on your other profiles (i.e. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc).

Define and Maintain Your Brand Voice

Every brand has its own unique voice. At Digital Storyteller, we believe that each of our clients has a primary and secondary brand voice, split 90% to 10%. The 12 brand archetypes are as old as Greek tragedy (sadly, we can’t take credit for making them up…) and include:

  • The Innocent
  • Everyman
  • Hero
  • Outlaw
  • Explorer
  • Creator
  • Ruler
  • Magician
  • Lover
  • Caregiver
  • Jester
  • Sage

Want an example or two? Harley Davidson is a great example of an outlaw brand voice, whereas Disney is the magician archetype. An example of a ruler is Rolex; Chanel would be a lover.

Make sense? Not quite? Read on to learn more about our unique Brand Storytelling Sessions that we conduct to define brand voice.

Post Consistently

No one wants to follow an account that posts for Thanksgiving and then not again until Christmas. Make sure that you’re posting consistently to LinkedIn (and all of your social media platforms, for that matter!)

To reap the rewards of organic content marketing, you have to be consistent. At Digital Storyteller, we estimate that it takes between six to 12 months to see the results of organic marketing. This is why so many people today decide to go the paid route instead… They are impatient and in search of a quick fix.

Our best advice? Whether you’re posting once a day or once a week, create a content calendar and stick to it.

Don’t worry – We’ve made it easy for you. Click the link below to download our full content calendar template!

Download our FREE Content Calendar Template

Still feeling overwhelmed? Reach out to our team today! When you partner with Digital Storyteller, you gain access to an entire team of marketing experts at a fraction of the cost. Think content specialists, a client success manager, graphic design team, social media team, SEO specialists, and more!

Want to learn more about what a partnership looks like? Read on to learn what to expect when working with an outsourced digital marketing agency (including how much it costs!)

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Top Seven Categories of Digital Marketing

How They Work Together

The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving. (We know you know this because we remind you of this in nearly every piece of content we push out!) There are, however, a handful of tried and true marketing efforts under the larger umbrella term of ‘digital marketing.’

Because let’s be honest, not all marketing efforts are created equal. Here we will discuss the top seven categories of digital marketing and how they work together. These seven categories of digital marketing are fundamental to the success of your business’s content marketing strategy.

So, let’s get started.

Content Marketing

First, what is content marketing? Content marketing is the bread and butter of what we do at Digital Storyteller.

Content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action,” as put by the Content Marketing Institute.

Today, the traditional sales pitch style of marketing is decreasing in value every day. Instead, content marketing approaches prospective clients by providing useful, relevant content to help solve problems or answer questions. Furthermore, content marketing aims to build trust with your prospective clients rather than simply complete a sale. 

Effective content marketing utilizes the “creating and sharing [of] relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media.”

This type of marketing helps to establish expertise and increase brand awareness. The goal is to make sure your business is at the top of your prospect’s mind when the time to purchase a product or service comes.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is another crucial pillar in terms of your digital marketing strategy. SEO, in simple terms, is what allows your content to be found.

For our friends who love definitions, SEO, according to Moz, is “the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.” SEO is how marketers tailor their content to appeal to search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.

For example, you might search ‘affordable chardonnay near me’ on Google. The way that Google then provides results based on your search is determined by SEO. SEO is the tool that tells Google, “Hey! This is what information my website has, this is what I’m talking about, and these are the types of people that would find my website interesting!”

One of our favorite SEO tools to use at Digital Storyteller is Semrush. Semrush is an online tool that collects research on your business’s SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), content, and social media efforts. It can also help you identify keywords you are currently ranking for or targeting.

If you didn’t know, information about ranking keywords is critical to making your way up the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

For more on all things SEO, check out this article for 10 tips to maximize your SEO efforts, this article we wrote on why SEO is important, or one of our more recent articles on how to effectively combine SEO and content marketing!

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Parallel to SEO, we have SEM. You guessed it, another crucial piece of digital marketing.

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is, according to Optimizely, “a digital marketing strategy used to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs).”

In the past, SEM typically encompassed both organic and paid search. Today, however, it almost exclusively refers to paid search advertising.

SEM is “the act of using paid strategies to increase search visibility.” Every day, businesses pay big money for their ads to rank first on search engine results pages. Hint: You can tell when businesses are using SEM by the bold “Ad” text that accompanies a search result.

SEO, SEM, why so many acronyms?! While these two may seem like the same thing, they are actually quite different. Learn more about the difference between the two in this article.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is not dead. It has, however, become increasingly difficult to grab the attention of clients and prospects through their inboxes.

Email marketing, as defined by MailChimp, is “a form of direct marketing as well as digital marketing, that uses email to promote your business’s products or services.”

Email marketing can be used to promote your latest items and offers, or it can assist with lead generation, brand awareness, relationship building, and customer engagement. 

The biggest challenge with email marketing is breaking through the noise. The best email marketing experts:

  • Craft compelling campaigns
  • Understand optimal audience outreach
  • And analyze customer interactions and data

Email marketing software companies, including HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, and more, help perfect your email marketing campaigns by providing automated email workflow options as well as in-depth email marketing data (i.e. open rates and click-through rates).

Data Analytics

Marketing without data is merely speculation—a guessing game of what you hope will land with your prospects and clients.

At Digital Storyteller, we recognize that data is a crucial part of your digital marketing strategy. When it comes to our analyses, we use Google Analytics (primarily for website data), Semrush (for keyword analytics), and additionally Metricool (to look at social media performance).

Design and Website

As far as design goes, making sure your brand is consistent across all digital and print platforms helps clients and prospects recognize your brand immediately. 

Contrary to popular belief, design—whether for marketing collateral, social media, or a website—is more than just pictures and drawings. Venture and Grow state, “Graphic design is the art of communication that requires creativity and a systematic plan to solve a problem or achieve specific objectives.”

So, what makes effective design in digital marketing?

Effective graphic design “highlight plans to discover what makes [content] genuinely stand out and get shared.”

Additionally, top-notch design helps:

  • Build trust
  • Increase brand awareness
  • Influence the customer decision-making process

Don’t underestimate this component’s power in your digital marketing strategy. After all, you could have amazing content that gets swept under the rug because of poor presentation.

Speaking of design, let’s take a moment to chat about your website. Your business’s site isn’t just an opportunity to showcase your branding and design. Whether or not your site is easy to navigate and structured properly has a huge influence on how (and IF) clients and prospects will interact with your brand.

So, take a minute to ask yourself these questions: Is my website easy to navigate? Is it nice to look at? Does it lead people on a journey to find out more about my business?

Social Media Marketing

Of course, social media is a huge pillar in your digital marketing strategy. The platforms that you use (and that are essential to your digital marketing strategy) depend heavily on your target audience. Ask yourself where your prospects spend the most time, and where they are most likely to be influenced to trust a brand.

To learn which social platforms your business should be on, read our article “Financial Services Companies: Which Social Media Platforms Should You Be On?”

Social media marketing includes any content that is released via a business’s social media channels. When it comes to a business, however, it’s not all fun and games. Crafting the perfect social media marketing strategy to fit into your larger digital marketing strategy is more complicated than posting on your own Instagram or LinkedIn.

Social media marketing is integrated and strategic. It takes hard work. Everything that pushes to social media must mirror the messages that are used throughout your business.

Social Media Analytics

Analytics are also crucial to your social media marketing.

This data can help you discover what types of posts do or don’t do well and why. With this data, social media marketers can better tailor their strategies for their business’s benefit.

Digital Storyteller is Here to Help

We know, there is a lot that goes into a successful digital marketing strategy. At Digital Storyteller, we like to think of your digital marketing strategy as a giant system of gears working together. Content is at the heart of this system and drives all of the marketing components like SEO, SEM, social media marketing, and so on.

The system would fail without each gear in place. So, how does your digital marketing strategy measure up? Read on to learn how to measure the success of your digital marketing strategy. You might be surprised by how your business is really doing.

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What is the ROI for Organic Marketing

ROI of organic marketing

ROi for organic content marketing

Read more
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How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial

girl sitting at desk on zoom

The cat’s out of the bag. Video is the hottest media source out there right now—and therefore, should be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy.

The challenge that many business owners face, however, is not having the bandwidth or the knowledge on how to record quality video without breaking the bank. (No, you don’t have to pay a professional videographer for three hours of in-person recording…)

If you want to connect with your prospects, you have to use video. So, how can you do it yourself? Here are some suggestions on how to get the most out of a video that is recorded over Zoom, in-person, or even on an iPhone:

The Set-Up

Lighting, sound, and positioning are important. Here are some valuable, simple tips regarding each element.

  1. Make sure light comes from in front of you, not behind. A big window showcasing a garden behind you might serve as a lovely Zoom backdrop, but without lighting on your face, you’ll be washed out.
  2. Give yourself some space around your head. Frame yourself from mid-bicep up with a hand’s width of headroom above your head.
  3. Sit a little lower than the camera. There is a reason selfies are always up at a 45º angle—and while that’s a little extreme, a shot from below is rarely flattering.
  4. Give yourself some depth of field. Leave room behind you, it’s visually more interesting than a blank wall a foot behind you.
  5. When possible, forego the zoom background for something real. Unless you have piles of boxes or a messy bed, a real background looks better. Not going to work for you, we recommend one of these virtual zoom backgrounds. (Plus, they’re free!)
  6. If you have a lavalier mic or a stationary mic, use it. If you don’t, make sure the birds chirping, car horns tooting, and leaf blower blowing in the background is as muted as possible.

The Attire

Dress to the nines! Well, not quite to the nines… But you should certainly look presentable!

The Trunk Club recommends that you choose your meeting wardrobe the same as you would for an in-person work meeting or job interview.

Dress and prepare yourself as you would if you were meeting a prospect for a 9:00 am meeting in the office. 

Men, a collared shirt; ladies, a nice top. Do your hair and—if you choose—makeup.

What to Say in a Video Testimonial

This is where we find our clients get the most tripped up. Firstly, you want to showcase happy customers and success stories of yours. Why? You can build trust in a video testimonial by discussing your ideal client’s pain points and describing how your product or service helped them.

Here are a few examples of what to say in a video testimonial:

Start with your name, your company, and a brief description of what you do. For example: “Hi, I’m John Doe, founder of Awesome Company and we are a full-service Original Equipment Manufacturer located in Orange County, CA.”

State the “before.” “When we first met Brent at Innovative Capital, we had been looking for financing for a large equipment purchase to increase our manufacturing capacity in our Santa Ana Warehouse.”

State the problem.“We’d been to our regular business bank but, because of other debt and a sharp downturn in 2020 revenue, we were not able to secure the funds the old-fashioned way.”

Explain what the person you’re doing the video testimonial for offers. “We were referred to Innovative Capital by our Bank to help out. They said that Brent knew all about any kind of lending that you can think of.”

Tell the solution. “The whole process took about five weeks from the first meeting to funding. First, they got a ton of information about the company, historical and projected data, and put together a package that he was able to bring to a number of different lending institutions and funds… We couldn’t believe it when he came back with four options each with varying terms and rates after just 10 days.”

Explain how the solution helped you. “Without his help we would have spent countless hours going to banks, jumping through hoops only to get a loan that we couldn’t possibly benchmark against other offers. Brent helped us review the terms and rates and choose the funding source that suited our needs best.”

Share the final result—how did it impact your life and/or business? “We probably saved the business by getting this done so fast.”

How Long Should a Video Testimonial Be? 

No more than three minutes. We believe 90 seconds is best!

Final Tips for Recording Your Video Testimonial

  1. Know what you’re going to say but do NOT write a script. Actors spend a lifetime getting really good at seeming natural while saying memorized lines. The truth is, you will not seem natural and, since this is a genuine message, authenticity is important. 
  2. Make notes, don’t write a script. It’s OK to look down, but do not look off of the screen where your camera sits.
  3. Talk to someone specific.
  4. Don’t look at yourself in the camera. We can tell when people are looking at themselves.
  5. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t record a ton of takes. If you stumble, that’s OK. That’s how people talk in real life (and we want you to come off like a real person, not a perfect, shiny robot!)
  6. It’s not that deep. It shouldn’t hurt, take forever, or be super stressful. 
  7. Have fun! Tell a short story and say thank you. Know that video helps people connect with businesses by increasing trust and reducing stranger danger.
  8. BEWARE OF THE BAD CAMERA ANGLE… Here, our kick*ss Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Amanda Rogers, is here to demonstrate…

A Final Word

There you have it! All of the tools to set yourself up for success when recording a Zoom testimonial for prospective customers to view. Interested in learning more? Read on to hear about the variety of different video types available for your business to record.

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Don’t Be Scared of AI: A Marketer’s Guide to Overcoming Fear and Maximizing Potential

AI has been making waves in recent months, with advancements in technology fueling discussions and piquing interest across various industries. From sophisticated writing assistants to innovative image editors, it feels like AI is everywhere. But for many marketers, diving into the world of AI can feel a bit daunting.

Questions start swirling: “Will our content sound too robotic if we use AI?” or “Can people tell if our blogs were written by a machine?” It’s natural to have these concerns when you’re thinking about bringing AI into your marketing game.

But we’re here to tell you – don’t be scared of AI, embrace it. AI isn’t here to take over our jobs—it’s here to make them easier. Sure, there might be a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, AI can be a game-changer for your marketing strategy. 

So, let’s tackle those worries head-on and see how we can make AI work for us, not against us.

AI Can Get You 60% of the Way There

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the fear of sounding robotic or artificial. It’s a valid concern, but AI isn’t here to replace human creativity entirely. At Digital Storyteller, we’ve found that AI can take us about 60% of the way. It helps us generate ideas, outlines, and even assists in rewriting awkward sentences.  But, we still need writers to edit, fact check, and make everything sound human. 

Insider tip: Also have your writers double check for words that are especially known to be AI. Our running list includes words such as: landscape, demystify, realm, unveil,  crucial, and ending with “in conclusion.” Now that we told you the insider secret, see how many blogs begin with “In the complex landscape of…” 

How AI Can Streamline the Writing Process

Writing can be a time-consuming process, but with the help of AI, we can streamline various aspects of content creation to make it more efficient and effective.

Topic Generation

Gone are the days of staring at a blank page with no idea where to start with topics for blogs. How do we begin writing with the AI process at Digital Storyteller? We enter data and generate a list of potential topics. From there, we can propose multiple options to our clients or choose the strongest topics ourselves.

Improving Research

AI-powered tools can quickly gather and analyze vast amounts of data from various sources, providing writers with valuable insights and information to support their writing. For example, AI can scan through relevant articles, studies, and industry reports to gather data on a specific topic, saving writers hours of manual research time.

Enhancing Creativity

AI can enhance creativity by generating creative ideas, suggesting unique angles, and providing inspiration for engaging content topics. By analyzing existing content and identifying patterns, AI can propose innovative approaches to storytelling and content creation, helping writers overcome creative blocks and generate fresh ideas.

Automating Repetitive Tasks

Tasks like formatting, proofreading, and fact-checking can be automated using AI, freeing up writers’ time to focus on more high-level aspects of content creation. AI-powered tools can automatically correct grammar and spelling errors, ensure consistency in writing style and tone, and even suggest improvements to sentence structure and clarity.

Challenges with AI and How to Overcome Them

As beneficial as AI can be in streamlining the writing process, there are also challenges that businesses may face when implementing AI-powered tools. 

However, with the right strategies and approaches, these challenges can be overcome.

Adoption and Integration

One of the primary challenges is the adoption and integration of AI technology into existing workflows. Many businesses may be hesitant to embrace AI due to concerns about complexity, cost, or resistance to change. To overcome this challenge, it’s essential to provide training and support to employees, clearly communicate the benefits of AI, and gradually integrate AI tools into existing processes.

Quality Control

Another challenge is ensuring the quality and accuracy of content generated by AI. While AI can assist in generating ideas and content, it’s crucial to maintain human oversight to ensure that the content aligns with brand standards, is factually accurate, and resonates with the target audience. Implementing quality control measures, such as manual review and editing, can help maintain the integrity of the content.

Creativity and Originality

AI-generated content may sometimes lack creativity and originality, leading to generic or uninspired writing. To overcome this challenge, businesses should use AI as a tool to supplement human creativity rather than replace it entirely. By combining AI-generated ideas with human creativity and expertise, businesses can produce more engaging and impactful content that resonates with their audience.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations, such as bias in AI algorithms or concerns about data privacy, can also pose challenges when using AI in content creation. It’s essential for businesses to prioritize transparency, accountability, and ethical AI practices to ensure that AI-powered tools are used responsibly and ethically. This may involve regular audits of AI algorithms, data privacy protections, and ongoing monitoring of AI-generated content.

By addressing these challenges proactively and implementing best practices, businesses can leverage AI effectively to streamline the writing process, improve content quality, and drive greater success in their marketing and communication efforts.

Final Notes

By capitalizing on the benefits of AI in marketing while remaining mindful of the implementation challenges, businesses can unlock new opportunities, drive growth, and stay ahead in their industry.
Interested in finding out more? Read on to learn about the ROI of organic digital marketing (yes, it can be measured!) Then, get in touch with our team to schedule your FREE Brand Storytelling Session.

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B2B vs. B2C Marketing: What’s the Difference?

sign pointing one way to b2b marketing and the other way to b2c marketing

Business-to-business (B2B) companies know that their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts invest thousands in marketing every month and see great ROI.

Yet, B2B companies consistently underperform when adopting the same strategies as those consumer-facing brands.

WHY? Because (shocker!) B2B marketing is different from B2C marketing.

In this article, we will highlight the differences between B2B marketing vs. B2C marketing, as well as why we start with organic content long before we encourage our clients to invest in pricey ad campaigns.

What is B2B Marketing?

Business-to-business marketing, more commonly known as B2B marketing, is the process of selling products or services to other businesses. This can include anything from office supplies to software, to industrial equipment.

B2B marketing is usually more complex than B2C marketing, as it involves more decision-makers and requires a deeper understanding of the needs of businesses. 

Moreover, B2B marketing budgets are usually larger than B2C marketing budgets, as businesses have more money to spend on products and services.

What is B2C Marketing?

Business-to-consumer marketing, or B2C marketing, is the process of selling products or services to consumers. This can include anything from clothing to cosmetics, to appliances.

B2C marketing is typically more focused on emotion and creating a personal connection with consumers, while B2B marketing is more focused on logic and rational decision-making.

B2C marketing often has a shorter sales cycle than B2B marketing, as businesses take less time to make decisions about purchases.

What’s the Difference Between B2B vs B2C Marketing?

So, what’s the difference between B2B and B2C marketing? Here are a few key points to recap:

  • B2B marketing is usually more complex than B2C marketing, as it involves more decision-makers and requires a deeper understanding of the needs of businesses.
  • B2C marketing is typically more focused on emotion and creating a personal connection with consumers, while B2B marketing is more focused on logic and rational decision-making.
  • B2B marketing often has a longer sales cycle than B2C marketing, as businesses take more time to make decisions about purchases.
  • B2B marketing budgets are usually larger than B2C marketing budgets, as businesses have more money to spend on products and services.

Why Do We Focus on B2B Clients at Digital Storyteller?

At Digital Storyteller, we focus on marketing for B2B financial services companies. 

Why? Because we recognized a need and a gap in industry offerings. After all, there are plenty of agencies out there who spend their time on biotech, startups, and influencer marketing—but not a lot who spend their time with financial services.

We love to focus on this niche—using the “Digital Storyteller Hierarchy of Marketing”—because it’s a competitive and unique industry to market for.

Those in the financial services industry navigate the difficult terrain of regulatory and compliance hurdles while seeking to successfully market their products and services. This considered, it’s essential that financial services companies seek out the right marketing for their businesses.

Interested in learning more? Read on in “The Importance of Digital Marketing for Financial Services.”

A Final Word

So, there you have it! A brief overview of the difference between B2B marketing and B2C marketing. Keep these key points in mind when planning your marketing strategy, and you’ll be sure to appeal to the right audience.

Interested in finding out more? Read on to learn about the ROI of organic digital marketing (yes, it can be measured!) Then, get in touch with our team to schedule your FREE Brand Storytelling Session.

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The Importance of Website Audits

desktop and laptop on desk used for website audits

Most often at Digital Storyteller, we begin our client engagements with either updating or building a new website (after a Brand Storytelling Session, of course!)

After this, we typically begin ongoing content marketing for clients.

What we have found, however, is that when we go straight into ongoing content marketing—without a website refresh or build—we need to complete a website audit.

But why? What is a website audit, and why is this process so important? Let’s discuss.

What is a Website Audit?

We’re not going to lie to you… A website audit is no easy feat. It takes TIME.

A website audit, or a site audit, is a total analysis of all the factors that affect a site’s visibility in search engines (AKA, does it show up in Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc… What keywords does your site rank for? How does it appear?)

A website audit gives insight into how your site is showing up in organic search and how it’s performing.

Below is a shorthand list of everything WE do when we audit a site at Digital Storyteller.

What is Included in a Website Audit?

At Digital Storyteller, our SEO team checks the following:

Plugins

  • Is Yoast SEO installed?
  • Are existing plugins up to date?
  • Are auto-updates enabled?

Google Setup

  • Review Google Analytics
  • Is the UA code enabled? 
  • Has a GA4 property been created? 
  • Review Google Search Console for coverage errors, manual actions, etc.
  • Is the Google Search Console property verified?
  • Has Google My Business been set up?
  • Has Google My Business been verified?

On-Page SEO

Are the following intact?

  • Meta description
  • Keyphrase
  • Headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
  • SEO title

Media

  • Have all photos been titled properly?
  • Does each photo have alt text?
  • Are there captions or descriptions on photos that shouldn’t be?

Blog Posts

  • Are the correct categories selected?
  • Have we included internal links? External links?
  • Is there an excerpt present?

How Long Does a Website Audit Take?

The length of a web audit depends on how many people are conducting the audit, how quickly they work, as well as the size of your website.

A true website audit typically takes anywhere from two to six weeks to complete.

Remember, you want your audit to be thorough and worthwhile, which is why it may take so long.

Why Are Website Audits Important?

So, why are website audits important?

According to Devin Aubert, our amazing SEO Manager, website audits are crucial to ensuring your site’s health is maintained.

“Routine website audits support your site’s authority score and overall search performance,” says Aubert. “By maintaining a high level of site health, you can be sure that your site is accessible to users and functioning correctly.”

After all, who wants to use a slow, janky website?

When it comes to websites, first impressions really DO matter.

Did you know that it takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds!) for users to form an opinion about your website?

This opinion ultimately determines whether they’ll stay or leave… This considered, the functionality of your website is EXTREMELY important. You don’t want to lose out on prospects because your website isn’t working correctly or is difficult to navigate.

A Final Word of Advice

Finally, a word of advice from Andrew Marr, Owner, and CEO of Digital Storyteller:

“Website audits are crucial. Make sure that your website is optimized for traffic before you go down the road of producing fantastic content… It will save you time and money.”

Interested in learning more about what a website audit or rebuild might look like for you? Take a look at our pricing and then get in touch with our team.

Or, for those interested in reading on, check out the following website-related articles:

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Why Do You Need Video in Your Digital Marketing Strategy?

girl on video using camera on tripod to build her digital marketing strategy

Are you a business owner? If the answer is yes, please tell us you’re incorporating video into your digital marketing strategy… If you’re not, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. 

Why? Because video is crucial to showcasing your brand and ultimately, getting more clients. And what business owner doesn’t want more clients? After you’re done with this article, circle back to find out how to attract the right clients.

But for now, we’ve got Andrew Marr, Owner and CEO of Digital Storyteller on camera to discuss the importance of using video in your digital marketing strategy.

Let’s hear what this ranting Scot has to say.

Why is Video Important to My Digital Marketing Strategy?

So, why is video important? At Digital Storyteller, we love our metrics and statistics. (Our awesome SEO manager, Devin Aubert, however, is on another level when it comes to statistics love!)

This considered, we thought we’d demonstrate the importance and popularity of video with some stats from Techjury. Let’s take a look at the booming industry. Did you know…

  • “Video is the number 1 source of information for 66% of people.
  • Over 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day.
  • More than 75% of all video views come from mobile devices.
  • The global video market was valued at $39.61 billion in 2018…” (Imagine where it’s at now!?)
  • “YouTubers upload 300 hours of video content to the platform every minute.
  • 93% of businesses gain new customers as a result of branded video content.”

The point is so many individuals watch videos nowadays.

In fact, our owner and CEO Andrew admits to watching at least 50 to 100 short videos a day through Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Hey, it’s where his enjoyment sits!

But it’s not just cute puppy videos that grab his attention, Andrew reminds us.

“I learn from video. Most clients in the financial services world, the clients that we work with, have a hard time with video, and understandably so…”

Why? Truth is, it’s hard to sit in front of the camera and talk, especially about ourselves!

Today, Andrew says, your digital marketing strategy must include not only long-form blogs, newsletters, white papers, etc. but also videos. Why? If not, you’re missing out on a huge group of viewers, and therefore, prospects.

How Can I Get Started?

So, if you’re a business owner, you might be wondering… “How do I get started with this video stuff?”

Don’t worry, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

All you need in terms of video length is 30 seconds to a minute.

“But what do I talk about?!” Don’t worry—Think about the questions you receive over and over as a business owner.

For Andrew, these questions include the following:

  • Why should I outsource my marketing?
  • How long does it take to see an ROI when it comes to organic marketing?
  • Why does Digital Storyteller specialize in financial services?
  • How much does your marketing cost?
  • What is organic content marketing?

So, think: What are the five main recurring questions you get? Then, sit down and answer those questions.

Make your videos short and to the point.

If you’re not answering a question that you frequently get from clients, consider telling a story instead. You can tell a story about…

  • How your business helped a client
  • Someone on your team

You can even ask a client to record a video testimonial for you if you’re not quite ready to jump in front of the camera yourself! Here’s how to ask for a client testimonial.

Still Not Convinced?

Video is social media’s favorite form of content right now. By using video, you will increase your traffic, up your engagement, AND people will simply get to know you better by seeing your face, hearing you talk, and getting to know your personality!

Read on for more information about boosting your engagement via video in our article “Want to Connect with Your Prospects? Use Video.”

How to Record a Great Video

Need more guidance? Not sure what to wear in the video? Or, how to position your camera? Read our article “How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial” for all the answers you seek.

PS: These tips apply just as well to non-Zoom video recordings! Happy recording!

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Your Guide to Marketing KPIs

tracking marketing kpis

SEO, CTA, KPI … The list of terms you need to know for your marketing strategy seems to go on and on. We’re here to help break it down and make it easy for you to understand. Keep reading for our full guide to marketing key performance indicators (KPIs).

What is a KPI?

KPI stands for key performance indicator. They are a way to measure performance over time. Following certain metrics over time can help your business reach milestones, gauge processes, and provide insight to make better business decisions. 

What Marketing KPIs Should You Track?

Tracking the right key performance indicators can provide a holistic view of how  your business is performing. 

We, like Semrush, believe that these are some of the best KPIs you should be tracking:SEO KPIs

  1. Conversions: How many of your site visitors are qualified leads? How many of them convert to closed sales? 
  2. ROI: Return on investment is a metric that tells you how profitable an investment is/was, in this case, likely how profitable your marketing investment was.
  3. Organic Visibility: How are people finding your site? Are you showing up through organic search?
  4. Organic Sessions: How many users are finding your site through an organic search? 
  5. Bounce Rate: How quickly are users leaving your site after visiting? If your site is not user-friendly, loads slowly, or doesn’t provide the information your users are looking for, they might exit the site after viewing only a single page. 
  6. Average Time on Page: How long are your users spending on your site pages? Pages with more content, such as blogs or videos, typically tend to drive longer time on-page.
  7. Organic CTR (click-through rate): Does your site have clear calls to action (CTAs)? How often are users clicking buttons or links on your site? Which buttons/links are you driving them to click?
  8. Backlinks: Sites with higher authority are more likely to see increased backlinks. If your site provides valuable, authoritative information that users find helpful, and useful, they may be more likely to link to it from their own sites. This helps drive referral traffic to your site and continues to support authority improvements. 
  9. Keyword rankings: Keyword rankings are the primary driver of organic search traffic. Targeting specific keywords relevant to what your business does is critical to increasing organic search traffic. It’s important to track keywords in two ways: total ranking keywords, and keyword ranking positions. 
  10. Branded vs. Non-Branded Traffic: Branded keywords are directly related to your unique business. For our brand, this would include keywords such as “Digital Storyteller,” “Digital Storyteller marketing agency,” “Andrew Marr,” etc. Non-branded keywords are those that your site ranks for that are not specific to you, such as “digital marketing,” “social media management,” and “search engine optimization.”
  11. Page Speed: Page speed is a huge determinant of how your site performs. According to backlinko, the average page loading speed is 10.3 seconds on desktop and 27.3 seconds on mobile. If your site takes longer than this to load, chances are your user won’t wait and will instead visit a competitor’s site instead. Safe to say we’ve become a pretty impatient society … 
  12. Coverage Issues: Performing site audits can ensure that your site is functioning properly and that Google is indexing and reading your site as it should be. Google Search Console is a critical tool in identifying coverage issues and can help you solve any issues that you find.  

How to Develop your Marketing KPI Strategy

Your business’ marketing KPI strategy should be unique to your business needs. Sure, you can glean ideas from other similar business models, but tailor yours to help guide you where you want to go. 

Here are a few tips on how to develop your marketing KPI strategy.

  1. Define your KPIs- Which specific KPIs will your business track? How will you collect the data and how often will you track shifts? 
  2. Use the SMART Method- KPIs should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. For example, “Onboard 7 new clients in the next 12 months.”
  3. Keep your KPIs clear- Your team should understand your KPIs and how to act on them to make decisions that ultimately lead to reaching your goals.
  4. Revisit your plan- Sometimes plans need to change. Revisit your KPI strategy to make sure the strategy is still working for you. Maybe you need to adjust a few action items based to keep propelling forward in the right direction. 
  5. Don’t overdo it with KPIs- Try to avoid doing too much, too quickly. With access to a plethora of data, it can be easy to try to measure every little thing. We recommend using the information to stay on track with your most important targets- however you define them. This will help you avoid KPI overload. 

See an example below of how we at Digital Storyteller keep track of the important KPIs to our business strategy.

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Your Email Marketing Sucks… Here’s How to Fix It

person using laptop on email with email icons popping up

So, you’re a business owner, and your email marketing strategy sucks. It might be ineffective for a number of reasons. Perhaps:

  • Your business doesn’t have the bandwidth to have a consistent email marketing strategy
  • Creative copy isn’t your forte and your emails are boring
  • Or, you didn’t even know you were supposed to be focused on email marketing! (Of course, you have a lot of other things going on while running a business…)

Regardless of what the reason may be, poor email marketing isn’t going to cut it anymore. So, let’s talk about how to fix your email marketing.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing, according to Mailchimp, is “a form of marketing that can make the customers on your email list aware of new products, discounts, and other services.”

Why Is Email Marketing Important?

Email marketing is extremely important for your business. However, promoting products, discounts, and services isn’t the only thing email marketing is used for.

Email marketing is a great way to:

  • Incentivize customer loyalty
  • Educate your audience on the value of your brand
  • Keep clients and prospects engaged between purchases

And yet, according to Inc., 60% of small business owners don’t use email marketing. What a shame!

What Platform Can I Use for My Email Marketing?

There are a TON of platforms you can use in crafting a killer email marketing strategy. At Digital Storyteller, we work with a number of different customer relationship management (CRM) softwares to design, build, and optimize our clients’ email marketing strategies, including:

  • Hubspot
  • Constant Contact
  • Salesforce
  • Pardot
  • Campaign Monitor
  • Stripo

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

How We Create Kicka** Emails

Let’s take your email marketing strategy from meh to awesome! Let’s start off with an example.

Our Most Recent Email Workflow

So, we know we previously mentioned all of the different CRMs you can use… But, it’s not all about the software you use. In fact, what’s IN the email and as well as the CADENCE of your emails is more important than anything.

Here’s a sneak peek into an email workflow Digital Storyteller recently launched for ourselves. It’s a “prospect workflow,” a series of emails are sent to prospective clients to accomplish a specific goal (i.e. onboarding a service or purchasing a product). For us, in this case, it’s to onboard a new content client!

Below is a screenshot of the first email in our prospect email marketing series. The subject line was: “Why Would You Outsource Your Marketing?”

This email received GREAT feedback, with over 600 opens and 48.6% of people read the email (“read,” according to HubSpot, is defined as contacts who have “opened and viewed [the email] for eight or more seconds”).

People responded directly to the number and we got some prospecting calls on the calendar as a result. Why?

  • The email was FUNNY (in our brand voice!)
  • It was punchy yet informative
  • It provided a call to action (“Find out more”)

Emails will look different for everyone as far as brand voice and what your call to action is (depending on what you’re trying to get the reader to do), but here’s what every email should include.

What Every Successful Email Should Include

There are a few elements to consider when crafting awesome emails. (No, it’s not as easy as just slapping something together! Well, it is… But that wouldn’t provide a great ROI, would it?)

Define Your Target Audience

A majority of cold emails get ignored.

This considered, the first thing you need to do is define your target audience. This concept goes further than just creating a list of who your ideal clients are.

You need to understand your target audience at their core. In our prospect email workflow at Digital Storyteller, we used a combination of Andrew Marr’s (the Owner and CEO of Storyteller!) existing LinkedIn database as well as the LinkedIn connections from his Kennected sequence (Kennected is a LinkedIn automation, messaging, and outreach tool that we use) to increase response rates.

Connecting with people prior to emailing them adds a human touch and is a great strategy to practice.

Read on to learn more about how to attract the ideal client.

Catchy Subject Line

For a cold email to get read, you need a catchy subject line.

Your subject line needs to be descriptive, short, and something your ideal client would want to open. Examples of subject lines that have worked for us?

One time we titled a prospect email “We think our clients are sexy…” And boy, was this email a wild success! People were shocked, and of course, opened the email… which then said:

“Get your mind out of the gutter – we mean we think our clients’ businesses (financial services) are sexy… At Digital Storyteller, we work exclusively with financial services companies. It’s our bread and butter.”

Now, we get that this type of subject line won’t work for everyone (we’re Jesters!) – but it works for our brand voice.

At Digital Storyteller, we believe marketing without a brand voice is like a margarita without tequila… Learn more about the importance of brand voice.

Preview Text

Preview text is the words that show up next to or beneath the email subject. It’s a sneak peek of the coming email. And do you know how important it is? Research shows that 24% of people look at preview text before deciding to open and read an email. So, use it to your advantage!

Personalization

Personalizing an email goes beyond just adding your prospect’s first name to the greeting or subject line.

According to Campaign Monitor, “personalization is when marketers use subscriber data within their email content to make the content feel tailor-made for the individual.” And the result? Personalization “is proven to increase open rates and drive revenue by as much as 760%.” Wowza!

You can take advantage of this by:

  • Adding your recipient’s name
  • Selecting images based on data and customer profiles
  • Personalizing offers and product recommendations
  • Mentioning a mutual friend or contact
  • Mentioning something your prospect has done in the world recently (i.e. business move, family trip, a conference they’ve spoken at, etc.)

Add a Strong Call to Action

Make it easy for your prospect to understand what you’re asking of them. Do you want them to follow you on social media? Do you want them to download a free PDF or brochure? Always be sure to add a clear, strong call to action (CTA).

Follow Up

When it comes to email marketing, it’s not a one-and-done thing. In other words, you need to include follow-up emails!

Not sure what this looks like? Get in touch with us today to learn more about mapping out your email workflows.

A Final Word

So, to recap, email is not dead and is very much a crucial part of your marketing strategy. With that being said, however, we know cold emailing isn’t easy—which is why we’re here to help. Interested in learning more about how we help our clients? Read on to see how we shorten sales cycles for our clients (using email marketing and more!)

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What is Going on With the Instagram Algorithm!?

scrolling on instagram burgers in background

Social media algorithms, we’ve written about them before. It seems, however, that with every month, week, and sometimes daily, Instagram is implementing new changes.

Instagram has recently implemented a number of changes to its algorithm that have crashed engagement across nearly all accounts.

The most common complaints we hear? “I never see my friends’ posts anymore,” “I think I’m shadowbanned…” “My engagement sucks lately.”

We’ve heard it all and we feel your pain! Let’s talk about some of the recent changes Instagram has implemented and address some of these concerns.

What’s Going on with The Instagram Algorithm?

What better way to dissect the algorithm than to look at a blog post that Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote titled “Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works”?

Most importantly, Mosseri wrote that one of the main misconceptions about Instagram is the existence of “The Algorithm.”

“Instagram doesn’t have one algorithm that oversees what people do and don’t see on the app,” says Mosseri. “We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose.”

There’s a ton more good stuff and information on how the Instagram algorithm works (or lack of!) in the actual article, so check that out if you’re interested.

For now, let’s talk about some of the recent changes Instagram has implemented that might affect your content being seen or not.

Chronological order is back!

It’s about time! Instagram’s @Creators account finally announced the return of chronological order.

Back in the day—in 2010, to be exact—the Valencia filter ran rampant and the app itself looked like a neutral-toned vintage camera. Moreover, your home page was a single stream of photos that were sorted in chronological order.

Viewing posts in chronological order, however, was a feature that was removed in 2016. If you ask some, this choice nearly started WW3 (Just kidding … Kindof).

But flash forward to today, it’s back!

“You’ve been asking, and we’ve been listening! 👀” is what @creators captioned the announcement.

Following and Favorites

Instagram decided to take things a step further.

Instead of reverting back to solely chronological order, Instagram now offers three options to view your feed:

  • Home
  • Favorites
  • Following

Here is a brief description of what makes each different.

Home: According to @creators, “home” refers to the feed you’ve gotten used to. This feed will “remain a mix of content from people you follow, recommended content you may like, and more.” Home will remain your default view when you first open the app.

Favorites: Your “favorites” feed will show you the latest posts “from a list of up to 50 specific accounts that you choose.” This might include your best friends, favorite creators (including Digital Storyteller of course), or other favorite accounts that you follow.

Following: Just as it sounds—the “following” feed will show you posts from only accounts that you follow.

Are You Using All of Instagram’s Features?

Over the past five years, Instagram has launched a ton of new features, including reels, stories, IGTV, and even shopping.

We’ve noticed that sometimes it feels like Instagram either rewards or punishes accounts based on your usage of the app as a whole. The bottom line? Instagram wants you to use and try all of its features. 

Depending on your business or goals, your digital marketing strategy might include a combination of:

  • Standard posts
  • Reels
  • Stories
  • IGTV videos
  • Shoppable posts

Consistency is Key

The algorithm favors consistency and patterns. Find out when your target audience is most active, and tailor your posting schedule toward that. At Digital Storyteller, we do this with ease using the scheduling platform, Metricool. Of course, there are various alternative scheduling platforms and tools that can be used similarly as well.

A Quick Rundown of Each Social Media Platform

Lastly, it’s important to know which social media channels are best suited to help you attain the unique needs and goals of your business. That’s why we’re sharing a brief rundown of what each platform can be used for when it comes to your business. So, what the heck does each of them do? Speed round, go!

Instagram

Instagram is great for building engagement and sharing culture. That means taking pictures of your team at events, showing off your pets, and happy hours and posting them!

When an Instagram user visits a business’ Instagram, they want to see the people behind the business. Show them who they get to work with when they decide to buy your product or become a client.

Facebook

Facebook is for your grandma… Just kidding, kind of!

Facebook, in the business world, is a largely pay-to-play platform. In simple terms, if you’re not putting money behind your Facebook efforts, chances are not many people will see your content. Boosting a specific post to your Facebook audience can attract thousands of impressions, whereas organic content doesn’t typically reach the same levels of performance.

(Please note: We’re not suggesting that you dedicate your entire marketing budget to your Facebook page, but putting $50 behind a post here or there can significantly support your Facebook performance).

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional platform, which means it’s probably not the best-suited platform to share your family photos or pictures from your latest island vacation.

LinkedIn is a great platform to help you build authority and build a professional network. Chances are, LinkedIn is your best bet if you’re looking to identify qualified leads via social media. It’s also a great way to gather expertise from established experts in your industry.

Twitter

In a nutshell, Twitter is for politics, news, and funny one-offs (think: memes, GIFs, recaps of the Oscars…)

A Final Word

We know that managing your business’s social media presence can be a lot to keep track of on top of running your business. That’s why we recommend you pass on the work of crafting a killer digital marketing plan to our team of experts at Digital Storyteller.

Not ready to make the jump yet? Let’s get REEL instead! Check out this article on how Instagram reels support your social media strategy. Then, shoot us a message.

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