Yes, we agree, the overarching goal of effective marketing is to help increase sales. Whether it be through customer awareness, gaining market share, driving site traffic, or increasing followers, at the end of the day, most clients have dollar signs in their eyes.
Who can resist a good story? Character development and relationships, drama, adventure, and suspense all contribute to a reader’s desire to have a vested interest in a story. In fact, it’s a scientific reality that stories light up the human brain in a unique way that draws us in and mirrors the neurological activity of the storyteller. We are not just sociologically wired for story, it’s neurological as well.
Who can resist a good story? Character development and relationships, drama, adventure, and suspense all contribute to a reader’s desire to have a vested interest in a story. In fact, it’s a scientific reality that stories light up the human brain in a unique way that draws us in and mirrors the neurological activity of the storyteller. We are not just sociologically wired for story, it’s neurological as well.
Google Analytics and Search Console are both valuable marketing tools to track and understand data. Do you know the difference between them?
We know. In many cases, making the decision to outsource any aspect of your business is a scary one. It might feel like losing control and not being able to make your business exactly what you want it to be. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Outsourcing your brand’s marketing efforts allows you to hand over the reins to the pros to ensure that your efforts are as successful as possible. The goal of an outsourced marketing team is to combine our knowledge and expertise with the goals and wishes you have for your brand.
Think: As a B2B financial services company, your focus is on exactly that, financial services. Allow us, an outsourced digital marketing agency, to be the marketing experts so you can focus on your own unique expertise.
You bring the charcuterie board and we’ll bring the wine, we’ll create the perfect pair.
At Digital Storyteller, we start every partnership with a one-of-a-kind brand storytelling session to understand who you are and what you want for your business. We discuss what your brand voice is to nail down our language and design practices to appear as if they were coming directly from you.
Still need further convincing? Here are our top five reasons to outsource your business’s marketing.
Sorry, we lied… Before we jump into the top five reasons to outsource your marketing, we need to first address the question: What the heck do we mean by financial services?
According to the International Monetary Fund, the financial services sector “covers many different types of transactions in such areas as real estate, consumer finance, banking, and insurance.”
At Digital Storyteller, we have clients ranging from law firms to HR consulting firms, commercial real estate firms to wealth advisories, and commercial insurance. Geez, that’s a mouthful, isn’t it?
Anyway, when we say financial services, that’s the realm we’re talking about.
Interested in learning more? Read on to find out why we focus on marketing for financial services companies.
As mentioned above, outsourcing your marketing efforts allows you to focus on the core of what your company truly does rather than the marketing efforts needed to support it.
For example, if you’re a lawyer, focus on that. You went to law school for a reason, so take advantage of that and leverage your passions. Marketing is our passion, so we’ll do the same!
We understand that giving up a bit of control of your business can be scary. The most successful outsourced marketing relationships we’ve observed, however, are built on a close relationship with clients.
Developing such a relationship over time fosters a mutual level of trust and understanding of your business’s ultimate goals.
Overall, a business owner’s duties should be focused on running the business. A successful marketing strategy demands time allocation that is likely not attainable for someone focused on running a business.
Read on for five signs you need a digital marketing agency on your team.
Building a full marketing team from the ground up takes significant time, effort, and dedication, something that many businesses don’t have.
In many cases, when a business decides to begin investing in marketing efforts, they want to get started immediately.
But content marketing is a long-term marketing strategy. Read on to find out how long it takes for content marketing to work.
Whether it be building social media platforms, paid advertising, or beginning to produce other forms of content, hiring a team to facilitate these requests takes substantial time in and of itself.
By the time you’ve hired, onboarded, trained, and brought a marketing team up to speed, an outsourced team may very well have already had content flowing.
(Not to mention how much more expensive hiring in-house is! Keep reading to find out how much you’ll save when you outsource by using our in-house vs. outsourced marketing calculator).
The question of cost differences is perhaps one of the most common at play. As can be expected, there is a significant financial difference between marketing options: in-house vs. outsourced.
At the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong answer. What’s right for your company might not be the right fit for another.
When deciding to outsource your brand’s marketing efforts versus hiring a team in-house, you should consider the following associated costs:
While hiring an outsourced marketing team most often consists of a single recurring monthly payment, in-house marketing teams have significant additional associated costs to consider. Find out how much you’ll save when you outsource by using our in-house vs. outsourced marketing calculator or, read on for a deeper breakdown of typical marketing costs.
In relation to the previously mentioned cost factor, one should consider that there are costs associated with each individual specialist hired onto an in-house team.
One single marketing manager might not be an adequate resource to facilitate a complex marketing strategy.
For example, in comparison, our Digital Storyteller team consists of a variety of team members in varying specialties. With our outsourced team, you gain access to social media managers and coordinators, SEO experts, content specialists, graphic designers, web builders, and more (all while still paying one monthly sum).
Utilizing a pre-established outsourced marketing team gives you access to a variety of specialists without having to individually hire ten or more different people.
We already have a proven system in place and some pretty kick a** team members that know their sh*t, prepared to invest their expertise and knowledge into your business.
The marketing industry is a rapidly growing and evolving industry. As such, it’s often a challenge for non-experts to keep up with.
For example, let’s say your business’s expertise and specialization are within the capital lending industry. You and your team are experts within your industry and pay close attention to the ongoing changes and evolution of the industry.
You watch as rates rise and fall and observe the lending patterns of alternate lending sources. Doing so is a full-time gig in and of itself, let alone trying to keep up with how to market your business too.
The marketing industry is a whole new ball game when it comes to trends and observations. In the same way that your industry takes up the entirety of your time, keeping up with marketing changes can do the same.
While some may be quick to slide marketing updates right off the table, you can bet that not all of your competitors will decide to do the same.
If your competitors are utilizing the resources to keep up with changing industry standards, they’re gaining a competitive advantage over your business.
Now, think about this in the other direction. Your business decides to hire an outsourced marketing team whose sole goal is to stay up to date on changing marketing trends and updates.
Now YOU’RE the one with the competitive advantage, and it was no sweat off your own back.
Read on to learn the top marketing trends of this year.
Overall, the decision to outsource marketing efforts or keep them in-house will vary from one company to another. That being said, there are significant benefits to choosing to outsource your marketing.
If you’re interested in learning more about what Digital Storyteller offers as an outsourced marketing partner, reach out and schedule your FREE Brand Storytelling Session today!
A successful blog post should include certain elements to ensure that your content marketing is best optimized to draw traffic and readers.
Marketing is a complex and ever-changing industry. Trying to keep up with the times is a challenge that may not be within the capabilities of your business. So you may decide to outsource your marketing. But even then, there are multiple options available to you.
The decision of whether to outsource your marketing or keep it in-house can be a difficult decision to make. So we’re here to help you make it.
At Digital Storyteller, we find the right audience of people that want to follow your tax law updates and we write content that addresses their real-world problem to position you as a thought leader in your industry. Keep reading to learn how Digital Storyteller is a pot of gold for financial services companies!
If you’re looking for instant gratification and immediate marketing results, content marketing likely isn’t going to get you where you want to be. Well, we take that back. It’ll definitely get you results… But it’s likely to take months of consistent effort.
If you’re curious about whether or not content marketing is the right fit for your business and what the process should look like, read on.
In this article, we’re sharing the secret sauce for how to get started and what you can expect out of content marketing.
Did you know traditional marketing costs 62% more than content marketing?
Content marketing is a long-term marketing strategy.
We’re talking at least six to nine months of consistent effort.
While this is not a definite timeline for every business, this period serves as an approximation based on general industry averages.
Your business’s personal results timeline may depend on the following factors, including your:
Did you know over 90% of B2B marketers and 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing?
Now that you know how long content marketing takes on average, let’s chat about the secret sauce for how to get started and what you can expect out of content marketing.
One of the first steps your business should take when pursuing content marketing is to determine how your business defines success. Consider the following questions:
However you decide to define the success of your content marketing efforts, it’s important to do so before jumping headfirst into a full marketing strategy. It will help you measure your efforts as you go along and adjust your strategy if need be.
Remember, success looks different for every business.
Similarly to defining your success, it’s helpful to identify which metrics you’d most like to see improvements in. Be it lead generation, site traffic, follower growth, etc., different metrics require different strategies and focus.
Some that we may suggest are the following:
Driving website traffic is often at the forefront of content marketing. The goal here is to get more eyes on your site.
Within your site traffic, there are additional metrics that hold relevance, such as bounce rate and time on page. Looking at overall site traffic, however, is a good determination of ongoing growth and views of your site.
At the end of the day, the reason you want to drive traffic to your site is to identify qualified leads. Whether through calls to action (CTAs), form fills on your site, or email outreach, the number of qualified leads developed from your marketing efforts may be the most reasonable metric to maintain.
If you’re a business startup working on building growth while still finalizing the nitty-gritty of your business, building your social media following may be a great metric to start with.
Developing a relevant following not only helps drive traffic (see above) but also helps establish your business as an expert in your field.
Think about it: If you’re a consumer searching LinkedIn for a credible lending partner and your options are a new profile with only six followers or a similar competitor with thousands of followers, you’re likely to assume the business with a larger following is more credible.
You may decide that email subscribers are your most important metric to track. After all, email is one of the most direct ways to get in contact with your target audience. Perhaps investing time in research and outreach to develop email lists will be your best bet to reach your identified definition of success.
This metric is strongest tied to businesses that intend on performing significant email marketing down the road.
There’s not much use in doing much of anything until you determine who you’re doing it for. Let’s say that again…
There’s no use in doing anything until you determine who you’re doing it for.
OK, so you’re a team of loan officers partnering with banks and private investors. Are you willing to work with any client? Student loans? Mortgage loans? Business loans? You’re best suited to be as specific as possible.
While the specifics will be most helpful as you solidify your marketing strategy, keep in mind that your target market may consist of a couple of different personas. We find it most effective to identify them as exactly that: Different personas.
Think about WHO the people are that you’re marketing to. Give them a name and occupation, and ask yourself what they like to do for fun, who they hang out with, and what social platforms they’re on most often. Do they read? Who do they look up to?
Read on to find out how to attract the right client (and determine your target audience!)
Once you’ve created any number of buyer personas associated with your potential customers, you’re ready to build out your marketing strategy. Your brand voice should be identified as the correct way that you’d speak to the people that you’ve identified.
Think about it this way, you’re probably not going to talk to your 85-year-old grandmother the same way that you talk to your long-time best friend. The same goes for your marketing strategy.
Your voice should appeal to the people that you’re talking to. Read on for more information on the importance of brand voice.
OK, we’re jumping back a couple of steps here in a sense… Bear with us.
So, you’ve identified your definition of success, but how are you going to get there? This is where SMART goals come into play.
Gone are the days of goals as vague as “I want to boost social media followers!” SMART is an acronym used to create goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.
A SMART goal for wanting to boost your social media following might look something like this:
“My goal is to gain 100 new Instagram followers per month over the next five months to accumulate at least 500 new followers at the end of the five months.”
Creating SMART goals isn’t always easy, but if you do the heavy lifting at the beginning and set standards for yourself and your business, it’ll be easier to maintain accountability in the long run.
Marketing is a flexible, adaptable field. If something isn’t working, you have the luxury of being able to change it. Adjust your content marketing efforts to meet your business’s needs and suit the demands of your market and audience.
But how do you know if something isn’t working out for you? After all, your boyfriend isn’t going to sit you down to explain that ‘it’s not you, it’s him.’
All you need to do is pay close attention to your stats and perform regular analysis.
No different than watching the ebbs and flows of the stock market, watch how your business metrics react to different things that you change. For example:
Does your traffic spike on days that you publish new blog posts? Does traffic fall on weekends? When are your social media followers most active? Did you get significantly more responses from one email than another?
These questions can all be answered easily by looking at the data easily available to you. Try new things and adjust based on what you’re seeing. That being said…
Like we said at the beginning (yep, wayyyy back up there), content marketing takes time. It isn’t going to happen overnight. While you want to pay close attention to your metrics and analyze performance, don’t jump to conclusions too quickly.
You need a base layer of knowledge to be able to compare changes. If you start trying to make changes and adjustments to your strategy without allowing it to grow and develop fully, you might never recognize its true potential.
Content marketing may not necessarily be the right fit for every business. But for some, it may be exactly the saving grace you’ve been searching for.
If you’re willing to have the patience for a payoff, we’re here to help. If you don’t believe us, how about believing this stat: businesses that blog produce 67% more leads than those that don’t (psst… blogging is a form of content marketing!)
If you think that content marketing might be a good fit for your business, we know some people that can help. Get started today! Reach out to us directly to schedule your FREE brand storytelling session.
Investing time and resources into content development is in a sense useless if not properly optimized. Content and SEO go together like wine and charcuterie boards. One without the other simply doesn’t make sense.
Oftentimes many B2B businesses write off social media marketing based on the consideration that it’s too boring or not effective enough to be worth their while. But this isn’t necessarily the case. While it is true that the top brands that dominate social media are largely B2C brands, social media should be a part of every successful marketing strategy.
As our world becomes more and more fragmented, the economic slowdown is having an unprecedented impact in nearly every country around the world. At the same time, many brands and employers are attempting to put their purpose at the center of everything they do — those with a clear purpose are prospering, while many corporate “dinosaurs” that refuse (or are unable) to adapt are dying off as the rate of change increases.
Organizations of the future need to embrace fully the concepts of empowerment, learning, and balancing technology with the individual if they are to succeed, by using the power of technology and automation to rehumanize — rather than dehumanize — the workplace.
These major changes are being driven by a few important factors in consumer behavior:
More generations are working together than ever before, with different expectations and attitudes. By 2025, experts expect millennials to make up nearly 75% of the active workforce. Outside of the workplace, life expectancy is continuing to rise and up to two-thirds of babies born in the last year could live to be 100. In the older generations, people are retiring later or not at all. All of these changes mean we now have an environment in which older workers already report facing prejudice at work and millennial executives struggle to gain acceptance from older colleagues.
By 2020, almost 20% of US workers — or 31 million people — will be “contingent” rather than permanent. If that sounds like bad news, consider that 80% of today’s contingent workers appreciate the flexibility. Most of Uber’s growth has come from drivers who use their own cars, and 75% of them have other jobs. (What happens when a job for life becomes a job for a day?)
New, innovative business models are springing up all over the world, many of them rooted digitally in the “sharing economy.” Nearly half of American business leaders think that their current business models will cease to exist within the next five years.
Artificially-intelligent supplementation devices could replace 33% of jobs by 2025, and Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England stated earlier this year that almost 15m UK jobs could be “hollowed out” with the workforce being replaced by robots: “Alongside its great benefits, every technological revolution mercilessly destroys jobs and livelihoods … well before the new ones emerge.”
While these trends will affect everyone, it is especially pertinent to keep up with these changes as the leader of an organization — this could be the wake-up call you’ve been waiting for.
To thrive in the new era, we must rethink the role that organizations and their workforce play in driving competitive advantage.
Thriving will mean adapting to the changes, facilitating the interconnections between humans, and investing in their uniquely human attributes. If you are struggling to take your company into the digital space, reach out to Digital Storyteller today!
There are a lot of reasons to start playing golf — whether you enjoy meeting new people or blowing off some steam, there is definitely something for everyone in this sport. However, there are some important business lessons to learn from the game that are often overlooked, including tenacity, constant learning, honesty, and achievement orientation. All these can be tapped to generate sound business acumen.
Our CEO, Andrew Marr is a PGA professional and a lifelong advocate for the sport of golf. His passion is firmly rooted in a love for the game, but his commitment to playing is fueled by golf’s positive influence on his business and leadership skills.
In business — like in golf — the tools you carry matter a lot, but they are often imperfect. We are often given misinformation or a lack of support and then asked to do things that seem impossible. However, as an entrepreneur, we understand the importance of getting things done, even if that requires some creativity.
To summarize the mental challenges of golf, Arnold Palmer famously said, “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”
Being mentally strong is equally important in golf and business, as is having a certain level of discipline when practicing and competing. Golf is a unique sport since you are your own umpire and referee. Vaibhav Dayal, Co-founder and Managing Director, V Resorts, says, “In golf, a player keeps his own score, and there is no second eye to monitor moves. It is played with an immense level of integrity and personal honesty.”
Most golfers’ favorite aspect of the sport is the instant feedback received after each stroke — something successful players use carefully as they progress. The high-level of challenge and opportunity for course correction ensure the constant possibility for improvement. “Golf shows you that there is no perfect strategy, and all you can do is giving it your best shot. Then, you assess the result, figure out what you need to do to improve the execution, and then take another shot at greater success,” says Saurabh Saklani, Co-founder and Director, inme.
By far, the biggest lesson that can be taken out of golf is that of tenacity. “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play where the ball lies,” said Bobby Jones in regards to the determination required to be successful in the sport.
While every sport teaches an important lesson in some way, Golf, by its very nature, provides a sustained learning experience with regular ups and downs. Playing two good holes of golf (read: two good quarters of business performance) is often followed by two terrible holes, where people start questioning their skills and abilities. In other words, someone who excels at golf would probably possess an innate desire to learn and re-learn.
In business, this lesson is taught through repeated failure, which can deter many great minds from entering the world of entrepreneurship. Despite our best efforts, the result of business-related decisions is not dependent on the decisions of one person — a humbling realization for many leaders and an important opportunity to practice open-mindedness and flexibility. Golf teaches one to shed baggage, re-think, re-invigorate, re-strategize, and execute with a hope of success.
Every great entrepreneur understands that business cannot solely exist within the confines of a boardroom or office and many opportunities are found in some unexpected places — like the golf course.
The following story is from a man named Stan Hanks who has been helping build the internet since 1981:
(A week after learning to golf) I’m sweating my way through 18 holes on the Pecan course at the Sweetwater Country Club with a VP from a Fortune 50 company, one of his technical leads, and my VP of Sales. It was an interesting experience — a huge learning experience for me. Pat, my VP of Sales, did this all the time. He managed the conversation in many ways, going from what do you think about brand X balls to how ’bout them Astros to why building a SAN in-house was a better solution given the parallel I/O requirements of the supercomputer cluster that the company was using.
It kept things casual but made room for getting in key points. It also gave us all a chance to meet in a no-ties, no-press-of-business environment. We literally got nearly four hours, un-interrupted, together. And then on to happy hour afterward for another couple of hours.
Nothing “happened” that day. No contracts were signed, no deals were made. But it was significant in a very large number of ways. The VP got to see me in action, got to hear me think on my feet (which frankly is my strongest suit), got to see me deal with frustration and things not exactly going my way. I got to spend time with him and see what he valued and prioritized, whether he was a “go for it” guy, or a “let’s keep this in the fairway” guy — which is really important to know, when you’re pitching a deal.
As you can see, the golf course can be an essential part of your business, especially when landing new clients or acquiring funding for a new project.
Beyond landing new clients, the golf course can be an essential part of your hiring process. If you want to be successful in today’s competitive market, you have to make investments in people. If it fits your company’s culture, try using the game of golf to demonstrate your skill and competency that will ultimately lead to associations. Finding the balance between treating golf as business and leisure is where one can find success.
No matter their skill level, playing golf with clients and colleagues gives you additional insights into their personalities. Similarly, playing the game will give you insights into your psyche, too. To become good at it requires time and patience. Golf can also become that common interest that creates the bonds that last a lifetime. If you haven’t already, pick up the sticks. It just may improve your business and your life.
As marketers, we often spend a huge amount of time creating content that is designed specifically for your customers, prospects, and leads. We are writing, analyzing, optimizing, and innovating every day. Sometimes, we’ll spend hours writing a single caption.
In fact, we usually spend so much time planning and executing the email strategy, we hardly ever connect with other marketers on our teams who manage our blogs and other content, including social and chat, website, video strategy, events, PR, and more. And this isn’t unusual.
Traditionally, marketers focus on the details — they sweat the small stuff and divide to conquer. One marketer may be in charge of improving conversion metrics, while another focuses on SEO and someone else optimizes product pages. You might even have an intern creating some Instagram stories.
But when marketers complete these tasks in isolation, prospects and customers are left with a disconnected experience.
If you want your business to succeed, you need to take a step back and see the bigger picture. How do all your marketing activities connect? What do your customers really experience? And how can you keep your team working towards the same goal? Let’s find out.
We like to believe that every customer takes a predictable, linear path from awareness to consideration to purchase. This process starts with an ad, a blog post, a call-to-action, an email newsletter, and then transitions smoothly into a purchase. Done and done.
Of course, some prospects will take this direct route through your marketing funnel, but most take several detours along the way.
By trying to force the customer journey into a linear, step-by-step mold, you risk losing prospects that don’t fit your design. Consumers want information before they buy, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all method for getting it.
The truth is, the customer journey is messy and can be difficult to predict — everyone’s is a little different. Some customers may look for information about your brand through search, while others may click on an ad, an email, or seek out reviews from friends.
And the journey doesn’t stop there. Marketers shouldn’t stop interacting with customers as soon as they click “buy” — if you want to maintain and nurture unique relationships, you need to continue to interact with customers after you make a sale. That’s why it’s important to build strong bridges between your marketing efforts to build one cohesive brand experience.
As a marketer, you’re probably used to using multiple tools and point solutions to connect with prospects and customers. Not only is this method inconvenient, but if all your marketing efforts aren’t connected by a customer management solution or CRM, it also creates a disjointed experience for customers. Marketers need to take a step back and see the bigger picture. If you want to build a complete customer experience, focus on connecting your marketing software with the tool that should be at the core of your marketing efforts: your company’s trusty CRM.
CRMs are traditionally considered a tool for sales teams to track leads, prospects, and customers. With them, reps can see every interaction a contact has had with a brand. Everything from calls with a sales rep to website visits is tracked and logged in a contact record.
While you may be familiar with a CRM, you probably aren’t using it to its full potential. Masters of email marketing, live chat, ads, and social media tools they may be, marketers rarely use a CRM for anything other than creating email lists, if at all. Think about it. You probably stress over the last-minute details of a campaign and track its success, but I’m guessing you rarely check to see how your campaigns are influencing individual contacts, or who’s consistently engaging with your marketing efforts.
By putting it at the center of your marketing strategy, you can truly personalize your messaging. You can use any data point or marketing engagement metric to segment contacts beyond lifecycle stages. This allows you to create more targeted, meaningful content and ads and expedite the sales process, helping your entire company grow better. Without a CRM, your personalization efforts are smoke and mirrors at best, and insufficient at worst.
If you’re curious about utilizing the HubSpot platform or setting up your own digital marketing strategy, contact us at Digital Storyteller today!