JUMP START Blog and Online Community

Let's face it...we've all been there.

We start strong, vowing to blog every day or multiple times per day. But then, life happens.

We get busy and tired, and our blog starts collecting dust soon. If this sounds familiar, don't worry - you're not alone.

In fact, even the most successful bloggers have trouble maintaining a consistent posting schedule. However, there is a way to overcome this challenge: by turning intermittent blogging into a content creation routine.

Here are a few tips for how to turn intermittent blogging into a content creation routine:

Source: Moz

Looking for some new ways to create more content? Check out the latest Whiteboard Friday from Rand Fishkin. "3 Creative Ways to Give Your Content Efforts a Boost."

In this brief video, Rand talks about how you can use the following techniques to more easily create engaging, SEO-friendly that your users will love:

• Seek out niche groups
• Leverage complimentary products and services
• Partner with influencers to create high-visibility content
  

After a hectic work week, it’s easy to feel a little loopy. But how about a little crazy, as coined by Jim Metcalf (see quote below)?

As marketers, we’re inherently split in multiple directions. We’re natural dichotomies. We work quickly but with precision. We work strategically and hands on. We work collaboratively and independently. But most importantly—we’re creative with an inherent drive for results.

This natural inclination to bend the rules just enough within structured environments, and think outside of unorthodox confines in order to get results is, in fact, what makes us marketers. So in this instance, “a little crazy”, , seems oddly appropriate.

In celebration of our sensible insanity, here are some viral marketing videos that truly accentuate our eccentricity.

Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing at InsightSquared tells us (through the adjacent quote) to make the customers feel smart. And it makes perfect sense.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality tells us that the human psyche is structured into three parts—id, ego, and superego. How we think, feel, and behave are all a by-product of these three forces working together.

Since our everyday lives are impacted by the inner-workings of this complicated ensemble, it only makes sense that really great marketing and advertising taps into this powerful trio. Appealing to customers' egos and ultimately making them feel good about themselves continues as a solid marketing strategy.

So let’s take a look at some examples of how companies succeeded by listening to Joe and Freud:

If Collette, the CMO of a leading ERP software company, opened up a meeting with, “We’re not getting a lot of traffic on social media. I don’t think it’s necessary to maintain a presence anymore,” more than likely she’ll be laughed out of the meeting (at best). At worst, she’ll be packing up her desk.

Social media has made its mark as a viable marketing channel, and it’s not going anywhere any time soon. And for good reason…it works when executed in the right way.

But all too often, businesses set up their profiles and, after a few months, throw their hands in the air when they don’t instantly see a return on their efforts and investments. Having a social media presence simply becomes one of those "marketing things” that gets a checkmark on the list with very little strategy or structure behind it. Companies who don't wrap strategy around their social media profiles will undoubtedly see it less as a lead generator and more as a resource drain.

So how does Collette get the traffic she needs to meet her top-of-the-funnel goals?

The world is undoubtedly in some emotional turmoil right now.

Whether wanted or not, emotion stirs up a great deal of visibility. It ignites—and in
some cases—even drains energy. While political campaigns are the typical catalysts for stirring up feelings around a particular topic, corporate marketing campaigns can be equally fueled by emotion.

More and more companies are pulling the emotional trigger to create more relevance, context, and connection with their audiences. And as suggested by Beth Comstock, Vice Chair for General Electric, their efforts aren't going unnoticed.

In recognition of a very passionate political landscape right now, here are some of the most emotional marketing campaigns over the last few years. Get out your tissues. While effective and compelling, as you'd expect, they're not always easy to watch.

You have some ideas. You want to share them. They seem interesting to you. You think others will be interested as well.

So you write and post a few blogs. And…crickets.

Why aren’t your blogs getting the red carpet treatment you thought they would? Well we at Flair Interactive gave you some potential reasons why in our #TBT April 2015 blog post, Why Aren’t my Blog Posts Generating Any Traffic? We offered some insights on how to set your blogs up for success.

Now, we’re sure you’ve since applied some of our tips to your overall approach and you’re now topping the ‘best bloggers of 2016’ list. In the event you’re not, or you’re just looking to hold that steady crown for 2017, here are a few more tips to get your blogs the recognition they deserve:

Most of us have figured out at this point that Content Marketing isn’t a magical powder that gets sprinkled on our marketing plans and suddenly, all of our
goals are instantly met. No, content marketing is nothing more than a tried-and-true formula. Effective application of that formula is what truly yields success.

Queue nebulous time warp squiggles back to the year 2015 when Flair Interactive posted the blog, What Should be Included in My Content Marketing Strategy. While the blog is on point in terms of building and executing on an inbound marketing plan, in 2017, we’ve taken some measures to perfect the formulaic fairy dust even more. As you dive into your plan this year, keep these additions in mind:

Create data-driven goals—this is still very much the starting point of your content strategy. While not much has changed here since 2015, you’ll want to make sure your goals are clearly defined and mutually agreed upon by everyone. Ensure your ‘wins’ or ‘milestones’ are marked and attainable. Finally…do your homework. Avoid arbitrary, executive-driven numbers. Look at your competitors, your metrics, what’s worked, and what hasn’t worked before getting to an achievable number.

As inbound marketers, it’s our responsibility to provide our clients the best-of-the-best in modern, customized marketing services. 

In 2009, we published a "Typical Projects Handled by Flair Interative" blog post and video that described our services. While we still offer all of the services described in that video, our core focus has shifted during the last eight years to focus on inbound marketing. But one thing remains the same...our number-one priority is to deliver high-quality solutions that get results for all of our clients, and we do that by delivering tightly integrated inbound marketing campaigns and services.

To us, marketing tactics shouldn’t be isolated instances. They shouldn’t be disparate solutions to immediate problems or what we like to call short-term, reactive goals. They should be proactive and strategic in nature with both immediate incremental and long-term wins in mind.

Interactive marketing is trending right in line as it was forecasted seven years ago. In 2009, Flair Interactive posted the blog, Interactive Marketing Has
Finally Come of Age. The blog cites an article by Forrester Research who forecasted that digital spending would nearly double in five years while ad budgets would decline. In fact, its exact predicted growth was a 9% increase in five years (from 12% of overall advertising spend in 2009 to 21% overall spend in 2016).

So, based on Forrester Research's prediction, let's get a pulse of where we're at as we enter 2017:

Overall Marketing Spend

• Digital marketing spending is predicted to grow 12% in the next year, while budgets for traditional advertising will fall to 2%. (The CMO Survey)
• B2B digital ad spending has increased 15% to $5.8 billion in 2014 — due largely to growth in native advertising, while display advertising is becoming less important. (MediaPost)