JUMP START Blog and Online Community

Have you ever heard of the cocktail rule? 

It basically means that when you go to a cocktail party (remember when we used to do those?), you should spend 80-90% of the time listening to other people or asking questions about them and the remaining 10-20% talking about yourself.

Well, the same thing applies in sales and marketing...

In the market for a new CMS, marketing automation platform, email marketing tool or other marketing software?

Our handy new Marketing Software list, which we'll be continually updating, will help you narrow down the list of tools that you should evaluate more closely. Whether you're looking for a new tool for the first time or replacing one of your existing platforms, you can't go wrong with this list of software if you implement them correctly.

Good marketing makes the company look smart.

Great marketing makes the customer feel smart"

~ Joe Chernov

Which is more important to you? How your brand LOOKS? Or how you make your customers feel?

It's an interesting question, and one that Joe Chernov sums up nicely - because while good marketing isn't actually all that hard to do, GREAT marketing isn't something you can just wing. There's a sort of formula you can follow, a recipe to create and implement a great marketing strategy - whether you're launching a website, rebranding, creating packaging, blogging, email marketing, or really, anything else, you simply need to:

• Research
• Write/create
• Post
• Promote
• Rinse
• Repeat

Inbound marketing is many things...but the one thing it's not? Simple. It's complex, multifaceted and, when done right, effective.

If you've wanted to implement inbound strategy but feel overwhelmed with where to start, here's a list of 26 (some of them are very simple) easy-to-do ways you can use inbound marketing to transform your reach and strengthen everything there is when it comes to your brand identity. Read on for our list of the best ways you can use inbound marketing to surge ahead of your competition. 

1. Develop Buyers Personas – This is, in a nutshell, the single most important aspect of inbound marketing. Buyer Personas are fictional representations of who your target demographic is. Once you have researched the age range, gender, specific problem they have, where they go for info (Facebook? LinkedIn? Pinterest? Google search?) you can then create and deliver content they would find useful. 
2. Define, then address, pain points – You'll start this process with your persona development, and you'll use it in everything you do. You don't want content that's just fluffy and shows "yay, you can create content!" You want content that's useful. So what's the main reason your audience needs you? Great! Now show them how you can help!
3. Personalize content – This is where your Buyers Personas become worth the time you invested in the process of getting them done. You know who your product or service is good for, and you know where those people are...now make sure your content is exactly what they need...and put it exactly where they go.
4. Use forms – Using smart forms on your site accomplishes two things. One, you gain valuable data and information about your customers. And two, you make it as easy as possible on them. Smart forms dynamically adapt to your user, displaying data and updating per their experience. Have they been there before? Filled out a form before? Capture more info and a better picture of who your customer is through the use of smart forms. 
   

If you can make them laugh, well then you've won half the battle, and probably you've won them over too.

One of the best times to witness big companies using their funny bones to their advantage is in January/February. The most sought-after and highly awaited commercials are played during the NFL's championship final: the Super Bowl, and without disappointing, year after year they deliver cutting-edge humorous content that speaks to millions of consumers in a way that only humor can.

Out are the professional, serious and stiff images that were de riguer when marketing first became an acknowledged activity for mainstream businesses to do. Since then, due the nature of the online world, where 'going viral' is the holy grail for marketers, humor has been one way in which they have achieved their legend status. There are commercials and campaigns from years past that still get talked about today and are the benchmark for marketers right now.                                                      

It's been a busy week full of lots of interesting news and events, including the turn of a new year. See what you might have missed while out, when it comes to content marketing for the week ending January 1, 2017. Check out a few of this week's top stories chosen for the business savvy by Flair Interactive Services.

Find out what you've missed in the world of content marketing for the week ending September 23, 2016. These are a few of this week's top stories, hand-picked by the team at Flair Interactive Services.

Find out what you've missed in the world of content marketing for the week ending September 16, 2016. These are a few of this week's top stories, hand-picked by the team at Flair Interactive Services.

Find out what you've missed in the world of content marketing for the week ending September 9, 2016. These are a few of this week's top stories, hand-picked by the team at Flair Interactive Services.

Find out what you've missed in the world of content marketing for the week ending August 26, 2016. These are a few of this week's top stories, hand-picked by the team at Flair Interactive Services.