Photo Credit: Geoff Livingston - Flickr

[Note from Lee: The growing trend towards integration of marketing and communications disciplines has brought a tremendous demand for guidance and insight. I'm happy to say that my friends Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich have published a new book about just that. We rarely publish guest posts but the message of integration and optimization in this book blend perfectly with our core messages here.]

One of our favorite books to come out in a long while is Lee’s Optimize. We love the three discipline approach — content, search and social — to online marketing. Without integration across all marketing disciplines we fail to understand the customer experience.

We just published Marketing in the Round on a overarching integrated communications, traditional and new, and see online as the backbone for all marketing today, on or offline.

Consider the customer experience. They weave between traditional broadcast and print media into online seamlessly. For example, someone could ride their local train or subway, see ads, surf the Internet on their mobile phone, read a magazine (on their tablet or not), or a host of other activities.

You get the point. Customer media use supersedes tactical practices. That’s true for both B2B and B2C, though as Lee points out in his book, these sales cycles are very different.

Multichannel marketing applies to traditional print, broadcast, mail and PR approaches, too. They should all be optimized for search, too, with messaging and keywords that will invoke familiarity with stakeholders regardless of which media form they are seen.

Think about it. Customers search when they are looking to find something. If you optimize online ads, content, social and SEO so that search indexes your company’s name first, then you absolutely need your print ads, direct mail, press documents, white papers and broadcast ads to use the same keywords.

A customer may not even realize it, but they are mentally associating these words — message components — with your brand. When they search, they will use the keywords, and your optimized content will naturally come up in the top results. More importantly, it will already be familiar to your customer.

Take it a step further and add your creative, ads and content to the web site in a the modern press room. Transcribe the broadcast media so the keywords are searchable. Make them shareable. and start real discussions on them. Even ask for feedback on the ads. All of your traditional content can be repurposed, optimized and indexed for social and search.

That’s why all marketing disciplines should be integrated and operate together as a collective whole. Marketing in the Round discusses selecting traditional tactics and newer disciplines like social, online and mobile. It’s about how to weave them together to achieve the common objective.

Geoff Livingston is an author and marketing strategist, and serves as VP, Strategic Partnerships for Razoo. A former journalist, Livingston continues to write, and most recently he co-authored Marketing in the Round, and authored the social media primer Welcome to the Fifth Estate.

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication ?rm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro and co-author of Marketing in the Round.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | All Marketing Should Be Optimized – Geoff Livingston & Gini Dietrich | http://www.toprankblog.com

At TopRank Online Marketing, we are fortunate to provide consulting to quite a few innovative B2B companies that serve other marketers. A great example of that is PRWeb and parent company, Vocus, both long standing clients.

In late 2011 Vocus welcomed Jason Jue as Chief Marketing Officer. As Vocus & PRWeb’s Account Manager at TopRank, I was keenly interested in getting to know Jason better and learning his plans for the future – and what better way than through an interview for all readers of Online Marketing Blog to see?

In this interview Jason talks about the undeniable convergence of PR and marketing, what social media metric is most undervalued by many PR and marketing professionals, where marketers should invest for 2013 and his vision for Vocus.

Tell us a little bit about your background and what excites you most about joining Vocus?

Prior to Vocus, I was Vice President of Marketing at Rackspace and had several executive positions at Dell in the US and Asia, marketing to businesses. Vocus offers cloud marketing and PR software to businesses in every market sector and size that want to reach and influence buyers.

I’m excited about sharing with businesses how easily our products work wonders for our current customers. Some of the leading marketing consultants such as Sirius Decisions and MarketingSherpa use our products to maximize their online publicity.

For some people, Vocus is synonymous with Public Relations software. Can you speak to how and when Vocus first expanded to offering marketing solutions?

We have always believed PR to be a core part of “promoting a product or service” or marketing. Many customers who buy our PR software have a marketing title, and we’ve recently seen faster growth in this group. These customers use our social media and PRWeb news release features of our PR software. For them, we created a cloud marketing suite which integrates search, publicity, and social media marketing. Our cloud marketing suite was the most successful product launch in Vocus history, and will be even better when it includes email later this year.

Do you see PR and marketing professionals as two separate audiences? Or are they converging disciplines?

In marketing teams that have PR and marketing professionals, we continue to see them as two audiences with different product needs, although their roles are converging, especially around social media. PR professionals are using social media for brand positioning. Marketing professionals use social media for lead gen. Meanwhile, for the millions of businesses who have few, if any marketers at all, the marketing functions blend together.

Use your crystal ball and give us a glimpse into the future. How will the Vocus offering change over the next 2 years? Where do you see the most opportunity for growth?

The future of marketing is simple and powerful integrated campaigns. Every marketing team realizes that when working together on unified and integrated campaigns, lead generation and brand perception results are much better than working alone.

I know that sounds like a pipe dream as marketing complexity has increased to address the everywhere all the time customer. Today’s customers are constantly switching back and forth from website, news, social, search, email, and mobile. To add confusion, each specialty has their marketing tools resulting in silos and disjointed communication.

In the near future, marketers will be able to buy cloud marketing software to easily manage integrated campaigns. It will incorporate the trendy with the tried-and-true tactics of marketing The essential elements will work together for better results in lead generation and brand perception. And, it will recommend how and when to engage with prospects and customers.

Seem unbelievable? I think it’s unbelievable that it hasn’t already happened. In the past 15 years, every corporate function, from marketing to sales to HR, has seen a proliferation of technology tools. Marketing is the only function without a major product suite. IBM is doing it for large enterprise marketing. We are integrating all the important marketing tools into a cloud marketing suite so every business, large and small, can easily achieve big results .

Staying on social for a moment, what is one social metric that you think may be most overlooked by PR and marketing professionals alike? On the flip side, any stat that you view as overvalued?

The most important social media metric is how many people actively recommend your product or service. I think the most overvalued metrics are fans, followers, and likes.

As 2012 is well underway, what is one investment you think marketers must make in order to succeed the rest of the year and into 2013? (i.e. invest in mobile marketing)

Focus on marketing fundamentals that will dramatically accelerate growth. Who is your target customer? What product or service should you develop for them? How should you promote to them? Why should they buy from you?

Then, find the best product for you that simplifies all the marketing tactics and trends. This product will then let you focus on the marketing fundamentals.

Thanks, Jason!

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Interview: The Future of Cloud Marketing Software with Vocus CMO Jason Jue | http://www.toprankblog.com

Release Your Internal Marketing Warrior

In March of this year I made a decision: I wanted to get healthier.  The problem I have always faced is that I didn’t see the point of exercise, just for the sake of exercise.  Treadmills and stationary bicycles never did much for me, but I was looking for a way to regain some focus and start down a healthier path.

About a month ago I spoke with my good friend Ali who had recently started a training program to become a yoga instructor.  She convinced me to attend a class with her and I even though I’ve done yoga before, this was an entirely new experience.  After 75 minutes in a sweltering room (enduring one of the toughest workouts I’ve had in a while) the strangest thing happened. I felt stronger, lighter, and more focused.

Many times as marketers we get caught up in daily tasks and lose focus of what is really important.  When we lose focus, we may become uninspired, lazy, and complacent.  It is undoubtedly just as difficult, yet as essential, to breath new life into our marketing plans as it is to jumpstart our bodies.  The question is: where do we begin on the road to creating a “healthier” internet marketing strategy?

4 Tips For Strengthening Your Internet Marketing Plan

# 1- Become An Agent of Change – Don’t be Afraid to Try New Things
Fear consumes many people both personally and professionally.  A fear of failing or disappointment can often lead to a stagnant and uninspired plan for dominance on the web.   Instead of allowing fear to make an appearance, instead recognize that mistakes will be made, but they will be a learning experience. What are some changes you can begin implementing today?

• Surveys of existing customers
• Develop different ways of communicating with your audience (blog posts, social media outreach)
• Ask questions of industry thought leaders
• Join new virtual groups on LinkedIn
• Begin attending more events locally to gain industry insight

# 2- The Journey Is Just As Important As the Destination – Just Make Sure You Document
Along the way to creating your “perfect” internet marketing plan, there is a lot to learn.  Remembering that the journey leads to our destination will put us in the right frame of mind to learn from the experience.  As you’re making mistakes or experiencing success it is essential that you document the steps that you took to get there.

# 3 – Take Some Time to Breathe – Step Back and Survey the Situation
A true marketer knows that our industry is a very customer-centric business. Without our customers we wouldn’t have jobs.  It can become very easy to fall into time sucking tactics that may only put us further behind.  Before jumping head first into the newest social media platform or marketing tactic take some time to ask a few questions:

• Who will we target with this approach?
• What will be our core messaging or strategy?
• Why should we include this tactic?
• How will my team accomplish this tactic and how will this benefit my customers?
• How much will this cost in both time and money?

# 4 – Have An Open Mind – Brainstorm With Your Team Regularly
Collaboration with fellow team members can be of benefit to all parties involved.  Not only will collaboration open up new ideas, but it will also improve buy-in from other associates.  If you’re in an internet marketing rut, or just looking to breathe that new life into your plans to dominate the search and social web, be aware of the resources you may already have at your disposal.

All of the tactics mentioned above will lend themselves to creating a stronger, more cohesive marketing plan.  At one time or another, most of us have faced a situation where we knew our plan wasn’t working, but weren’t exactly sure how to fix it.  I hope that these tactics will become part of a stronger plan and give you the jumpstart you need to get on the road to internet marketing success.

I’m curious to know what experience you have had as a marketer attempting to breathe new life into and strengthen your internet marketing plans?  What were some of your biggest obstacles and what was the most important lesson you learned?

Namaste.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Channel Your Internal Marketing Warrior: 4 Tips for Strengthening Your Marketing Plan | http://www.toprankblog.com

Are you optimizing your conference experience?

TopRank receives a lot of value from having me speak at conferences but you don’t have to be a speaker to realize a positive return from events. Small, large online or offline, there are numerous ways to optimize and maximize your return on conference involvment both in the short and long term.

If your company is considering whether to send you to events because of uncertain return or benefits, show them the following list.

In fact, if I were running a conference, I’d make sure these tips are shared with attendees, sponsors and speakers alike.

The first step in getting more value out of event attendance is to understand the “why”. What benefit that brings value to the business can you get from attending conferences, workshops, webinars and educational meet/tweetups? I like to say that I can “make money” at any conference. The reason why is that I am specifically aware of multiple ways to create value with events – beyond simply prospecting for new business. Here are 5 key benefits you can create from event participation and goals you can set for each:

1. Grow Your Network

There is no substitute for a quality network. It takes time to grow a personal network and if you’re advocating for your company, then community development is also ongoing. Attending events online and off are essential for productive networking that can result in a variety of valuable outcomes including:

• Recruiting
• Collecting competitive intelligence
• Vendor and consultant sourcing
• Partner sourcing
• Prospecting for new customers.

When you attend events, set goals for the kinds of contacts you want to make. Go so far as to make a list of people you want to meet if they’re particularly important to your goals. Initiate new connections with qualified prospects, marketing partners, vendors to outsource to and job candidates. At the same time, reinforce existing connections with contacts in your social networking pipeline. Each day, tally them up and plan how you will follow up. Follow on Twitter, connected on LinkedIn. Share useful tips, links and info that are relevant to your interactions with them. Give to get, but have a purpose and a goal for the connection.

Make sure you have goals and a purpose to your online and event networking. If you leave it to chance, you’re leaving a LOT of value on the table – for your competition.

2. Get Smarter. Repeat.

There are numerous benefits to attending conference sessions. The obvious is to hear smart speakers give presentations on important topics with useful tips. Sometimes speakers deliver on that promise and sometimes they don’t.

Don’t let bad conference content get in the way of getting smarter.

Pay attention to how the speaker gives their presentation and observe how the audience responds. You might think the information isn’t useful to you, but if the attendees are leaning forward, writing notes and holding up their phones and ipads to take pictures of the presentation slides, then the speaker is connecting.

You can benefit from understanding how the information is presented as much as from the actual tips. The format, sequence, design and presentation of information that connects is a model you can leverage for your own purposes: whether it’s speaking at a conference or event yourself or communicating and persuading people internally.

Planning your conference session attendance is essential. Think of how many sessions will you attend and how will you capture the information presented. Will you take notes on an iPad, laptop or (gasp) on paper? Will you take photos or video (where allowed)? Do you know where to get a copy of the speakers’ presentations? Introduce yourself to speakers and ask them a key question on video so you can review later and share with your team.

When meeting new people, discuss the sessions with them. Compare notes – it’s a great way to network and to get other opinions. Before the conference, make a grid or a plan for which specific sessions you’ll be attending. Often times, there is not much time between sessions and the difference between getting a good seat and standing room only can be a matter of minutes and you might miss out on the session entirely because rooms can fill up.

3. Curate and Create Content

Content Marketing is hotter than ever but sourcing content is probably one of the biggest challenges for companies getting into the content publishing realm. The good news is that events from Twitter chats to webinars to keynote presentations and breakout sessions all provide opportunities to capture, curate and even create content. Some examples include:

• Liveblogging – Transcribe what the speakers say word for word. Listen for key quotes or pieces of information and make a “list post” around a specific topic. Pre-write an article about the session topic and fill in stats and quotes from the speakers.
• Interviews – Reach out to speakers in advance and collect tips from their presentations as a way to help boost attendance to their session. Shoot video interviews of speakers or other smarties at the conference. Record podcast interviews with the same people. Capture single tips on video from a large number of people and compile into one video. Go to exhibitor booths and ask them for a 30 second pitch on video and compile them. Survey attendees on what they like best, tips they’ve heard, etc into a compilation video. With video, you might want to get sign-offs. Also, non-speakers may be reluctant.
• Journal – Keep notes and write a summary of key points from the day and publish like a journal entry. Link to other bloggers that are publishing liveblog posts at the same event.
• Curate – Use a tool like storify to curate the buzz of the conference. You don’t even need to be at the event to do this if a conference hashtag is used consistently.
• Track Your Own Buzz – If you are speaking, make sure someone from your team is tracking mentions of you, your company and topic on social streams like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Monitor any liveblogging of your presentations as well. Give people an incentive to liveblog your sessions too. If anyone liveblogs one of my presentations, I will send them a copy of Optimize (for example). Curate those mentions into a roundup post on your company newsroom.

Think about how you can leverage your conference experience to create new content for your company blog, articles, or process documentation. Set goals for how many content objects (blog posts, articles, videos, tweets, images) you’ll create each day. Organize what you will capture, with who and with what devices. Plan where you’ll publishing this content and when as well.  For curation, compile presentations posted to Slideshare, interviews others have posted to YouTube and liveblog posts covering interesting sessions – then add your own commentary as the icing on the cake.

The content you capture and create can supply a company blog with numerous posts and show clients, staff and prospective clients that you are on top of what’s happening in the industry.

4. Share the Smarts: Knowledge Transfer With Your Team

The explicit purpose of attending conferences is to hear industry experts share advice and insights into topics that your business can benefit from. Collecting actionable tips, statistics and other useful information form conferences to share with your team, clients and other groups in your organization can multiply the value of one person attending an event. If multiple people attend, the value can be even greater.

To make knowledge transfer from conference content work, it’s important to create a process for information capture, synthesis and distribution.

• Capture: Target specific speakers and sessions. Write questions you want answered and if the presentations do not contain those answers then pursue subject matter expert speakers to ask them directly. Capture information in text, audio, video and image. No one ever comes back from an event thinking they took too many photos. Maybe the wrong photos, but not to many. Also, be aware of conference policies on video and image capture.
• Synthesis: When you formulate questions, have specific applications for your business in mind. When you get the answers, filter the information in a way that will be practical and useful when it is shared – vs. all theoretical. Discuss the information and tips collected with fellow attendees to filter out what’s most useful.
• Distribution: Have a plan for how you will present the useful tactics, insights, statistics and case studies with your co-workers, clients and other interested parties.  You could write a report, you could create a presentation to give live or via webinar, you could compile video clips and images to narration. Individual tips could be saved on an internal knowledge base blog according to category. You could have a post-conference brown bag lunch discussion or a more formal presentation. There are many different options, but have them in mind before the conference to increase the likelihood they will actually happen and in an effective way.

Knowing you will be required to present the information you are gaining at a conference with the team back at the office can helps you focus on takeaways and practical interpretations of what’s being presented, instead of what you don’t like or the lacking presentation skills of the presenter.

5. Optimize the Marketing Value of Events

For nearly all events, I like to break things up into pre-event, during and after.  You could actually further distinguish near-after and long-after as well as a recurring component if the event is held at regular intervals, like many are on an annual basis.  Many conference speakers rely on the event to do the marketing. That’s a big fail.

Here are a few tips before, during and after the event to gain more attendees, more media coverage and post-event value:

Before the event:

• Write headlines, descriptions, tags and make trackable short URLs
• Pre-write tweets, updates and decide on a hashtag
• Submit your session to event listing sites, create events on Facebook and LinkedIn
• Create a contest or buzz around your presentation to inspire others to tell their networks
• Issue an optimized press release
• Schedule interviews with media attending the event and/or local media
• Connect with other speakers in advance
• Create a teaser for your presentation
• Announce your event attendance through email and your social channels
• When you meet people before your presentation, don’t be shy about sharing when you are speaking
• Create a check-in notice on Foursquare inviting people to attend your session

During the event:

• Create content the audience can participate with. I like to take photos of the audience and post to our Facebook page so they can tag themselves.
• Use tweetable, shareable content in your presentation
• Give something away to motivate desired behaviors like asking questions
• Always include a report or fulfillment piece in your thank you page
• Have someone on your team monitoring tweets and buzz during your presentation. Interact as appropriate

After the event:

• Curate buzz about the presentation into a blog post and/or newsroom post
• Follow up on questions asked and fulfillment deliverables
• Connect with new contacts through appropriate social channels
• Thank the conference for having you
• If you were on a panel, thank the panelists and moderator
• Thank any livebloggers that covered your session
• Use media coverage from the event in your newsroom, corporate email and other communications
• Follow up!!!!!

This should probably have been turned into an ebook on the topic, so congratulations on making it to the end of the post!  Heck, maybe we will make it into an ebook and add a few forms, checklists and examples.  In the meantime, share this list of tips with those in your organization that hold the purse strings for your event attendance. Try one or two of these tips for your next conference and share what you’ve done to get more value out of event attendance.

As always, if you like these tips, be sure to get your copy of Optimize for a deep dive into an integrated approach to optimizing your online marketing.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | 5 Ways to Optimize the Business Value of Attending Conferences | http://www.toprankblog.com

Actionable Social Analytics

This recent infographic by awareness takes a dive into social analytics.  In an era where virtually every brand is online, it is essential that action is being taken off of the data we are collecting from social networks.  This infographic provides not only some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that your company should be tracking, but how to calculate these numbers as well.  Examples of the KPI’s your company should be tracking:

• Brand Awareness & Reputation
• Marketing Program Effectiveness
• Lead Generation Effectiveness

Use LinkedIn to Get Juicy Industry Scoop
LinkedIn has proven to be a great recruiting mechanism and means of connecting business professionals.  Many organizations are now using the social networking platform to gain insight into potential clients.  Sounds a little bit like stalking to me, what do you think?  Via Inc.

You’re Fired! Facebook “Likes” Gone Wrong
Should companies have a say in what their employees post on social networks on their own time?  Can these posts or “likes” be grounds for termination?  That is exactly what judges are trying to figure out based on two recent cases where employees claim they were fired for what their employers deemed inappropriate “likes” on Facebook.  Via BtoB.

Google is King of the Mountain on Mobile
comScore’s Mobile Metrix report examines mobile media usage across different devices, applications, and web browsing.  According to this report, Google is leading the pack by reaching over 98% of the U.S. mobile audience.  Via TechCrunch.

Use Social Media to Target Existing Customers
Social media can be used in a variety of ways to target new and existing customers.  Your team can take a customer centric approach which involves answering questions and solving issues.  Additionally, social networks are a great way to offer loyalty programs which encourage repeat business.  This article offers 5 great tips for using social media to target your current customers.  Via Social Media Examiner.

Online Marketing News From the Top(Rank)

Shawna Kenyon – Facebook’s Stock Price in Context
Facebook is going public, well kind of. Last Thursday they announced the release of 337,415,352 shares to hit the marketplace, making Facebook one of the most valuable US Internet companies to date.  But is Facebook really a good investment? How does the offering/pricing compare to its tech counterparts?  Check out the Infographic in this article to see how Facebook stacks up.  Via Mashable.

Brian Larson -‘Cannibalization’ Not Good For Fast Food…Or Any Other Business
To be clear, we’re talking the cannibalization of revenue. Fast food giant Wendy’s launched the ‘W’ burger last year and saw sales for the new product display consistent growth. So where’s the problem? Sales of the ‘W’ burger were rising while higher ticket items were dropping. In effect, Wendy’s had been successful in down selling their menu. Let this delicious example be a friendly reminder that just because you can launch a product doesn’t mean you should.  Via AdvertisingAge.

Mike Yanke – Google Extends Search Results with ‘Sources’ Area
Extended information about movies, books, people and music will soon start populating the third column Google results as the search giant confirmed its ‘Sources’ experiment this week.  Learn more about this experiment – and see some early screencaps – in this article posted by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land.

Kodi Osmond – Google, Big Data & What it Means for SEO
Big data – it’s exactly what it sounds like.  Marketers have always been astutely aware of how gathering and analyzing customer data allows for relevant, impactful, and timely communications.  Google, one of the grand poobahs of big data companies, has alluded to how big big data will be for the future of search.  So is big data really the next big thing, and what big impact will it have on search marketers?  Via Search Engine Watch.

Time to Weigh in: Has your company used LinkedIn to target customers in the past?  If so what were your results?  What is your policy or preference on employees and social media usage, both personal and professional?  We look forward to your feedback on the news articles we found the most interesting this week.  Have a great weekend.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Online Marketing News: Take Action on Social Data, LinkedIn Gets the Scoop, Google Reigns Supreme, Google & Big Data for SEO | http://www.toprankblog.com

When you have a business that relies on attracting new business online the sheer volume of options can be confusing. Should offline advertising efforts transfer to online? Maybe email marketing? What about SEO or the hot topic, social media? So much focus is placed on tactics and channels, that a lot of misplaced digital marketing budget gets wasted or spent inefficiently.

To bring some clarity to the myriad online marketing options available, I think it’s worth marketers taking a holistic approach that starts with an essential understanding of goals and customers. Who are your best customers? Who are your worst? What do your best customers care about? What are their pain points and goals? While you’re answering those key questions, think about how your solutions meet the needs of your target audience and what stories you can tell to bring align those interests to a common goal.

To be an effective online marketer in today’s fast changing environment, it’s important to understand the customer journey though the sales cycle. That empathy helps internet marketers adapt to any changes in consumer behaviors. Curiosity about technology and trends will help marketers become smarter regardless of what changes occur in the industry, with specific channels or applications.

If you want to learn more about how a more customer centric and content focused internet marketing approach could work for your business, please give us a call or come to one of the events listed below. Over the next month or so, I will be speaking at a number of events drilling down into the strategy and mechanics of such an approach. Of course, a great complement to these events would be the book that Joe Pulizzi says will, “help take your online and content marketing to the next level”.

May 16, 1:00 pm Central
Webinar:  Optimize & Socialize for Better Content Marketing
Online Marketing Institute: Register Here (free)

The answer to better content marketing isn’t simply adding more content. Designing content that’s meaningful vs. mechanical for customers that inspires engagement and business outcomes enables brands to reach more people ready to buy, refer or share. This webinar will provide a framework for an Optimize and Socialize approach to content marketing that attracts, engages and inspires community and sales.

Key Takeaways:

• 3 Key consumer trends that spell opportunity for Social SEO
• A Framework for an optimized and socialized content marketing program
• How to plan search and social content across the sales cycle
• Essential KPIs and business outcomes for Social SEO and content marketing

May 23rd, 4:45 pm Pacific
Solo Presentation: Sales Cycle Optimization With Content, SEO & Social Media
Marketo Users Conference (Client), San Francisco: Register Here

While Google.com handles over 11 billion queries a month, competition for attention on the search and social web is at an all time high. There are over 65,743,590 blog posts published each month and more video is uploaded to YouTube in that time than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years. Content flows in every direction throughout a variety of platforms, formats and devices. The mass adoption of the social and mobile web has facilitated a revolution of information access, sharing and publishing.

Guiding customers on their journey through the sales cycle in that environment requires an integrated approach to content, optimization and social media marketing. Optimizing the sales funnel is essential to attract, engage and inspiring customers to buy and this presentation will provide attendees with a framework and tactics to develop their own Optimize and Socialize approach to sales cycle optimization.

June 1st, 8:00 am Central
Presentation: Optimize – How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing
Social Media Club, Redwood Falls MN: Register Here (free copy of Optimize for all attendees!)

How can small businesses approach their online marketing to achieve better visibility where customers are looking and socializing online? This presentation on Optimize will provide attendees a framework for organizing their content marketing that leverages both search and social media to attract more customers, shorten sales cycles and retain existing customers. Some of the key presentation topics to be covered:

• Major shifts in consumer search and social trends
• Key opportunities to improve online marketing strategy and performance
• How to integrate customer-centric SEO with social media and content marketing
• Using this knowledge to attract, engage, and inspire more sales online

June 7th, 9:00 am Eastern
Track Keynote: Optimize and Socialize for Better Content Marketing
BlogWorld New Media & Expo, New York: Register Here

Search, social media and content marketing are converging, and consumers are using numerous ways to discover, consume and act on content. In this session, you’ll learn how to use content marketing best practices to design information that inspires audiences to share, buy and recommend your brand.

Key Points
1. Learn the framework for an optimize and socialize approach to content marketing
2. Understand the framework for optimizing across the customer lifecycle
3. Know the difference between KPIs and business outcomes for web and social measurement

June 8th, 11:30 am Eastern
Solo Presentation: Attract & Engage More Customers With An Optimized State of Mind
Vocus Users Conference (Client), Baltimore: Register Here

The worlds of Marketing and Public Relations are converging and now, more than ever, communications professionals need to accelerate their internet marketing skill sets to create a competitive advantage. This presentation provides an integrated approach to using content for optimizing awareness, engagement and action.

June 11, 10:30 am & 3:30 pm
Enterprise SEO
Content Marketing Optimization
SES Toronto: Register Here

Enterprise SEO: This session will also include a proven model of organization for your enterprise-level SEO campaign as well as a summary of key metrics that you should be measuring to drive ongoing SEO strategy.

Content Marketing Optimization: Pandas and Penguins and Zebras Oh My!  If your SEO is all about chasing tricks and shortcuts with content and links, then this session isn’t for you. If you are interested in building a competitive advantage focusing on customer centric content marketing that works with or without search engines, then make sure you have a front row seat.

It will be a busy 30 days but there’s been so much interest in a more integrated approach and with Optimize, that it’s been a real pleasure meeting and exchanging ideas with marketers looking for a more holistic perspective to marketing on the web. I hope to see you at one of these events.  To get a tase of these types of presentations, take a look at this deck from the Fusion Marketing Experience conference that I presented last week in Antwerp. It’s currently featured on the home page of Slideshare.

For anyone that liveblogs these events, please be sure to email me the link to your post and I’ll send you a copy of Optimize. If you have one, I’ll send you one to give away to your readers.  lee at toprank dot org

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Holistic Optimization Across the Sales Cycle: Optimize Speaking Events May & June | http://www.toprankblog.com

During that process of continuous optimization, it’s important to take the temperature of trends for your specific target market as well as at a broad level. I’d like to use this post to take your general social media temperature when it comes to the most important social networks for business. This is a gut feeling check for how you perceive the list below of social media/network properties that companies are currently using for business purposes.

Please take a few seconds and take the following poll about mostly U.S. centric social media and networking sites. Pick up to 3.

Of course a proper digital marketing strategy that includes a social media component would identify specific social networks relevant to the target audience, but I think there’s some value in tapping into general trends and perceptions as well. I think there’s a bit of a rub between the idea of using a social network for fun as a user and using that same social network as a business. Therefore, it will be interesting to see which social networks, besides the obvious, are perceived as best for business use.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | What Are the Most Important Social Networks for Business? | http://www.toprankblog.com

Marketing Deja Vu Getting You Down?

At some time or another we have all experienced that eerie sense of familiarity where we’ve “been there” or “done that” before.  Whether it is an actual memory or simply a “brain fart”, deja vu is an interesting experience.

Let’s assume for a second that deja vu is real.  If you found yourself in a situation you knew for certain you had experienced before that had ended badly would you have the tools necessary to change your course of action?  Many organizations have faced and continue to deal with “marketing deja vu” or ending up in the same situations over and over again.  What can you do to avoid making the same marketing mistakes more than once?

*Speaking of deja vu: If you are looking for additional tips on improving your marketing strategy be sure to reference the posts from the TopRankBlog archive that appear in this post.

4 Tips For Avoiding Marketing Deja Vu

#1 – Learn From Your Previous Marketing Mistakes

The best way to avoid repeating mistakes?  By learning from each experience.  Do not expect that you will have different set of outcomes from the same actions.  We must remember that marketing mistakes can mean a decrease in current customer base, as well as the loss of potential new customers.

3 Tips for Learning From Your Marketing Mistakes:

• Mistakes happen, the worst thing you can do is avoid dealing with the problem
• Move on but don’t forget the lesson you learned
• Don’t let frustration get the best of you

We All Make Mistakes:  20 Social Media Marketing Do’s & Dont’s

#2 – Create A Structured Marketing Process

Errors can in large part be attributed to lack of process.  A structured process provides a framework and guideline for accomplishing your marketing goals.  Marketing process improves your ability to:

• Plan effectively for future marketing needs
• Implement & Scale your marketing plan
• Test, implement, and refine marketing tactics

Implement A Process: Practical Tips to Make Your Blog More Useful & Interactive

#3 – Don’t Rationalize Bad Marketing Decisions

One of the biggest mistakes we can make as marketers is to rationalize bad decisions.  It is important that we accept and face the fact that we didn’t make the best choice.  Once we’ve overcome the hurdle of admitting fault it’s time to take action:

• Focus on why a particular marketing tactic didn’t work
• Determine how your team can improve going forward
• Debrief other team members so they can avoid making the same mistakes

To Be Avoided: 4 B2B Social Media & SEO Blunders to Avoid

#4 – Ask for Help & Advice to Improve Your Marketing Plan

Pride should never get in the way of improving your marketing strategy.  Some of the best ideas come from where you least expect. Suggesting collaboration with other team members and influentials can:

• Help you come to a conclusion for next steps faster
• Remind you of mistakes they may have made in the past that you will want to avoid
• Provide a fresh set of eyes that may have a different perspective

Get the Help You Need: 4 Tips for Becoming A Better Influencer

Take Action

You may have heard some or all of the tips listed above prior to reading this post.  However, I want you to ask yourself:  How many of these tips has my team actually implemented and stuck with?  A good starting point to get on the right track to avoiding ‘marketing deja vu’ is to ask yourself and your team a few simple discovery questions:

• What are 3 instances in where your marketing team has made the same mistake more than once?
• Did you expect different outcomes each time the mistake was made?
• What were those expected outcomes?
• What have you done to rectify these mistakes, or adapt your process to avoid them in the future?

Remember, if you can’t answer these questions on your own perhaps you should try asking other team members.  Or you may want to consider or contacting an agency like TopRank Online Marketing to learn how you can attract and engage current and prospective customers by avoiding common marketing mistakes.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again: 4 Tips for Improving Marketing for Small Business | http://www.toprankblog.com

The quality of the experience, memories and the stories you get to tell after visiting other countries are usually the most meaningful. Sure “stuff” is fun to get, but how often do you think “I met too many cool people” vs. “I bought too many souvenirs”?

As I talk to other people about traveling (and online marketing), the spectrum of perspectives is pretty amazing. It’s just like the wide variety of perceptions towards optimization and social networking. For some people, both are simplified as checklists. Keyword list? Check. Take a picture of the Eiffel Tower? Check. But what did it mean?

The purpose of my day-trip to Paris (my first) was all mechanical. I was there mostly to get Flat Stanley photos for my 8 year old princess and to get lightly familiar with the Metro, navigating the city. I will make no claims whatsoever about having “seen” Paris. I didn’t “really” see, or more importantly, experience much of anything significant. As there is infinitely more to Paris than photos of the Louvre Museum, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, there is much, much more to SEO than keywords, Pandas, Pengiuns and links. There’s certainly a lot more to social networking than fans, friends and followers.

So the question is, why do you settle? Why do you let your company settle? Why are so many companies still siloing their SEO and social media marketing and counting success through KPIs? Even those companies that have developed their appreciation towards what SEO can do, get caught up in Google update drama or link counts and rankings vs. focusing on what’s important.

The same goes for companies that have some experience in the social media realm. Blog? Check. Fans, friends and followers? Check. Ooh look! Shiny object Pinterest. Check!

KPIs are not business outcomes. At least not for most companies. Rankings, organic non-branded search traffic, Google+ circle counts, video views, comments and retweets are KPIs. Last time I checked, none of them carry a wallet.

Optimize for experiences. Any content or media that a company publishes digitally can create an experience for prospects, customers, investors, employees, journalists, potential employees and industry peers. It’s important to monitor key performance indicators as it relates to search and social media attracting visitors. Engagement KPIs are important too. But I think there’s opportunity to look beyond the fan, friend, follower and ranking metrics to attempt to understand what progress in those areas actually means for the business.

London? Been there, done that. A while back, a peer in the online marketing world mentioned to me having been to London for a day. The summation was, “I’ve done London” check. I see the same assessments from online marketers about their SEO and social media efforts. They have a blog, they’re getting data on links, visits, retweets, likes and comments. Check. But that’s where it stops for them.

In the way that there’s more to Paris, London and the city where you live than seeing a few tourist spots, there’s more to your online marketing than measuring KPIs. They can indicate progress, but they are not the end goal when it comes to customer acquisition and engagement (the business my agency TopRank Online Marketing) is in. It’s also a big focus for my new book, Optimize.

My 30 min of internet at the Antwerp airport is about to expire. I wish I could finish this post, but maybe you can share your thoughts? Do you think most online marketers are practicing meaningful or more mechanical SEO and social media marketing?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Is Your Optimization Meaningful or Mechanical? | http://www.toprankblog.com

Content Marketing World, We Found A Home

This recent video from Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi, provides some background into how Content Marketing World came to be.  If you are big or small brand, B2B, B2C, or virtually any organization that creates content this conference is for you.  Scheduled this year for Sept 4-6 in Columbus, Content Marketing World is now the largest content marketing conference in the world. TopRank is proud to be one of 4 exclusive media sponsors along with Copyblogger Media, Social Media Examiner and SmartBusiness Content Marketing.

Forget Big Brother – What About Giant Google?
Last week Google released its full FCC report which contained information about data collection from unsecured Wi-Fi connections.  It appears that Google’s Street View cars were not only taking photos of streets, but were also intercepting email and SMS traffic.  Read more to see what else Google has up their sleeve.  Via Forbes.

Searcher Personas Driving Landing Page Design
Determining what drives your customers to purchase is invaluable information for any online marketer.  Using searcher personas to determine what techniques to use for your landing pages will improve targeting and therefore your results.  What motivates people to click?  Read on to find out more.  Via Search Engine Land.

Google Keeps It Real (Time)
Google News is getting an upgrade.  Google will begin rolling out further integration between Google+ and Google News.  Starting today Google News users will be able to see what their circles are covering and what they have to say about trending topics.  Another new feature is a “realtime coverage page” which will surface Google+ comments and new articles as they become available.  Via TechCrunch.

Enhance SEO with Author Avatars
Launched in June of 2011, Google’s authorship markup allows websites to connect individual authors to their posts across the web by adding a simple rel=author tag to their content.  Google plans to use this information to help connect people with authors and ultimately their content.  Via ClickZ.

5 Key Strategies for Building Your LinkedIn Network
With over 150 million members, LinkedIn is a valuable asset for business professionals.  This article provides some seemingly simple but effective tips on sharing relevant and engaging information with your network. As well as tactics for continuing to grow your network on an ongoing basis.  Via Social Media Examiner.

Tip Top TopRank(ing) Internet Marketing News

Brian Larson – Your Search Results Just Went Retro
Bell bottoms made a comeback, so why can’t a simplified SERP as well? Although Bing originally led the charge in creating a more customized (and busy) SERP, the search engine is simplifying its search results. Don’t expect anyone to copy the Alta Vista UI, but Greg Sterling of Search Engine Land shares what this retro look means for Bing searches.  Via Search Engine Land.

Jolina Pettice – Segmenting Traffic Based of Value of Device
Search Marketers are used to segmenting traffic based on sources which are known to convert at higher rates. i.e. Search Engines vs Direct vs Referrals.  However, we may need to add an additional layer onto this segment to account for the type of device the visitor is using. For example, are visitors from iPads more valuable in terms of time-on-site and conversion than a visitor from a different type of tablet or desktop.  This may be a data piece to mine further, if your visitors are viewing your site from an array of devices.  Via Search Engine Land.

Shawna Kenyon – How 7 Top Brands Are Using Facebok’s New Ad Tools
In 2012 Facebook previewed a slew of new ad products to people outside the industry, though to some these new initiatives might have appeared to be ‘old hat’, advertisers see them as anything but.  Among the new products were Premium on Facebook, Reach Generator, Offers and Logged Out ads.  These new advertising offers came as a way to showcase new products and services in more than a two dimensional way allowing for ads to reach all of a brands fans and designed to expose them to things they might not otherwise see. The article above showcases 7 big brands and how they are utilizing the new services.  Via Mashable.

Time to Weigh In: What emphasis does your company place on developing customer personas?  Do you consider an article in your Google search more credible if there is an author avatar attached?  Is your company currently segmenting traffic?  If so, based on what data points?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Online Marketing News: Content Marketing World!, Google Goes Big Brother, Searcher Personas, Retro SERPs | http://www.toprankblog.com