One of the great things about the internet is how you learn how to use it better by using the internet.

Yup.

But given how much information there is out there, it can be nice when someone curates it for you and just gives you the best of the best.

Here are the go-to internet marketing resources we’ve used to learn the trade and that we heartily recommend to others. Bookmark this page because we will update it as we find new ones.

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Want to grow your business with online marketing without spending a fortune or getting overwhelmed?

Then you’ll want to check out our latest free video training on exactly this topic.

 

To claim the special offer from this presentation, click here.

An FAQ page isn’t always the first thing you think about when building an effective content marketing plan for your website. 

However, just like your blog posts, social media content, and how-to guides, your FAQ page can demonstrate incredible business value.

Frequently Asked Questions are where you address the various queries and concerns your customers might have when interacting with your business. 

You can deal with concerns about shipping and returns or just let your customers know where your supplies come from. 

FAQ pages are excellent for informing and educating your customers, meaning they’ll usually feel more confident about buying from you. 

At the same time, that’s where you can build your digital presence and even boost business credibility. 

Let’s see what makes FAQ pages so effective. 

FAQ Page Can Improve Your SEO

SEO is an essential part of building an effective business and making sure customers can find you online.  (more…)

In a world saturated with brands competing for your target market’s attention, you need solid branding strategies to stand out from the crowd.

By making your brand more unique, you can attract new customers into your online sales funnel and stay top of mind when they’re ready to purchase.

In this article, we’ll discuss several ways you can create a unique place in the mind of your prospects. That way, your company can beat the competition with superior marketing campaigns. Let’s get started:

Stand for A Cause

People will go to greater lengths to support a bigger cause than a purely profit-driven business. Consider the bigger picture of your brand. Ask yourself if there is a correlated cause or mission that you can actively support through the business.

For instance, a shoe company can offer to give a pair of shoes to those in need for each pair purchased by customers. Professional service providers can offer pro bono work to the same effect.

And there is always the option of donating a certain amount of revenue each year to a chosen charity.

But supporting a cause doesn’t even need to incur such financial costs. You can bring awareness to an important issue to magnify it using your existing platform. Think creatively about how your business can make the world a better place.

Connecting your brand with a higher purpose doesn’t just make the world a better place — it also increases profits.

Provide More Value with Webinars

Webinars are an underutilized tool for growing your brand. Live video interaction is the next best thing to being in the same room with your customers.

When you provide value in an in-depth webinar, you build brand loyalty and stand out from the companies who simply put the bare minimum effort into their sales process.

You can use webinars in your branding strategy in various ways, for example:

Dramatize Your Product

Some products are difficult to understand without seeing it demonstrated. Show your product in action. Demonstrate live how it solves your customers’ most pressing pain points.

Through a long-form video presentation, you have much more time and interactivity than a mere landing page.

Answer Questions Live

Webinars provide an excellent opportunity to be different from the competition. Instead of merely providing a help section, you can answer questions in real time.

Your answers to these questions can be revised and incorporated into your sales process. That way, you are getting twice the value from the same time investment.

Direct Participants to Dedicated Sales Representatives

People are more impatient than ever before. While they may feel like buying your product during the webinar, they might lose interest over time.

Strike while the iron is hot by offering live calls with sales representatives. Even if they don’t make the sale, they can glean vital information for future sales calls.

Make Unique Social Media Content

If you aren’t using social media effectively, you’re missing out on the opportunity it provides to make your brand more unique. Social media is your microphone to the world. Broadcast what your brand is all about, using your unique brand voice.

Keep in mind that you don’t just need to communicate within your brand guidelines. Different social media platforms have certain unwritten ‘rules’ determined by how people prefer to communicate on that platform.

The campaign you create for LinkedIn may differ from that of Facebook, Google, or Instagram. Consider what you are selling. If you have a visual product such as a luxury watch, then excellent photography and videos can differentiate you from the crowd.

On the other hand, a home repair company might find that paid ads with high buying intent such as those on Google Ads are a better strategy, wherein your ad copy and landing page do more of the work.

Add a Personal Touch

In the digital world, the art of the personal touch seems to have been lost. But companies who make the extra effort are noticed and remembered. One example of this is the handwritten note.

However, there is something much more powerful you can use nowadays: a customized app.

Mobile app development is easier than ever before. It allows you to personalize your customer experience. You can reach customers instantly right through the app and recommend products to them based on their buying habits. You also avoid gatekeepers, such as social media platforms.

Through your app, your brand lives in your customer’s pocket. By implementing push notifications, personalized content, and useful features that simplify communication and purchasing, your brand will always be at the forefront of your customer’s mind.

This means you have unlimited access directly to your market. And once you have the app developed, there are no costs to communicate your brand messaging again and again.

Be Consistent

Billion-dollar brands have been built on the concept of being consistent. When you provide a consistent experience, you make your customers’ lives easier. They know exactly what to expect so they can make a mental shortcut by repeatedly buying from you.

For more commoditized products, this comes in the form of quality control. For entertainment companies, it means communicating with a consistent brand voice.

Review the implicit and explicit promises that you make to your market through your advertising and ensure that you are delivering on them.

Many companies take this for granted. They assume that their customers know what they know. But you need to constantly remind your target audience exactly what you stand for and what value you can provide for them.

If you pair a solid branding strategy with an excellent product or service, you will face less competition from those who are simply following the crowd.

Part of branding strategy is your brand’s font, which you can design here with Adobe’s Font Logo Maker.

Wrapping Up

Your brand has the opportunity to reach an unprecedented number of people today. However, so do others around the globe. Even if your business provides a unique solution, you are competing with others who are solving the same customer problems.

The art of communicating your brand’s unique qualities can be a challenge without the right tools. But if you implement the branding strategies above, you can position your brand as a one-of-a-kind solution. As a result, you can enjoy more growth and profit going forward.

What on earth is a marketer to do with all the changes that are coming at us daily in the current crisis?

In short, we provide value where we can and pivot when we need to.

Here’s a video I made about this. Hope it’s helpful.

Ready to learn more?

You can sign up for my March 26 webinar here.

Marketing and advertising tend to follow where people’s attention is going, and as you’ve probably noticed, most people now spend a lot of their time online using various devices, from computers to tablets to smartphones.

And that trend is increasing.

That’s why it’s only going to become more important to reach your prospects by marketing your business on those devices.

Announcing the Digital Marketing Mastery 2.0 Training Course!

Hiring an agency like ours that specializes in digital marketing can admittedly be expensive for small and medium businesses.

At the same time, learning all that you need to know about Google Analytics, SEO, Google Ads, Facebook Ads and making your website effective can seem overwhelming.

That’s why I’ve created an intensive 12-month digital marketing training program called Digital Marketing Mastery 2.0.

You can check out the schedule and syllabus here.

If you’re ready to

• learn some of the most valuable skills of the year (and decade)
• attract more visitors to your website
• bring in more leads and sales
• and prove your ROI by measuring your results

then join us for the Digital Marketing Mastery 2.0 training series at DreamBank in Madison.

Sign up now to claim your spot!

Click here to apply for the full course! The final deadline to sign up and pay is March 27 because the first class is on the morning of March 28.

Watch the first class free

We made the first class free, and you can watch the recording of it below. It gives an overview of the principles of digital marketing, how you select channels, and how you measure the results to improve over time.

Ready to bring in more business online?

Then you’re ready to learn how to get visibility for your company when it matters most: when people are searching for what you do, when they recently searched for what you do, and when they’ve left your website without buying from you or contacting you.

Why Take this Course?

• Digital Marketing can feel complicated and overwhelming
• Yet these are some of the top skills of the present and the future because they help grow businesses
• Hiring an agency can be expensive
• Knowledge + Experience = Understanding. You’ll immediately get the chance to apply what you learn on your laptop during our workshops.

Is Digital Marketing Mastery 2.0 for Me?

Are you:

• A marketer or business owner who wants to do your own online marketing (or at least better understand it)?
• Willing to work a few hours per week learning valuable skills and growing your business?
• Able to make changes to your website (or have someone else do it?)

What’s Included in the Course?

• Monthly Lectures
• Monthly Workshops immediately after those lectures
• Monthly Online Office Hours
• Lifetime Access to Online Video Lessons (over 16 hours of content)
• Online Discussion Forum for Questions
• Projects to implement what you know
• A link from the Get Found Madison website
• A LinkedIn recommendation from me if you complete all the work
• Bonus videos and online marketing updates

What are the benefits to me and my organization?

• Grow your business!
• Learn valuable 21st century skills
• Save $$$ by doing more in-house
• Advance your Career
• Tell your boss or clients what’s possible
• Prove what you’ve achieved by measuring your results
• Meet other smart local marketers and grow your network

What do other people who’ve taken the course say?

“The in-person format was the best part of the learning for me. I am more committed in that scene and I like to learn when it is interactive.

One of my clients is now creating a new web site because of this course and I’ve also become the creative online director for another company.”

-Shawn Smith (Shawn Smith Marketing)

“Whether you are new to digital marketing, wanting to expand your knowledge or simply understand what your digital marketing team does and learn how to improve on it, Eagan’s class will allow you to learn and grow your digital marketing skills. Eagan is an awesome teacher and provides plenty of materials and tools to help you understand the material both inside and outside of the classroom.

Personally, my skills expanded further than I thought they would. Having taken marketing classes in college I knew the fundamentals of marketing but none of the current digital marketing strategies that are essential for companies to be competitive. I highly recommend this course to anyone wanting to learn or strengthen their digital marketing skills to help grow their company’s digital presence.”

-Robin Lawson (Sullivan DesignBUILD)

“You have real-time examples from him [Eagan], his clients, plus feedback from classmates and they always have examples.

There’s always awesome questions that you yourself wouldn’t think to ask. It’s just a great brainstorming environment.”

-Elise Jensen (Powderkeg Web Design)

https://youtu.be/KxAjhB9MJtQ

What does it cost to just hire an agency to do all this for me?

Depending on the scope, $18,000-$60,000 and up per year. Monthly retainers are regularly in the $1,500-$5,000 per month range!

What does it cost to take Digital Marketing Mastery 2.0 in-person?

• $250 per month for 12 months ($3,000 total)
• $2,500 when you pay up front by March 27

What if I want additional 1:1 consulting outside of class and workshops?

You can enroll in the course and get everything that’s included, plus one hour of 1:1 consulting over video meetings per month for

• $500 per month for 12 months ($6,000 total)

So how do I enroll in Digital Marketing Mastery 2.0?

Sign up by clicking this link right now and paying the first invoice by March 27, 2019.

If you want to be put on the list for when we offer the class again or if you want the online version, email eagan@getfoundmadison.com.

 

We’re returning to speak at the DreamBank in Madison on Nov 27 on the topic of Multi-Channel Marketing. Can’t wait to see you there!

 

Click here to register for free.

 

 

Social advertising has taken off in a big way. Companies of all sizes are using social ads to get their brand in front of their target customers, generate traffic, and boost sales. Retailers especially can take advantage of the benefits provided by social ads.

But how can you get more from your ads? Here are some strategies to get you started.

Get the Basics Right

First of all, you want to make sure you get all the basics right. What does that mean?

Use compelling images. Visuals will get more attention and will bring your ads to life. Remember, social media is a crowded place. People are looking for content that catches their eye, and there is a lot of it out there. You have to stand out to get noticed.

Also, make sure you take a mobile-first approach. Obviously, it is important how your ads look on the desktop version, but mobile should be the priority. And use enticing language to make sure you attract people to your ads with your copy.

Engage Using Videos

Videos are a great way to help your social ads get more attention, and they can be even more engaging than images.

People love watching videos online, and they are a great way to show off your products and build trust by showing the actual faces behind your company. You could create video testimonials for social proof, interview people in your business, or show your products being used. Definitely experiment with video ads to see if they can get you more clicks and engagement.

Any time you can encourage engagement in the form of likes, shares and comments, you should! Prompt viewers to leave a comment or tag a friend. When Facebook sees strong engagement on an ad, that can drive your cost per click (CPC) down.

Experiment with Audiences

There are many options for targeting audiences on social websites. Facebook especially provides you with lots of options where you can target by age, interests, behaviors, and more.

Targeting based on interests can be especially effective. If you sell a certain type of product, you can target people with similar interests who will be more likely to be interested in your product.

For example, Splendid Beast is a pet painting business that targets their Facebook ads based on people who love dogs, specific dog breeds, and cats. They also create lookalike audiences based on previous purchasers and website visitors, then remarket to people who have already visited the website or interacted with their Facebook page.

You could also target people at certain moments in their lives, such as when they are getting married.

Experiment with these options. Start by targeting your main target market, but try different audiences as well by making tweaks. Once you have run a few ads, you will see what is working for you.

Advertise Promotions

Using promotions is a time-tested strategy to make more sales. But you need people to discover your promotions. When you post an update on your social account that you have a 24-hour discount, you’re just hoping that your customers see it.

That’s why you should use advertising. Create a standard ad just like you normally would, but make the promotion the main focus. Let your targets know that they can get a special discount if they act fast. A great offer will get noticed, so use this technique to break through the noise.

Use the Store Visits Feature

If you have multiple locations, you might be able to use the Store Visits feature in Facebook. This is where you can create different ads with maps and copy that is specific to the store that is located nearest to the target, and it’s a great way to send people to your physical stores.

Keep Things Fresh

Always try to do new things with your ads, and don’t be tempted to run the same ad all the time. If something works, that’s great. But experiment further. Change the images and the copy, otherwise people will quickly get bored if they see the same ad all the time.

Consider having five or 10 types of ads, some showing products, others showing reviews, and others with special roundups and collections. Then change your copy to use different messages so you are not saying the same thing all the time.

Find out what works, then optimize it further and keep on changing what you are doing to keep your targets interested.

Target Existing Customers

One simple technique is to focus your efforts on your existing customers. It’s cheaper and easier to sell to existing customers because they have already shown an interest in your products. Getting new customers, on the other hand, is hard work—and more expensive.

On Facebook, you can do this by using custom audiences. This is where you define the exact audience you want to display your ads to, which could include customers on your email list.

You should also create a lookalike audience based on your customer or email list, so Facebook can use its algorithm to help you find more customers and subscribers. Sometimes you can supercharge this technique by “layering in” interests. For example, Splendid Beast sometimes targets dog lovers who are also lookalikes of previous purchasers.

Use Facebook Collection Ads

Facebook Collection Ads are a great option for retailers. Using these, you can show a main image or video then display product recommendations. They are a great way to advertise a collection of products, especially around a certain time of year like the holidays.

Use Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads are one of Facebook’s killer advertising techniques, and these are perfect for retailers.

And its efficacy is well-known, even for brands on the lower end of the financial scale. One need only take a look at the ad overheads of high-performing businesses of less than $10k to see that, for many of them, their highest expense is on Facebook social ads. Shop Trucksy alone spends $500 a month on its Facebook ads, but reports $8000 average monthly profits!

You will need to use the Facebook pixel on your website to use dynamic ads. Install it on every page, and this will then analyze the actions of visitors. You can then decide who to show your ads to based on their behavior.

It’s a very powerful tool because you can use it to advertise to people who have looked at specific products on your website or who have visited certain pages. You could then provide the visitor with a special discount on that product and give them a push using your ad.

Experiment with Different Platforms

When you find something that works for you, don’t stop there. If you find that Facebook ads work well, experiment on Twitter or Pinterest. You may find that other platforms are even more effective.

Always experiment with new platforms and types of ads, and constantly improve your results.

Social ads are a fantastic way to find new customers and get repeat sales from existing customers. If you have been using social advertising with unexceptional results, try some of the above techniques. Keep on experimenting and optimizing, and you may find that social ads can be one of your most effective ways to drive sales.

Digital marketing is changing so fast that it’s next to impossible for any marketer or business owner to keep up.

Luckily it all boils down to some basics.

You want:

• the right people to see your brand and offerings at the right time
• more people contacting you or buying from your website
• more people coming to your website
• more people coming back to your website
• to measure what’s working and what isn’t so you can improve

Our Digital Marketing Mastery Course

To go more in-depth on how to do each of these things, we’re launching a course called Digital Marketing Mastery to show you the latest techniques and tricks to earn more leads and sales online.

We love keeping up with this stuff and teaching others what we learn and what we see working for our business and our clients.

We made the first class in our 6-month course free, and you can catch the re-recording of it below. It’s called, “What’s Possible Now With Digital Marketing.”

Check it out!

 

 

 

Note we’ll have an in-person class (at 555 D’Onofrio, Madison WI) as well as an online-only option if you’re outside town or can’t make our class dates.

What will the course cover and when are the classes?

As you can see from the syllabus and schedule, we’ll be covering the best strategies and tactics to increase business using

• Google Analytics
• SEO
• Google Ads
• Website Conversion Optimization
• Social Media Marketing (organic and paid).

Most of the in-person classes will be on Wednesdays at 3:30 pm, but we have a few Mondays in there, too.

Who will this class be perfect for?

• Marketing Directors
• Marketing Team Members
• Business owners who handle their own marketing

What problems will this address?

• I don’t know where to start
• I don’t where to focus
• I don’t have a strategy, plan or budget
• I can’t keep up with all the changes in online marketing
• I get stuck when trying to implement digital strategies and could use step-by-step instruction I can refer back to

What outcomes can I expect?

At least twice as many website leads in the next 12 months.

This assumes you’re ready to invest in the paid online advertising channels we’ll teach you to use. Appropriate budgets will vary based on business and industry, but you should be ready to spend $500-1,000 per month in ads at the very minimum to test the strategies we’ll teach.

What requisites are there?

You should be eager to learn and implement the best strategies and tactics in online marketing.

To get the most benefit, you need to be able to make changes to your website or have someone who can.

We strongly favor WordPress as a website platform and Content Management System, but most of what we discuss can be done on other platforms like Wix, Squarespace, HubSpot, etc.

How much does it cost and when do I need to sign up by?

We have three options:

1. (EXPIRED) $900 if you pay $150/mo. for 6 months. This covers the 12 in-person classes, Q&A after each, and lifetime online access to the re-recordings in case you miss a class or need to review. Sign-up ends Aug 22 for this option.
2. (EXPIRED) $750 one-time payment if paid by Aug 15 (saves $150, or one month). Includes everything in Option 1.
3. $500 for lifetime access to the online videos only, no in-person or Q&A

 

Ready to learn digital marketing step-by-step?

Great!

Select your option below and we’ll send you an invoice. Once that’s paid, you’ll receive login access to the Digital Marketing Mastery website.

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Visual content is all the rage, and nailing this aspect of your marketing is sure to give your brand a boost. Yet while a picture speaks a thousand words, sometime you need to add a few of your own in order to engage with your audience, and get them involved with your content.

These captions serve a range of purposes, from explaining the image itself, to offering up an insight or opinion on the image’s content, or giving details of a related product or promotion. They serve as the voice of your brand, speaking directly to your customers as they take an interest in your content.

However, it’s not always easy to stand out from the crowd, so it’s important to ensure your caption game is on point. Here are some tips on creating killer captions for your visual content, and how this can help your business go from strength to strength in 2018.

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At first glance, email marketing might sound a bit old-fashioned and out-of-date. Social media have opened a world of new opportunities for advertising and have been a hot topic for marketing experts over the last few years. So why would one still prefer email over other forms of online marketing?

The first and most important factor is mere quantity. To mention just some of the stats – while Facebook has 1.6 billion users, almost a billion more people use email. Furthermore, 91% of them use this channel daily, and for 58% of them, it’s the first thing they check online, compared to Facebook’s 57% and 11% respectively. Differences are radical when it comes to ROI as well, with email marketing being 4 times more successful than social media. The crucial reason for this is the fact that email is still the media most frequently used for transactions, as well as for doing business. A journey that starts by setting the list up and ends with collecting the money can be divided into three steps: developing the list, maintaining it and, last but definitely not least, converting.

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