Inbound Marketing Blog

The importance of metrics and looking past the numbers. I’ve gotten the same email every Friday for the last three years and I open it every single time. It’s not even pretty (I love a beautiful email) but I open it and click through. Every. Single. Time.more

Our staff doesn’t come into the office for days at a time, and we’re okay with that. “Work Remote” might be a distant second to “gig economy” as an over-hyped buzzword, but it’s definitely gaining ground. My agency, MINDSCAPE, is a midwest-based digital marketing agency that prides itself on being agile and adaptable, and we’ve been testing the Work Remote model for about a year. Along the way, we’ve learned a few things that could prove useful to other companies or departments who are evaluating remote work.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our final episode of the season, we get into the debate about CRMs. To start, we answer what is a CRM is and compare it to other methods, discuss the issues or limitations with using a CRM, and what is the best form of a CRM.more

In Episode 9 we get in the weeds on the topic of change and irrelevance. Has the evolution of the business climate created issues for you? We've entered the time where things that once worked back then aren't relevant today, adapting to new changes and accepting help is the only way to succeed moving forward.more

In Episode 8 we highlight the overview of creating a budget for paid advertising and explaining why online advertising is NOT a waste of money. We also explain the process of creating your budget, the methods you use to keep track of them, and determining when to change your budget.more

In Episode 7 we have a featured guest, our very own Matt Brand, Senior Developer at MINDSCAPE. We discuss why page builders aren't always the best idea when creating a new website, such as the differences in limitations between page builders and code and how they are hurtful for your website's data and load time.more

In Episode 6 we go over what the Buyer's Landscape is, how it has changed from the Baby Boomers to Millenials, how it has changed learning and flexibility policies, sharing your knowledge and adapting to new ways, and risks vs. reward.more

In Episode 5 we go over goal setting and the numbers that go along with them. We discuss Goals vs Wishes, how to create smart and measurable goals, what metrics should we put our goals around and how to measure the ROI of a goal.more

In Episode 4 we highlight the topic of paid advertising, what are the first steps to take when starting a paid promotion, the warnings of fake companies that promise you quick results to the top page of Google and the difference between paid search vs social.more

In Episode 3 we discuss the longtime battle of sales & marketing not working harmoniously, how to inform and educate the sales team on what a good quality lead is to transfer on, and tips to share on how they can work together.more

Episode 2 discusses Old School Sales, how back in the say sales consisted of the famous "smile and dial" or going door to door. We go in the weeds about how that doesn't work anymore, due to our ever-changing technology landscape, and what new methods are dominating the field.more

Welcome to the first episode of the In the Weeds Podcast! This episode will give the introduction to the podcast with our CEO & Co-Founder, Pete Brand, and our COO, Jeff Bell. Join us as we discuss the history of MINDSCAPE and what you can expect to hear from our new podcast!more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise. In this clip, our CEO and Co-Founder, Pete Brand, shares 5 steps you can do to build a consistent stream of new website visitors.more

Save the date! Coming up on October 2nd is a sales and marketing event that you won’t want to miss named HubSpot on Tap! From 3:30 to 6:30pm, we will be serving up some marketing and sales tips and tricks accompanied by craft beer, unique cocktails and delicious food at The Knickerbocker inside New Holland Brewing’s Grand Rapids location.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

If a CRM is hard to use … no-one’s going to use it. Babbitt's Sports Center had a 21st-century business that was hamstrung by some 20th-century processes.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

A few weeks ago, a client (who is far more technologically sophisticated than I am) was talking about GDPR and its impact on their business. Inspired by that conversation, I decided to create a quick overview of GDPR for those of you who, like me, are easily confused by lengthy acronyms. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a strategist and writer, not an attorney with international expertise in data privacy.more

In our video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

Several weeks ago, I was invited to participate in the first ever Sales Services Kickstarter program hosted by HubSpot’s David Weinhaus and Dan Tyre. I have to admit, being an operations guy, I was somewhat hesitant because the last job on the planet I would ever consider myself to be qualified for, would be a sales job (Kudos to all you salespeople!) Nevertheless, my agency founders asked me to lead the initiative to build and grow our Sales Services so I accepted the offer and braced for what I expected to be a bumpy ride! After a five week online course, I’m happy to say that I not only made it through unscathed, I actually learned some things I’d love to share! 1. Sales Services are a natural fit for a marketing agency. Consumers are smarter and more empowered now than at any other time in history. According to Aligned to Achieve, 70% of a buyer’s research is complete before they reach out to sales. That’s a lot of research! And when that knowledgeable prospect reaches out to a salesperson and hears anything that doesn’t align with what they already believe they know to be true, that creates risk. And risk causes people to pause - that kills deals.more

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In our new video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

Last year, I attended an event where the speaker told a story that really just stuck with me. He shared the highlights of a conversation he recently had with a “fifty something” male executive. The exec shared his frustration over the rapid rate of change that was happening in his business, "the market" and basically every aspect of the world. He finished his rant by saying, “I HATE CHANGE!”more

In our new video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

It’s no mystery that it’s critical to intimately understand the personas you serve if you want your marketing to be successful. Once you identify where your personas congregate online, you can observe their conversations and identify the problems they’re struggling with. More importantly, you can see the exact words they use as they search for solutions to their challenges.more

In our new video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

In our new video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

How do you impress a GMC truck owner? Have them drive a Ford. Ah, the classic brand rivalry that’s as good as any.more

We are excited to announce the launch of our new video blog series, Minds of MINDSCAPE! In each clip, a member of our team will share a few words of wisdom about their particular area of expertise.more

Launching an eCommerce component of your business can be quite stressful. You want to make sure that you choose a platform that not only has an interface that is easy for your customers to use, but also one that offers a level of security and support that will provide you and your customers with peace of mind that they are safe while they are shopping.more

The year is drawing to a close. You know what that means? The "best of 2017 " and "things to look for in 2018" lists are here! No matter your area of interest, there is a list for it: movies,travel, or web design (which is of course is one of our favorite topics here at MINDSCAPE). I asked our Senior UI/UX designers what they believe will be some of the biggest website design trends of 2018.more

Here at MINDSCAPE, while we primarily work work to drive website traffic using Inbound Marketing tactics, we are actually big fans of PPC. PPC is a fantastic way to bolster your SEO and media efforts. A well executed paid search campaign can give you insight into the keywords your audience is using when they search and what type of content resonates with them.more

I get it. Your website is due for an update. You've spent weeks, maybe months, designing what you'd consider the best web design to ever bless the internet. You want to share this design with the world and have them bask in its eternal glory. The problem is, you don’t know how to code.more

If you’ve spent any time browsing the web in the last few years, you’ve probably encountered a chatbot. It popped up in the bottom corner of your screen and asked if there was anything that you needed help with. But that’s a very basic chatbot and in recent years they have come a long way. Now they are capable of making recommendations, qualifying leads and engaging visitors. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, take a step back and talk about what a exactly a chatbot is.more

In a world where the average shopper can have Amazon deliver anything to their house in under two days, life is rough for a smaller e-commerce site. I mean, how are you supposed to compete with brands like Walmart, Target, and Nike? You're not going to make 12 billion ( Apple's total in e-commerce sales in 2016) in sales revenue by giving your team a good pep talk.more

A content management system or CMS, is at the heart of each and every website. It’s the thing that makes your website, well a website. So, choosing the right one for your business can be a huge decision. You want to choose one that meets your needs without breaking the bank.more

One of the key aspects of developing a good UX ( AKA user experience) on a website is outlining clear user paths (the series of pages that site visitors are most likely to view based on their needs and interests). One way to move people down a particular path, and forward in their buying journey, is with a well crafted CTA.more

What tactics are you using to raise awareness for your brand and help move people along in their buying journey? Do you blog? Post on social media? Dabble in paid search? While those are all extremely effective tactics, sometimes one of the best ways of reaching your audience is getting out in the marketplace and interacting with them face-to-face. So if you are looking for another way to reach your audience, consider doing some speaking engagements!more

At somepoint in time, we have all fallen victim to trends that, in hindsight, have been...regrettable. Leg warmers, jeggings, man-buns, Crocs - I think we can all agree that we were blind to their incomprehensible trendiness. Luckily for us, following these trends only led to a few terrible school photos. Getting on board with the latest digital marketing trends, however, could have more...adverse effects. Let's take a look at a few popular digital marketing trends that are now being questioned.more

There are a lot of people out there with a lot of different opinions on what a content strategy is. In fact, many believe that a content strategy is just the "why" in the who, what, where, when, and why of the title of this post. I don't really care to argue semantics with other marketers,more

As marketers, we spend a lot of time and energy trying to move leads through the buyer’s journey and keeping them happy all the while. But what about once someone is actually a customer? What steps are you taking to make sure that your happy leads convert into happy clients and customers?more

Have you ever wondered what exactly people are looking when they visit your website? Or perhaps where they are clicking? Or if they are scrolling all the way to the bottom of a web page? If you've wondered any of these things, you might want to spend some time looking at heat maps of your web pages.more

Awhile back we wrote a blog post about how you can find success in your partnership with an inbound marketing agency . We didn't, however, give any tips on how to actually choose an agency. To give you some advice on this decision-making process, I talked to our CEO (and top salesperson), Pete Brand. Here is the advice he had to offer.more

When you think about creating content for your business, I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind is creating content that will benefit your customers and help move them along in their buying journey; content like blogs, videos, and content offers. You know, all the things that we and other marketing blogs, spend a majority of our time talking about and dispensing advice on creating.more

I don't think I need to say how crucial video content is to a digital marketing strategy. YouTube has over a billion users, and more than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day. Four out of five consumers believe that demo videos are helpful. Including video in a landing page can increase conversion by 80%. Using the word ‘video’ in an email subject line boosts open rate by 19%. Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users. The statistics go on and on. The proof is there; video is an essential component to a successful digital marketing strategy. But you already knew that, didn't you? You're problem isn't a lack of knowledge. You're problem is a lack of resources. You know what you should be doing, you just don't have the resources to get the job done. Well, you're in luck. About 10 months ago, MINDSCAPE hired a photographer/videographer, and she shared some of the most helpful video and photography resources she has used to improve upon her skills - all taking the form of Youtube vloggers. Let's take a look at these vlogs so you can begin your journey to becoming a better video marketer (and a better photographer).more

If you are a seasoned marketer or event coordinator, then you know know that even the simplest of marketing and networking events are often more than they appear. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure that the event is a success! Take a free lunch and learn (like the ones we host each month) for example. They are a fun, laid back, information filled hour and half. Lunch and Learns are a great way to meet others in attendance and also leave with some great nuggets that you can immediately implement in your own marketing efforts. Sounds simple enough to pull off, right? But there is a lot more going on behind the scenes of this casual lunch event, than meets the eye. Let’s take a look! First we thought about our buyer personas. We considered who our ideal client is and how we can host an information session in a way that is appealing to them. Well, we achieved this by:more

One of the key elements of a brand are the fonts used in your print and marketing materials. Which makes sense because they are the thing that presents one of the most important things in your materials, the copy. I would be willing to bet you’ve probably spent a lot of time searching for and selecting the font that you feel best represents your brand and your message.more

Awhile back, we wrotea blog post covering all of the prep work that needs to be done to shoot the perfect video testimonial...but we never actually covered the shooting part. I talked to our in house photographer/videographer, Rachel Cohen, for a little advice on getting the job done.more

Measuring the performance of a content offer is one of the hardest things to do in digital marketing. Why? Because there are a million and one factors that play into a visitors decision to download your offer... and another million that contribute to whether or not they take action after. In this blog post, I'll take you through the vast majority of these factors and explain how they fit into the performance of your content offer. At the end of this post, you should be able to accurately assess the performance of your content offer and break down which areas of your campaign need attention. The Pieces of a Content Offer A content offer is an informative and relevant piece of content that you offer in exchange for a visitors personal information. This can be an ebook, a how-to-guide, a free trial or demo, or a tool or other resource. For a content offer to be successful, there are many other things that should be created including (but not limited to): A CTA Button A Landing Page A Thank you Page A Promotional Email A Social Promotion Campaign A Follow-up Email Campaign Let's take a look at how these things play into the measurement of a content offer. Content Offer Clicks - CTA Buttons, Social Ads, Email Promotions One way to measure the performance of your content offer is with clicks. How many CTA clicks does your content offer have from your various avenues of promotion? This is not an indicator in itself of how well your content offer is performing, but rather an indicator of how well your ads, promotional emails, and CTA buttons are performing. What this can be an indicator of in regards to your offer is whether or not your idea hit the mark. How well is your offer resonating with your desired audience? A lack of clicks may represent poor promotional material, but it may also represent a missing of the mark. Conversely, a high number of clicks could indicate great promotional material, but it could also indicate an interest in the topic/tool/resource you have provided to your intended audience. It is up to you to look at your content and assess which is likely to be true. Click here for advice on desiging CTA's that convert! Content Offer Conversions - Landing Pages, Forms, the Offer When reporting on the success of a content offer, many digital marketers immediately jump to conversions. If the conversion rate is high, the content offer is a success. While lead conversion is often the primary reason for creating and publishing a content offer, the line of thinking above isn't very logical. High Conversion Rate ≠ Content Offer Success A good content writer can make even the most mundane and useless content offer seem exciting and worthwhile with a little copy writing finesse on the landing page. On the other hand, a bad landing page or a form that sets too high a price may lead to the failure of a riveting and informative offer. What does this mean for your performance metrics? Conversions really don't have a lot to do with the successful the offer itself is. Customer Conversions (and other lead actions) One last way many measure the performance of their content offers is with the actions leads take after interacting with an offer. How many visitors interact with the offer and then become customers? How many leads spend a significant amount of time on site after receiving the offer? How many take another step in their buying journey after receiving the offer? This metric, like those listed before it, has its complications. Your content offer might not be directly responsible for any of the actions your leads choose to take after interacting with it. Their intent to take a specific action may have existed before they chose to download your offer. If you have a lead nurturing campaign in place, it could also be responsible for the lead taking action. Any way you slice it, you can not directly correlate a leads actions (after downloading your offer) with the quality of the offer (this isn't 100% true, but we'll touch on that in a second). So How Do you Measure the Success of Your Content Offer? Like many other digital marketing efforts, a content offer is just one piece of a much larger picture. The success of the CTA button, the landing page, the form, and the follow-up email campaign are all the success of the content offer. And each piece tells you something new about your offer. Your promotional materials - social and paid ads, CTA buttons, etc. tell you how marketable your offer is. Your landing page and form give you some insight into whether or not your audience is interested in the information or the tool you have provided, and the follow-up campaign tells you how good of a job your content offer did at guiding your leads down the sales funnel. Looking at all of these metrics is important in assessing the overall performance of your content offer. And when evaluating individual aspects of your overall digital marketing strategy, you should consider what role they play in the grander scheme of things. That being said, there are a few things you can do to assess the performance of your content offer itself. Hypothesize, test, measure. Let's say you aren't receiving any form submissions on your landing page. You believe the copy is the problem, so you change it - you see no change in submissions. You reevaluate your landing page, and you believe the design is the problem. You change the design - still no change in submissions. Finally, you conclude that your form is just asking too much of visitors. You get rid of a couple of form fields and... still nothing. The problem might be that your offer is not as valuable as you believed it would be. Hypothesize, test, and measure the difference. This will lead you to a conclusion about your offer. Provide a next step on the offer itself. If you give users a direct step to take at the end of - or in the middle of - your content offer, you can rate its performance based on how many individuals take the step provided. Sometimes assessing success is as simple as a survey. Yeah, it's that easy. Just send a follow-up email to those who interact with your offer asking them to rate it - better yet, ask them to rate it right there at the end of the offer or on the thank you page! Getting direct feed back is a sure fire way to know if your offer is successful. Regardless of how many clicks, conversions, and customers a content offer can be associated with, a bunch of one out of five's will point you in the right direction. Start with a clear goal in mind. I don't think I need to tell you that having S.M.A.R.T goals recorded is important when launching a content offer. Hopefully, this post has helped you nail down the M, but regardless of what you have learned here, if you have a specific goal in mind, measurement is easy. Did you reach your goal? If no, then your offer under performed. If you met or succeeded your goal, then it looks like the offer did its job. I know that is egregiously simplistic, but this isn't a post about setting goals. Conclusions we can draw about measuring content offer performance It isn't easy to measure the performance of an offer, but if you look at all of the different pieces that contribute to its success, you should be on your way to creating an amazing campaign. For the best results, remember to go through every possible cause for an outcome befoe making any changes. If you'd like more tips on content offers, measurment, and all things digital marketing, consider subscribing to our blog. You'll receive an email notification everytime we publish new blog content, allowing you to stay up-to-date without having to run to google. Just click below to subscribe!more

A CMS or Content Management System is a digital program or application that allows multiple users to create, edit, review, publish, manage, and archive the various forms of content that make up a website. Though, if you're doing research on them, you probably already knew that. There are a thousand different Content Management Systems out there, and it is hard to say if one is definitively better than the rest. Despite that, there is one that is definitively best for you. Asking the following four questions is a great place to start your search. Happy Hunting! 1) Is this CMS easy to learn and use? A big benefit of having a CMS is that with a simple password, anyone at your company can manage your website content. However, that benefit is useless if no one but the technologically-savvy no how to use your CMS. To get the most bang for your buck, you'll want to choose a CMS that is easy for everyone to learn and use. Non-technical individuals should have no problem navigating the system after a little training. Even if you plan on having one incredibly capable individual doing most of the work within the CMS, I strongly urge you to look for one that is at least somewhat user friendly. At some point down the line, you may want other, less technologically inclined individuals, to work within the CMS. If don't want to have to train them for two months straight before they understand what they are doing. 2) Does this CMS help maintain and even improve your current SEO rankings? If you want to improve your rankings with the search engines, or at least maintain your current rankings, you will want to check the SEO capabilities of a CMS before deciding upon it. Does it allow you to create meta-descriptions and meta-tags? Does it have a built-in SEO grader that allows you to see where you can improve your on-page SEO? If not, does it have integration capabilities with other SEO tools? All of these things are critical to developing and maintaining a good SEO strategy for your website. 3) Will this CMS grow with you? Another big question to ask when choosing your content management system deals with scalability. When you choose a CMS you aren't just deciding for right now; you are deciding for the years to come. Right now, your website might have 12 pages and two forms. But three years from now, who knows where you'll be? Choose a CMS that can support the growth you not only plan for, but dream of - best case scenario. If you have a 1,000% increase in traffic tomorrow, will your CMS be able to handle it? 4) Does this CMS keep your website safe and secure? You want your data, your content, all of your hard work to be as safe and secure as possible. While it is possible (in theory) for any website to be hacked, some content management systems offer more security than others. When making your decision, be sure to assess the threat your website faces from malicious sources and the effects a breach in security would have on your business. Here at Mindscape, we support multiple Content Management Systems including: BigTree (PHP) Wordpress (PHP) Hubspot (HubL) SiteCore (Enterprise, .NET) webTRAIN (Our own prioprietary platform on, .NET Magento (Enterprise, PHP) Shopify (Ruby) Volusion (.NET) We work with you to ensure the selection you're making is best for your company, your needs, and your future. It's not dependant on a specific language we can code.more

In the digital marketing world there is no shortage of things to measure, analyze, and report on. It is all too easy to fall down the rabbit hole of data your site generates. That being said, I've never become more lost in data then when I first began trying to assess the value of blogging. It seemed easy at first - look at visits and CTA clicks and you're done - but I soon learned there are a plethora of ways to grade a blog. Luckily for you, you don't have to stumble through the data like I did. Take a look at the metrics below and decide what is important to you - and perhaps more importantly become aware of the ways certain metrics can mislead you.more

Photo credit : HBOmore

Paid Advertising is a great tool to use in conjunction with your Inbound Marketing efforts. But if you are looking to start a campaign (or if you're already in the middle of one), you could be in danger. While allowing an agency to run a campaign on your behalf, you run the risk of losing important data. How? PPC Client-Owned Accounts Versus Agency Owned Accounts When you start a paid campaign while in partnership with an agency, some agencies take ownership of the account. When you and the agency part ways, the agency will be in full control of your paid account - meaning you no longer have access to the data from your campaigns. Why is it important to have ownership of your paid accounts? Adwords and Bing are actively running campaigns, the historical data they accrue not only helps inform strategic decisions, but it also helps the account itself improve over time. See, Google and Bing want to put the best, most relevant ads in front of their users. If your account has a history of successful paid campaigns, then costs may be lower, and it might be easier to hit your goals in things like search position. Thus, the loss of data that comes with parting ways with your agency can drive up costs (Ex. cost per click, cost per conversion), and decrease the performance (Ex. search position, conversions, clicks, impressions, etc.), of your future campaigns. How do you avoid problems with paid advertising? Well, you could run your own paid campaigns from the get-go, but if working with an agency is a better option for you, you have a couple of choices. The first is to insist that the agency implement all campaigns using client-owned accounts. We can tell you as an agency ourselves that there is really no downside to this. Any reasonable agency should be fine with giving you ownership of the account. In fact, any reasonable agency should give you ownership of the account without you having to ask. If for some reason the agency MUST take ownership, add a clause to the agreement that states when the partnership ends, ownership of the account will be transferred to your company.more

Content is king. Websites should be designed to deliver content, not merely serve as pretty wrappers to drop content into. With this growing emphasis on content it’s no surprise that typography plays a major role in the user experience and is arguably the most important design element of your site. Great typography not only looks good, but is highly functional.more

Your brand is a bit like a puzzle. It's made up of many pieces that all fit together to create the overall perception that people have of your organization. In our blog post last week, 3 reasons your branding should evolve, we made the case for changing elements (or puzzle pieces if you will) of your brand gradually over time, rather than drastically changing everything all at once. One piece of your brand, that can be updated relatively easily, is your social media.more

Nearly every time we partner with a business on launching their site, we run into the same roadblock - they want everything to be perfect. Every word must be reviewed, every part and product entered, every page created.more

The case for evolution: why evolving your brand is better than blowing it up. Re-branding can be fun. But it’s not fun like jogging with a weiner dog, it’s fun like being wide open on a Ducati 959 Panegali. That is to say, it’s a bit terrifying, and if something goes wrong, there are going to be serious consequences. Which is why I’d like to suggest a *different* approach. Instead of completely transforming everything about your brand like Shazam, allow your brand identity to change slowly and gradually in relationship to its environment.more

As anyone who is involved in the world of e-commerce knows, it's a tough industry. You have to deal with a variety of external forces that aren't necessarily going to work in your favor. You face competition from the entire Internet, competing with businesses all over the world who offer the same products that you do. And if you do break through all the noise and get someone to shop with you, they might be shopping from a desktop, phone or tablet. Then you have to make sure that no matter what device they're on, they have a great shopping experience. If they don't, that might very well be the only time that they shop with you.more

We've all heard it a thousand times, "You have to walk before you can run". You have to learn the basic aspects of something before you can move on to the more complex ones. This holds true for almost everything in life, including learning how to write proper CSS (the style language that defines fonts, colors, margins, background images, etc. on a website).more

I've always liked puzzles. Crossword, jigsaw, sudoku — the process of bringing all of these separate pieces together to create something whole — has, for me, always been a fulfilling one. This is probably one of the reasons I went into digital marketing. Email, social media, blogging, SEO — bringing all of these moving pieces together to form one cohesive strategy isn't too far from a sodoku or a jigsaw puzzle. But blogging itself isn't a puzzle. It's a recipe. And I absolutely hate cooking. If you're anything like me, you probably think that there is some secret strategy to blogging. That if you just put the words together in the right way, your blog post will suddenly take off, but that's not the case. Creating a successful blog post is more like baking a cake than solving a puzzle. You need to have all of the right ingredients, prepare them in the right way, bake your cake for the proper amount of time, and let it cool for a while. Alright, enough with these analogies. You came to this post to learn how to start a blog, so let's get to it! If you've already started a blog and are just looking for tips on Keyword research and SEO, skip to step 3.more

Recently, a hot topic in the photography and videography space is the use of drones. While the more widespread accessibility of drones has allowed people to capture footage that wasn't otherwise available to the regular citizen who didn't own a helicopter or plane. But as with many new technologies, there are debates around regulation and safety.more

Exactly 411 days ago, I started work here at MINDSCAPE. I was incredibly excited to begin work as a writer and knew I had the experience and talent to make a difference - or thought I knew. While I was an experienced writer, I didn’t understand the colossal difference between writing content for a digital marketing strategy and writing news articles, reviews, and other non-marketing content. I spent my first two months intensively learning the ins and outs of SEO and keyword research under the tutelage of a strategist. I learned the specific MINDSCAPE blogging process under the senior content writer. And I picked up a few tips from the resident designers and developers. I was overflowing with knowledge and ready to take on the world. But alas, there are some things that training can’t teach you; there some things that you learn on the job. Luckily for you, I have documented some of those things, so you don’t have to spend a year blogging to figure them out. Below are five key things that I have taken away from my past year of blogging. Hopefully, they’ll save you from having to learn a hard lesson or two.more

If you are active in Google Analytics, you have probably noticed the latest update made to the "homepage." The new update automatically brings useful and relevant data to the front page of a Google Analytics account, making it easier for users to locate important information in a timely fashion. I talked to one of Mindscape's strategists, Han Lee, to see what he had to say about the update.more

Stop. Stop what you're doing right now. You are making a HUGE mistake. There is nothing wrong with the landing page copy — you're making it worse. There is nothing wrong with the design, and if you ask your designer to change it again, she will probably break your laptop over your head. Everything about your landing page is perfect. It's your form that's the problem.more

So, you've created a fantastic marketing email, the copy is eloquent, the template design is beautiful and you have a click-worthy CTA. Now you have to make the dreaded decision, when should you send this email?more

Are your marketing emails not performing quite as well as you might like in terms of click through rates and conversions? Improving email performance doesn’t have to mean completely overhauling your email templates or coming up with an entirely new email strategy. Sometimes making a few small changes can make a huge difference, particularly if they are ones that make your emails easier to read and more visually appealing.more

I was going about my day today, texting friends, checking emails, perusing social media, I realized that no matter where I looked, I encountered GIFs (or Global Interchange Format). They were being used in Facebook ads, emails from my favorite stores, I even saw a few popping up in website content.more

In eCommerce, providing user paths that meet a user's secondary needs can have a significant impact on revenue.more

Every month you have thousands of potential students visiting your website, some of whom are probably putting together their college lists. Regardless of how amazing your site content is or how great your school's reputation is, a good chunk of these visitors are never going to interact with your school again —that is unless you gather some of their information.more

A few days ago I was doing some research for a client and came across an article called, "Just Keep Scrolling! How To Design Lengthy, Lengthy Pages". There are portions of this article that are a bit technical and geared toward designers and developers, but you don't have to be a professional to get something out of the post. Here are the high points of the article that can be beneficial to anyone in marketing (or anyone with a website, really).more

This weekend, my girlfriend and I went on a little camping trip to the Nordhouse dunes, located on the beautiful shore of Lake Michigan. The drive was about two hours long, and despite the "no work, relaxing weekend" rule that was put into place, my thoughts soon drifted to, well, my work. I promptly began having a passionate conversation with my significant other on the ins and outs of SEO and the collaborative effort that is needed to create a truly riveting content offer. After about twenty minutes of overly enthusiastic speech and gesticulation, I asked some nearly rhetorical question. Something like, "Isn't that just amazing?" Only to hear the same dull "mmhmm" I had been receiving for the duration of the trip. I turned to the love of my life in outright horror! How could she not be as ardent as I on the topic of digital marketing?! The interaction set my head spinning. I fell silent. I contemplated the repugnant reality I was living in. That's when it hit me! It wasn't that my girlfriend loathed digital marketing! It wasn't even that she found it dull! I had just been talking about it in the completely wrong way. I was using words she wasn't familiar with; I was over explaining simple concepts and under explaining complex ones; I was stomping through the conversation like a barbaric oaf, instead of dancing through it like a truly skilled conversationalist. I needed to make a change in the way I was talking about my industry. If your having trouble gaining traction with your blog or other website content, maybe you do to. Below are four tips I wrote down after my car ride so that I could more effectively talk to my clients, readers, and even my girlfriend about digital marketing. Take a look, apply them to your industry, and see what improvements you can make to your content.more

I have a co-worker who is known to say "work smarter, not harder." He's always looking for ways to make the work we do quicker and more efficient. If there is an app, website or other tool out there meant to help with digital marketing processes, I can almost guarantee he's tried it.more

The question of how to create an office-culture that Millennials will love has always struck me as odd. Because, well, I am a Millennial, and I'll tell you right now, I don't look for anything unusual or outlandish in a company culture. I'm not searching for an office that has a pool table or a basketball hoop. I don't need a pizza Friday or Bagel Tuesday. And I don't think there is anything I could care less about than bean bag chairs (seriously, where did that misconception even come from?).more

Lead generation. It's one of the greatest areas of concerns when it comes to digital marketing. The prospect of bringing in new customers for your business is super exciting. They are your lifeblood after all. So it's no surprise that when you have an awesome email campaign or content offer, you want to let every “lead” you have know about it. However, as great as your content might be, it probably has a different level of value for each of your leads.more

Let's say you have an email list of exactly one thousand contacts. You have worked hard to collect these contacts, creating valuable content offers, engaging your social media followers, and blogging twice a week to provide visitors with useful information. You're proud of your list, and you've been nurturing your contacts consistently to turn them into loyal customers. But lately, you've realized that almost one-fourth of your contacts are no longer opening your emails.more

Yesterday I had a Monday morning from hell. You know, one of those Mondays where you have about a million things to do, but for some reason, every ounce of determination, self-discipline, and creative energy you've ever had has abandoned you? Yeah, it was that kind of Monday. I got to work early, sat down with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, opened my laptop aaaaaaaaannnnd nothing. Nothing at all. For about four hours I stared at my screen, writing and re-writing sentence after sentence and paragraph after paragraph until I looked up at the clock and called it. Lunch Break. I felt like I hadn't made any progress on only the first of about 20 tasks I needed to complete. And my impending stress seemed to be a further source of derision between the part of my brain responsible for issuing commands and the part of my brain following them. It was a rough morning. But it taught me something valuable. After downing a double shot of espresso and returning to my computer, I started to realize why I had been having so much trouble. I had not "flipped my switch." No matter what kind of writer you are, you almost certainly have some sort of voice. It may not be the most obvious of voices, in fact, it may not be evident at all, but trust me, it's there. My perception of my own voice lives somewhere between, fast-talking con artist and talk show host who laughs at his own jokes.more

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever left a web page with in minutes of arriving, because it wasn't easy to find the information you were looking for and quickly navigate to it? I'm sure that all of us have done is once or twice. In marketing, we like to refer to this quick exit after visiting only one page as "bouncing".more

This is what the internet feels like with a CDN. Sort of. The other day, a client gave us the green light to move their site. They’d been on a cheapo shared hosting plan that might be great for hosting a blog that no-one reads, but wasn't a match for an up-and-coming e-commerce business. After wrestling with some stubborn plugins, we had the site up. And shortly after that, it went from “up” to “flying.” Page load speed skyrocketed, and generously-sized product images popped up instantly. It wasn’t voodoo magic (though it kind of felt like it.) The real power behind this significant speed boost was that we’d turned on our CDN. Which raises the important question:more

I want you to think back to elementary school. What do you remember most? A favorite game you played at recess? A favorite lunch that your mom used to pack for you? How about a favorite school subject? One of the things that I remember most about elementary school is my favorite subject, Reading & Writing.more

You walk into your office with a sinking feeling in your stomach. At best, it can be described as uncomfortable, at worst, a crippling dread. Following the scent of coffee, you sleepwalk into the office breakroom. Empty greetings of "morning" accompanied by blank stares greet you; you take little notice, murmuring a hollow reply of your own. You grip the handle of the pot containing your saving grace and splash the liquid gold into a mug —you don't remember how it got in your hand. You wander aimlessly around the office until you find your desk. Plopping into your charcoal chair, you turn on your computer and attempt to start the day. It is Monday morning. You have a weeks work ahead of you. And you are a zombie. No determination, no inspiration, no MOTIVATION . Let's ge t you into working human condition, shall we? Below are five ways you can fight your Garfield-like tendency of hating Mondays so you can start your work week off right. 1. Identify the problem Monday mornings are a struggle for most people. In fact, one of my favorite quotes alludes to the idea that even those who adore their jobs hate Mondays. It is this: "Even art gets up at 8:00 am on Monday." Regardless of if you are a rockstar or a corporate accountant, we can all relate to the struggle of getting out of bed and putting ourselves to work. However, we all have different reasons for WHY this is a struggle. For some of us, it may be leaving our spouse and children behind for the day. For others, it may be that we find no enjoyment in our jobs. Still, others may simply hate leaving the cozy comfort of their beds. If you want to conquer Monday mornings, you need to identify what it is that you hate so much about getting up and going to work. Then, you need to make a change or come to terms with this problem. 2. Early to Bed Early to Rise If you are having trouble getting motivated, the issue may not be with your job; it may be that you don't sleep enough or that you sleep too much. As recommended by the National Sleep Foundation, most working age adults (adults 18-64 years old) should get 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Any more or any less and you may find yourself groggy and slow to start in the morning. If you want to start your week off right, get to bed early Sunday night, get 7-9 hours of sleep, and wake up early enough to give your brain a little start up time. EXPERIMENT: If you have a job that allows for a flexible start time each morning, go to bed early and see when you naturally wake up. This is a good way to find out how much sleep you need each night and waking up naturally (instead of to the jolting screeches of an alarm) can be incredibly pleasant. 3. It is the weekend, relax One reason you may not be feeling motivated at the beginning of your work week is that you haven't actually given yourself a break - you are rundown from the last work week which somehow extended into your weekend. Sometimes working over the weekend is inevitable, but giving yourself time to recharge is absolutely essential to maintaining your motivation and quality of work. Unplug for the weekend when you can. Avoid taking any work-related calls or checking in on any projects. Give yourself a break from the constant stream of emails that come your way and enjoy your weekend. This is not shirking your duties, and while you may feel like this will put you behind, you will be more prepared for Monday morning which is when you'll really need your energy and focus. 4. Plan Ahead What does your Monday morning look like? If your first hour of work involves repeatedly "checking" your email, logging onto your social media accounts, or staring at a random list of tasks—you're doing Monday wrong. Instead of coming into the office with no game plan, and really no direction, give Zombie-Monday you a break! Before you leave the office on Friday, make a list of what you want to accomplish on Monday. Revisit your list Sunday night before bed, so it will be fresh when you wake up in the morning. If you do this, you'll be able to walk into the office confident about what you need to get done. You won't get bogged down with the usual mundane Monday tasks you perform while trying to figure out what to do with your day. 5. Get Creative, Get Analytical, Get Monotonous All of us are motivated by different things, and all of us receive little bursts of motivation at different times throughout the day. If you plan according to your usual Monday morning disposition, you may be able to motivate yourself right when you walk into the office, or you may not NEED any motivation at all. If you know that you are going to be brain dead Monday morning no matter what you do, then plan to tackle your tedious weekly tasks right when you walk in the office. Send out all necessary emails, check in on any current projects, plan all of your meetings, schedule all of your time, etc. In contrast, maybe all you need to get yourself going is a creative project. Maybe you just need something to get excited about, something that will spark that passionate energy. If this is the case, plan something like a brainstorming session for Monday morning. Sit down with a few of your coworkers and pound out a few hundred ideas for your current project. Planning to your disposition will allow you to utilize your time in the most effective way possible and you may not have to make a single change to your routine. You gave one (or all)of these tips a shot, now what? Well, now the Monday morning scenario plays out a bit differently. Now you walk into your office with a strange light feeling in your stomach. The smell of coffee fills your nostrils, but you pass by the office break room, already feeling awake as can be. You pass a coworker and let out a "good morning" that tumbles around the office like a too-loud laugh. Numerous sets of unfocused eyes meet yours and became alight with something akin to wonder and surprise. You make your way purposefully to your desk. Sitting down in your charcoal chair, you turn on your computer and start the day. With this new-found energy, you have the motivation to more effectively get your day to day work done. If you are looking to inject this same energy into your digital marketing efforts, consider contacting us. After all, MINDSCAPE is a digital marketing agency that helps companies in multiple industries improve traffic, improve conversions and get better results. We are waiting to hear from you!more

There you are, just sitting at your desk on a fine Friday afternoon. The weather is lovely, work is relaxed, and you are ready to enjoy your well deserved weekend. You are making your rounds through Google Analytics, a common end-of-week practice when suddenly your day goes to down hill. You realize that one of your most visited pages has an astronomical bounce rate.more

When you are first starting out, the word of digital marketing can be incredibly overwhelming. Between website design, social media accounts, email campaigns, SEO, analytics, and content creation, a lot of company's decide to outsource components of their digital strategy. And one of the first things to go is writing (specifically blog writing).more

In recent years, it seems like Facebook has been tweaking their algorithms every few months. Many of these changes have made it more difficult for marketers to share content with their full audiences because of a decline in organic reach. One way around this is creating paid Facebook campaigns that are specifically targeted to certain segments of your audience.more

The days where your college website could skate by on pure information and a design comparable to that of a hotel lobby brochure are long gone. You need a little more to make your website unique and appealing to the wide variety of people who visit it (alumni, current students, parents and especially prospective students). There are a plethora of website designs and content trends that you can experiment with to set your school’s website apart.more

By now, we're all probably aware of the extreme results video content can produce. Including video content in an email leads to a 200-300% increase in click-through rate, including a video on a landing page can lead to an 80% increase in conversion rate, after watching a video 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online (Hubspot). I mean, with one trip to the search engines, you can turn up a plethora of positive video content statistics - seriously, I just did it and found all of these:more

A few weeks ago, MINDSCAPE decided to have a party at our office in honor of National Margarita Day. We laid out the snacks, mixed up the drinks, and invited the other tenants of our building to mix and mingle. Our building is home to a staffing agency, a construction company and a few non-profits (so businesses and organizations that don't have much in common other than sharing a geographic location). But everyone had a great time and we all had the opportunity to meet some people we might not have otherwise . Yes, we could have just invited other marketing professionals; but we wanted to expand our horizons, branch out, meet new people and build a little good will in the community. The MINDSCAPE margarita party got me thinking about how interacting with new people for the benefit of your organization and networking can take many shapes and forms. The idea of branching out can be applied to your organization's social media efforts. Follow people and organizations in your community and interact with them.more

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The other day I was reading a particularly inspiring post, The Surprising Benefits of Failure, from Think with Google (Sidebar: Think with Google is awesome. If you aren’t subscribing already, you should.) It’s a great post because it talks about the importance of learning from failure, but more importantly, it hits on several ideas which are essential to the way that our shop operates. I realized that we have a few things in common with Google, even if we don’t have 70 thousand employees and $89 billion in revenue. (We’re working on it.)more

Throw away your laundry list. How a good story can make your content more compelling. The other day I was perusing Netflix, trying to decide what to watch. In its infinite wisdom, Netflix suggested one of my favorite shows, Mad Men. For those of you who aren't familiar, Mad Men is a period drama set in the 1960's at a New York advertising agency. The plot is full of drama, intrigue, and — marketing wisdom? Let me explain. On Mad Men, the advertising agencies focus on creating elaborate campaigns to sell products to consumers, we're talking storyboards, characters, themes and in-depth narratives, almost like they were creating mini-movies. Things usually culminate with the suave leading man, Don Draper, giving a grand client presentation telling an amazing story. It happens that the same imaginative thought process and crafting of storytelling narratives used by Mad Men can be — and should — be applied to creating content for your B2B website.more

Did you know that 6 billion text messages are sent in the U.S. every day? Crazy, right? Or maybe it isn't so crazy anymore. You probably text a fair amount. I text a fair amount. Everyone I know texts a fair amount. In fact, it seems that texting is a much more preferred method of communication when it comes to the younger generations. Which got me thinking...more

Advice for measuring website performance for people who think they're too busy to measure website performance. The blessing of a website is that everything is measurable. The curse of a website … is that everything is measurable. Do people click red buttons more than blue buttons? Which verb works best for a Call-to-Action? What percentage of people visiting my site are coming from the Ukraine? Knowing what, when, and how to measure can be overwhelming. However, it doesn’t have to be. Our Chief Operating Officer is an incredibly intelligent guy, and when he’s considering site metrics, he focuses on just five numbers. Five isn’t so bad. You have five senses; five pockets in your Levi's, and five days in your work week — okay, five days in your *average* work week. Anyway, if you want a snapshot of performance, here are the five numbers that are most important to your website.more

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I'm sure you've all heard the saying “everyone's a critic.” Well in 2017, everyone's a photographer — or so they think. Many marketers believe that because their Instagram feed looks great, they're photographers. Well, that is until they are asked to create visual content (aka pictures and videos) for their organization's website or social media accounts. When people start talking about shot lists, camera angles, and editing software, it can be a confidence killer.more

Now, I don't want to brag or anything, but back in my college days I was quite the actor. Got the lead in the school play in fact. John Barrymore; I Hate Hamlet. You should look it up. I had dreams of becoming a famous movie star. I wanted to sing and dance on Broadway. But, sometime during my senior year, I realized that a lifetime of auditioning wasn't for me. Instead I became an Inbound Marketer.more

A website redesign is like any big project: it gets put off until it becomes absolutely necessary. Here are a few (light-hearted) ways to tell that it's time.more

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Have you ever played the word association game? You know the one: where someone rattles off a list of words and you say the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that word. For example, kittens = cuddly, rain = cloud, spiders = creepy.more

It’s the start of a fresh, new year. You know what that means? The "best trends of 2016 " and "things to look for in 2017" lists are here! No matter your area of interest, there is a list for it: food, travel, or web design (which is of course is one of our favorite topics here at MINDSCAPE).more

So you've written the perfect email. It has everything. The design is glorious, the content is nothing less than brilliant, and the CTA you threw at the bottom is so clickable it hurts. But you have a problem...lately your email open rates have been abysmally low. You don't want to send out your masterpiece only to have it waste away in the dusty inboxes of your list members.more

Maps are one of the most valuable tools that humans have at their disposal. For thousands and thousands of years, they have helped us navigate unfamiliar places and prevented us from getting hopelessly lost. If you are a marketer or content creator, you've probably wondered if there was some type of map (be it a literal or figurative one) to help guide you through the rather confusing land of blogging and content creation. I have good news: that tool exists in Google Analytics. To a newcomer, Google Analytics can seem overwhelming because of all the statistics and data that it provides. But there are a few things you can look at (no matter how much or little background you have in statistical interpretation) to help you understand your visitors and improve your efforts in content creation.more

Join Us Thursday, January 19th Lunch & Learn How to Think Like Your Buyers We are happy to announce our first Lunch & Learn Workshop of 2017! We will be discussing how to build your buyer personas by thinking about who they are, their pain points and what motivates them. Class Starts Tuesday, January 24th CREATE & EXECUTE: CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY Our Create & Execute courses have been selling out fast! Why? Because with this course, we open our playbook and provide you with all the processes, tools and thinking you need to get started with your OWN content marketing strategy. Old Product Line Gets New Life What do you do when one of your old product lines doesn't perform quite as well as you might like online? This is a dilemma that one of our clients has been facing. So in December, we've been executing a rather aggressive plan based around pricing, traffic, and conversions. Here are the initial results. December 1st - 8th Spend as % of revenue: 63.3% Average Order Value: $47.69 Through December 8th, clearly our initial plan wasn't working as well as we needed it to. We reviewed the data, gained insights, made adjustments, and started to see better results: December 9th - 18th Spend as % of revenue: 14.4% Average Order Value: $169.87 While we are still working to improve the numbers, we're on target to achieve the lofty revenue goal we set for December that nearly matches what the product line has generated over the last 12 months. This focus has brought new life into this old product line that we expect will generate significant ROI for many months and years to come. To learn more about the results we've produced for our clients, head over to our website! 'Tis the Season for Giving We can get so caught up during the holiday season with rushing around shopping and attending holiday parties, we often forget that for a lot of people, the holidays are a hard time of year. This year MINDSCAPE, had the privilege to take part in the United Way's Adopt-A-Family program.The program matches sponsors with a local family in need this Christmas. We had a great time shopping for our adopted family, who are Burmese refugees with 2 small daughters. To keep up with the latest happeings at MINDSCAPE, like us on Facebook.more

I was watching — okay, mostly listening — to a YouTube video from Dave McClure and four words jumped out at me: "Don't be too smart." Hence the title of this blog post. Dave was talking about Metrics and what he actually said was, "Don't be too smart; do lots of A/B tests." Dave went on to talk about a whole bunch of other stuff, but for this post, we're going to focus on that one bit of sound advice. Here at Mindscape, we use A/B testing all the time, so Dave's comment resonated.more

Here at Mindscape, we have a philosophy that scares a lot of people: if you think something might work, try it. I know, horrifying, right? Well, to a lot of people it actually is. There is this idea floating around that any possible change you make in your digital marketing strategy could be devastating; any subtle copy alteration, navigation change, or shift in social tone could be the destruction of your company. Honestly, I have no idea where this fear came from and why it has any bearing on anyone's decisions. If we never tried anything new, how would we learn and grow? Every single marketing norm that we embrace today, was once just an idea in the back of some go-getters head. It's as simple as that. If you want to make your business the best it can be, you have to be willing to test things out and try new things. Below are a few things to keep in mind when trying to break away from the norm.more

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MINDSCAPE Matters On October 28th, the MINDSCAPE team spent a beautiful fall morning planting trees in downtown Grand Rapids as a part the Mayor's Greening Initiative Planting. It was great to see so many members of the community coming together to make a difference. To see more pictures from our tree planting adventure, visit our Facebook page! Our Holiday Gift to You: "How to Think Like Your Buyers" Join us for a special holiday Lunch & Learn Workshop. We will be discussing how to build your buyer personas by thinking about who they are, their pain points and what motivates them. Join us Thursday, December 15th! Class starts Tuesday, January 24th! Create & Execute: Content Marketing Strategy Our Create & Execute courses have been selling out fast! Why? Because with this course, we open our playbook and provide you with all the processes, tools and thinking you need to get started with your OWN content marketing strategy. Case Study How to Spend Less, While Increasing Revenue For one of our e-commerce clients, we decided to focus on the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of spend as a % of revenue near the end of July 2016. As a result of our various efforts, overall year-over-year (YoY) performance was great, but we really wanted to step up our game. So we set a target of achieving 10% spend-to-revenue % while maintaining our top line revenue. Here's what the client has experienced so far: August 2016: 8.7% spend-to-revenue %, YoY revenue increased 23% September 2016: 8.4% spend-to-revenue %, YoY revenue increased 24.6% And then came October 2016... To find out what happened in October, visit our blog! Piece of Mind: An inbound marketing blog The Importance of Quality Over Quantity Less is more. Quality over quantity. These old adages can hold true when it comes to gifts, interior decorating and ... digital marketing. Yes, you read that right. There are many instances in the world of digital and Inbound marketing, where quality is much more important than quality. To find out where this rule can be applied to your digital marketing efforts, click here.more

I was recently walking through the mall, doing some early scouting for the upcoming Christmas season. As I was turned a corner, I saw two employees tea shop employees standing in the entry way to their store, calling to oncoming customers. "Care to try some of our tea?" "Free samples." Being a tea lover myself and seeing that the shop may be able to offer me a few quick and easy gifts for stockings, I walked over to one of the employees and opted in on the tea tasting. This was a mistake.more

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Recently I listened to a great speaker on the topic of blogging. Many examples were given to help explain how providing audiences with valuable content (in the form of blogs) would ultimately help generate leads. Filled with inspiration I hurried back to my office ready to work.more

Less is more. Quality over quantity. These old adages can hold true when it comes to gifts, interior decorating and ... digital marketing. Yes, you read that right. There are many instances in the world of digital and Inbound marketing, where quality is much more important than quality. For instance:more

Full disclosure: I'm a big fan of WordPress. It's easy-to-use, incredibly flexible, and the price point is right where I like it. (That would be "Free.") Those attributes have made WordPress tremendously popular as a platform, but all that traffic is like a magnet for hackers, thieves, and other malcontents. One of the big dings on WordPress was security. An old joke was, "You're running WordPress? Congratulations. You've been hacked." The good news is that the WordPress core is actually quite secure. The bad news is that there are still plenty of ways that your site and data can be exposed. The better news is that there are plenty of things you can do to reduce your vulnerability.more

If you have ever started a new job you know it can take awhile to feel like one of the team. There are references to specific customers and clients, inside jokes that coworkers make repeatedly, and random nuances to the rules and procedures that take some getting used to. The same adjustment period occurs when joining most new groups or cultures. But if you are lucky, someone reaches out and shows you the ropes. As an agency, we always suggest that our clients blog. Even if we are doing the majority of the blogging, it is always good to have someone writing about the business from the inside. Our clients' staff can always offer a perspective that we can't. With that in mind, I wanted to create a post giving our rogue bloggers out there an inside look at some of the tools being used by longtime content writers. Take a look.more

Website content, blog posts, social media, emails; there are so many avenues that colleges and universities can use to create digital content and communicate with their prospective audiences. This variety can be a blessing and a curse, depending on how you slice it. But either way, it can be a challenge. We asked some of the colleges and universities that we work with what some of their biggest challenges are when it comes to creating digital content and here is what they had to say:more

Join us November 17th! 2016 Inbound Marketing Lunch & Learn Our Lunch & Learn Workshops have been filling up fast! Why? Because they give industry professionals a chance to come together and learn from one another. Join us and explore the challenges you are facing with colleagues and experts alike. If this is something you want to be a part of, sign up for a Lunch & Learn today!more

When I was 7 years old I went to a neighborhood picnic with my family. I was wandering around the dessert table when my mom came over to me and told me I could join the "three-legged race" that would be going on later in the night. Being a competitive little bugger (who would later become a runner) I was sure I would win, so I signed up and awaited glory. I had no idea what a three-legged race was. When I got to the starting line my smirk turned to a look of incredulity as I was strapped to another kid. I backtracked in my mind to see what I had missed. 'Race...I definitely heard race...but....three legs!' It was too late for me to back out now so I took my starting position and prepared myself to drag, shove, and carry the deadweight attached to my ankle across the finish line. I heard the word "go" and took off like a rocket.....I immediately fell to the ground as the weight of my "partner" held me fast. The race was lost on the first step, I knew it, the kid attached to me knew it, my older brother (laughing hysterically) knew it. I embraced defeat as any 7 year-old would, by shouting defiance at the world.more

When you work in a creative industry where you are getting paid for your mind more than anything else, there is a lot of pressure to generate creative, useful ideas every second of every day. If you are anything like me, half of your time is spent blankly staring at the screen, trying to think of the perfect way to say something. So how do you combat these moments? How do you make sure that when you sit down to write, design, or create the ideas are going to be ready to flow?more

By now most people have heard about the controversy surrounding Jared Leto's extensive method acting while on the set of Suicide Squad, gifting cast members with items like live rats and dead pigs. I think we can all agree that the guy took things way too far... that being said, there is something to say about his dedication to the character and role. He used method acting techniques to not just play his part—but live it. Why am I bringing this up? Recently, I have read a lot of blogs focused on how to reach buyer personas through content. A step-by-step list in one of these posts might look something like this: Step 1: Define your target demographics Step 2: What does a day in your buyer's life look like? Step 3: What are your buyer's problems or challenges? Step 4: What are your buyer's goals, problems, and challenges? Step 5: Where do your buyer's hang out? At least online. These blog posts are incredibly valuable (in fact, we have created a few like them), but like so many pieces of content out there, they tell you how to do something without actually...well telling you how to do it. Finding out your buyers goals is an important step to take, but discovering those goals doesn't mean anything if you don't understand why they are there in the first place.more

I am a huge fan of superheroes - Superman, Batman, X-Men; I love them all. So any chance I get to make a superhero analogy I take it, and I think this is one of those chances, so bear with me.more

Join us October 20th! 2016 Inbound Marketing Lunch & Learn Our Lunch & Learn Workshops give industry professionals a chance to come together and learn from one another. Through the discussions and activities that make up a Lunch & Learn presentation, you will be able to pose the questions you have and explore the challenges you are facing with colleagues and experts alike. If this is something you want to be a part of, sign up for a Lunch & Learn today! Class starts October 18th! CREATE & EXECUTE: CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY MINDSCAPE has helped companies generate more leads, more sales and more profit for the past 15 years. Our processes have helped generate well over $1 billion of additional revenue for the clients we’ve served. We are opening our playbook and providing you with access to the processes, tools and thinking which have led to this success. We are excited to announce our 60 Day Create and Execute Program! Case Study Cornerstone University came to us looking to give their website a new look and feel, in the hopes that this would increase site traffic and application rates. To help Cornerstone meet these goals we improved the user experience by restructuring the sitemap and creating new user paths and new landing pages. In year-over-year comparison, of the old site in 2015 to the new site in 2016, Cornerstone saw a: 746% increase in the number of applications received 59% increase application conversion rate 541% increase in organic search visits to the homepage The proof is in the numbers, a better user experience = a better performing website. How to Get More Leads Through Conversion Rate Optimization Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a system for increasing the percentage of visitors that convert into customers or leads by taking the desired action (like downloading a content offer or filling out a form). Any changes that you think about making to your website to help improve conversions should be informed by user feedback and cold, hard facts like: Bounce rate - percent of people who leave the site after viewing ONLY ONE page Exit rate - percent of people who leave the site after viewing A SPECIFIC page Average time on site - how long a person is on the site during a single session Average page views - how many pages the average visitor goes through before leaving While analyzing the stats is crucial for optimizing your website, at the end of the day it's really all about knowing your target audience (or personas, in Inbound lingo). It's about knowing what they want out of a website experience and what types of content they are most responsive to. To read the rest of this post, visit our blog! David's House Ministries Walkaton At MINDSCAPE we love our clients! We had an amazing opportunity to really get to know one of our newer clients David's House Ministries this past weekend. We were blown away by all the hearts that are touched by the work being done at David's House. In broad terms the ministry provides care and facilities for adults with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain-injuries. But after spending a few hours with the families that attended the walkathon we learned David's House Ministries is so much more! It is peace of mind, a support system and an extended family for 37 residents and their families. If you would like to learn more about David's House Ministries you can request information or schedule a visit. Tell them the MINDSCAPE crew sent you!more

Investing in an Inbound Marketing plan can be a big step, so naturally, it raises a few questions and concerns. I asked our Business Development Manager some of the questions he is asked most frequently when having conversations with potential clients about Inbound Marketing plans.more

My girlfriend likes to test me from time to time. She likes to subtly slip little questions into our everyday conversation to see if I know things. Her favorite color, favorite animal, what kind of ice cream she likes best (trick question, she's lactose intolerant). Over the years, I have gotten pretty good at paying attention to the little stuff and answering these questions without a second thought... but for some reason, I never know what to get her for her birthday.more

Jane owns a small coffee shop in a busy metropolitan area. As a responsible business owner, she is aware of how many people come into her shop, what they order, and if for some reason they leave without ordering anything (something she notices has been happening more often lately).more

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You have been told time and time again that blogging can help drive traffic to your website, but the problem is, no one ever seems to tell you how to drive traffic to your blog post. And if your blog post isn't receiving views, how is it supposed to help your website?more

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The world of digital marketing has changed a lot over the last 20 years, and it looks like it is going to keep on changing. It seems like there is always some new piece of technology to try out or forum to explore. So with all this "new," how are you supposed to stay ahead of the marketing curve? What can you do to make sure you stay competitive? Well, we have little advice on that front...more

In the Wild West (or at least how it's portrayed in the movies) the "good guys" wore white cowboy hats and the "bad guys" wore black cowboys hats. But "white hats" and "black hats" aren't just for the Wild West anymore, now they show up in the technology sphere. Recently, the term "black hat" has been used to describe computer hackers, virus creators, and others who perform unethical actions with computers. Some of these unethical actions can include aggressive SEO tactics, like:more

I have a dog named Boon. Our relationship is shaky at best. He barks loudly during designated quiet hours, and I am more likely to say "who's a dumb dumb doggy?" than "you're a good boy, yes you are, yes you are," (He can't tell the difference people, trust me).more

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So, you've heard of Inbound Marketing and want to start creating content. But you don't know where to start. You've thought about hiring a consultant to help you get more traffic and more leads, but you have allocated your resources elsewhere. What can you do?more

I remember the day I found out... I was hunched over my typewriter drinking an Ethiopean blend in my favorite ripped flannel, non-prescription, wide-framed glasses askew on my face. My favorite Queen vinal was playing in the background making perfect time with the tapping of my fingers on keys. I began mouthing the lyrics to "Don't Stop Me Now," I was in my element. That is....until my father walked in. "Seriously??" he laughed. "You freakin' hipster Millenials! Get a job and get out of my basement!" I took the news hard...I could handle the hipster part (chicks dig the scrawny, sensative poet type), but a Millennial..? Me? I knew I would have to confront the fact eventually...I mean I was born in the 90's so I guess I always knew...I just never thought I would have to face the truth so soon. I. Am. A Millennial.more

I hate small talk. I really, really do. I just don't see the point in it. Two people locked in a conversational script littered with generic questions and answers that leave the participants equally uninterested and uninformed. Why bother?more

I read a lot of fantasy novels. A LOT. Lord of the Rings, Name of the Wind, Furies of Calderon. You name it, I've read it (and probably have an overly impassioned opinion on it).more

Fresh out of college, a skip in my step and a twinkle in my eye, I walked into my first job interview with MINDSCAPE. My shirt was freshly pressed (thanks, mom) and my hair was freshly greased (thanks Old Spice).more

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Over the last year and a half we have seen the rise of live video streaming. Apps like Periscope and Meerkat have gained popularity quickly, and appear to be formidable ways to engage audiences. But I will be honest with you... I am not a believer in this "live streaming craze" or rather...I wasn't.more

If you read our post "4 Reasons Gamification is the future of Digital Marketing" you probably have some insight into what gamification can do for your business. However, we left out one very important benefit of Gamification (on purpose). Gamification Can Be Used Internally In the past we have mostly discussed the use of Gamification as a form of customer interaction, but this is only one way you can use it to help your business thrive. Beyond being used to improve customer interaction, Gamification can be used to motivate and engage your employees. How? Well it is simpler than you might imagine. Gamification plays off of our basic desires and instincts. Our instinct to win, our desire to prove ourselves; the basic tenacity and determination that comes with good old fun and competition. Gamification engages us in all of these ways and more. Let's take a look at the 3 ways you can use Gamification to increase your bottom line.more

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If you read our previous post "Who Has Time for Social Media Marketing", you should have some working knowledge of social media marketing and the benefits it provides. But even with the use of social media forums such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, you may be looking to add a little flavor to your brand. Here are three methods sure to help you show your brand’s true personality.more

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Do you have plenty of people going to your website, but leaving before doing anything? Has this led to you believe that your website is a useless marketing tool for your business? Before you tell your IT team to hit the “DELETE” button on your website file server, let’s walk through a couple things to determine if a there may be a simple fix for getting your website heading in the right direction.more

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Are you struggling to gain traction with your digital efforts because you’re not receiving enough traffic? Do you receive constant complaints from your sales team about the lack of (or quality of) the leads you receive with the anemic level of traffic you are receiving? If these challenges sound familiar, you’re not alone and will definitely want to read on. Follow these 5 steps and I'm confident that your website will start to generate more quality leads.more

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Sometimes the proof isn't in the pudding at all -- it's in the numbers. If you understand the powerful data behind Inbound Marketing, you might realize it's worth a second glance. While it's not as familiar as some of the traditional outbound marketing tactics, it's actually much more effective. By the numbers, Inbound Marketing has Outbound beat. 1. Inbound Leads are 61% Cheaper than Outbound Leads Maybe you enjoy watching your ROI plummet and your bank account balance dwindle as you throw more money at television advertisements or outbound calls. But we're guessing you don't. When you spend money on marketing, you want it to come back to you -- with interest. That's exactly what Inbound Marketing provides. According to a Business2Community infographic, Inbound leads are 61% cheaper than Outbound leads. In other words, you spend less money to gain each lead, which means you can divert that cash to other (money-making) pursuits. 2. 44% of Shoppers Start with a Search When was the last time you considered a potential purchase? If you think back to the moment the idea first occurred to you, you'll probably recall pulling up your browser and Googling it. Your customers act the same way. They don't want to buy a product off the shelf or purchase a serivce unless they know how much it costs, what its features are, and whether it has gotten good reviews. All this focus on search makes Inbound Marketing king, especially since 44% of shoppers begin the buying journey with a simple search. 3. 80% of Business Buyers Prefer Content to Ads If you think inbound marketing only works for B2C companies, check the stats. According to Impact, 80% of B2B buyers want to get their information from detailed, engaging content instead of through advertisements. In other words, they want to be educated instead of pitched. You probably hold a similar view. Ads are intrusive, noisy, and distracting. Content offers real value, which makes it indispensable if you want to gain market share. Since Inbound Marketing is based on content, it's the perfect place to start. 4. 60% of Your Competitors Have Already Started If you're still not sold, look to your left and right. The companies that you compete with for customers and brand awareness have already launched their own Inbound Marketing campaigns. Unfortunately, that means they're skipping ahead down the customer-acquisition path while you lag behind. But don't worry, since the number of marketers using inbound hovers at around 60 percent, you can launch your own inbound campaign and start making up the difference. Creating blog content, connecting with your prospects via email, and engaging with your audience on social media can all have a tremendous impact on your market reach. Now that you're equipped with the facts, it's time to give Inbound Marketing a shot. We're here to answer all your questions and help you navigate through these waters, so request a consultation today.more

We've all seen them -- the infamous "Self Promoters." These are people and companies who use social media as a platform to pound their own chest, and talk about how great they are. In fact, you may be one of them! (Don't worry -- we're not here to judge, we're here to help!). It's very tempting to use such an open platform to try to get your own message across to as many people as possible. We get it.more

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Inbound marketing makes perfect sense for companies that sell large volumes of products directly to consumers. Prospects click on an advertisement or social media mention and head straight to the virtual check-out line. However, don't discount inbound marketing if you operate in a super-specialized niche. You can still generate revenue and increase market reach.more

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Remember the last time you redesigned your website? How long did that process take and how pleasant was it? If you're like most, chances are the project took far more time and money than you care to remember! Did the site perform better? Did it get you more leads, more sales or increase your margins? I sincerely hope it did, and congratulate you on being in the minority if that is the case!more

If you read my post, Who has time for Social Media Marketing, you know that a social media style guide is crucial for business success today. It’s the rule book for how social media managers will create messaging on social. It’s similar to a writing style guide or content style guide, and will cut the time you spend debating what to post in half!more

We often have the opportunity to work with many different agencies throughout our client partnerships. Sometimes we will do design work while another agency builds the site. Sometimes we build something that was designed by another agency. Those type of situations work very well because the functional behavior of the end product doesn’t depend upon the design work. In fact, in these situations, each agency can challenge the other to ultimately produce a better result.more

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Let's be honest. Building a new website sucks! Sure, it starts out fun when you get to see new design concepts but that's typically where the fun stops abruptly. It can take months to build out the site and get it up on a content management system. After that, the hard part starts. And in our experience, this is the part that can literally take months to complete - getting content into the site. It sucks! A lot.more

On Monday, Pete wrote a post all about Millennials and their misconstrued reputation. As a Millennial, it really got me thinking about one of the claims against Millennials that Pete disagreed with: Millennials are lazy. As much as I’m flattered Pete had our backs, I do think there’s some truth behind this statement, especially when it comes to the way Millennials buy.more

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Let’s face it-who has time for social media? Well, let me rephrase that…we all seem to have hours on end for our own personal social media, but who has time for social media marketing?more

My last post was a bit different than the majority of the content we share on the MINDSCAPE blog as it related more to personal positioning than it did to marketing. The interesting thing about personal positioning is how closely it’s actually related to your marketing and the positioning of your company and the products and services you offer. This post will showcase the similarities, as well as the pitfalls to avoid with your marketing.more

This post was orginally published on August 22, 2013, but is still relevant. Enjoy! Average is a word used to describe mathematical statistics or to show a comparative value to others. The words common, typical or ordinary could be used to replace the word average.more

When you're launching a startup, you have a million things on your mind: how do you connect with customers, who will you use as suppliers, and how many employees do you need? Don't let all those other necessities distract from your most powerful marketing tool: your website.more

This blog was originally published on March 15, 2012, but is still relevant. Enjoy! Technology is full of confusing terms, and building websites is no different. As a developer or as a person in need of a website, you will no doubt encounter a number of acronyms and words that you either don’t understand, don’t want to understand, or that just plain make you want to cry a little bit out of sheer frustration. DNS? PHP? .NET? IIS? Apache? Joomla? Drupal? CMS? IE? FF? The list grows longer and your attention span grows shorter. I’ll not bore you with all of the acronyms now, I’ll just save that for another post. Instead, I want to shed a small ray of sunshine upon a dark corner of confusion.more

Hopefully you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve accepted the fact that blogging is critical to your digital strategy, and most importantly, to attracting strangers to your website. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably noticed how difficult it is to determine which blog posts will be a “hit” and which posts will attract little to no attention. There have been many times where I’ve excitedly published a blog post and sat by my computer anxiously awaiting the views to start rolling in, and I’ve heard nothing but crickets. This can be very frustrating considering how much energy and excitement I invested into the post, and yet it just didn’t seem to be enough. If you’ve found yourself in a similar position, I’d like to encourage you to take a deep breath and not take it personally. It’s important to remember the main strategic initiative of your blogging efforts is to position yourself, and your organization, as a thought leader to the personas you serve so they begin to view your website as a valuable resource they can turn to in times of need. Keeping this in mind, there are a few things you can do to help position your blog posts so they are more likely to gain the level of exposure you’d like them to.more

Every time marketers get comfortable with Google's secret sauce, the search-engine giant changes its recipe yet again. Recently, Google announced that it would remove its right-side ad spots from the SERPs (search engine results pages), which of course meant that half the Internet marketing population experienced a temporary mental breakdown. Now that the news has sunk in, however, it's time to examine what this move means for your digital strategy.more

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a really bad picture may be worth 10,000. Photography really matters. Probably even more than you think. The quality of the photography on your website directly relates to the perceived quality of your business. This means you could have the greatest product in the world, but if the photography is bad, people are also going to think the product is bad.more

Writing a piece of inbound content can be a lot like planning for a trip. I know, this sounds kind of out there but let me explain. I would be willing to bet that when you are packing for a trip you make a list of items to pack and things that need to be done before you take off on your adventure.more

Now that we're almost a decade into the Social Age, storytelling has become a hot topic; there's no end to the advice being dispensed through stories. But a problem remains: in those stories, even the best of them, we're talking about us, our people or our technologies. With each story, we're still marketing or selling. And today, no one wants to be sold to. Our customers expect more. They want partners who collaborate to find the just-right solution. They expect engagement. But first, they seek trust. Which means your brand must have the right story...and the right people telling that story. The Testimonial Economy We now live and work in the Testimonial Economy. What does this mean? Very little credence is given to what a company, brand - or even a person - says about themselves. Instead, we care more about what others say. Reviews on Yelp, Amazon, TripAdvisor and hundreds of other sites carry weight, while those talking about themselves carry mere words. Which means we must make our best customers - and our best employees - advocates of our brand, brand champions. We must help them be so comfortable with our people, products and services they're willing to put their personal reputations on the line to recommend us. Because it's their stories about us that makes all the difference. First: We Listen Some brands figured out this 5-star mentality some time ago. They gave discounts, even free product, for submitting a 5-star review on Amazon, for example. Or they filled TripAdvisor and Glassdoor with fake testimonials. They bought their reputation; they sold their digital soul. However, as they quickly learned, these stunts were superficial. These customers weren't serving as ambassadors, but paid spokespeople. Mistrust developed. And when mistrust lingers, and expectations aren't properly set, failure is imminent. The most successful businesses can say this. Can you? As the Social Age matured, so did the stewards of our brands. We learned that we must listen first. We must understand exactly what our customers think of us now. For brands that were used to telling their customers what they wanted, this was no easy task. The Tough Conversations The bold companies - organizations like Apple, Zappos, Nike, Southwest and Virgin - started the tough conversations with customers and employees. What do you like about our brand? What are we doing well? What can we do better? What would you like to see from us next? Have we earned your respect, and trust? Those companies then took what they learned...and got even better. And as trust formed, those customers and employees became brand champions. They - through review sites, Amazon, social media, job boards, and break rooms - became the voice of the brand. A Community of Storytellers Someone has a good flight on Virgin or Southwest. Buys a great pair of sneakers from Zappos or Nike. Is the first of their friends to get the new Apple product. We all hear about it. Because in the Social Age, everything is amplified. A sincere tweet is echoed dozens of times. A post on Facebook gets hundreds of views. A good deed goes viral on YouTube, Yahoo, Business Insider and Huffington Post. But not because the brand spokesman stepped to the podium. Or because the press release went out on schedule. And not because we bought a full page ad in USA Today or had the best Super Bowl ad. But because we treated a customer or an employee right. And they, through a good story, told their friends. What does your brand stand for? What's your story? And who's telling it? Interested in learning more about how to tell your story and build your business? Request a consultation today!more

Inbound marketing sounds fairly simple. After all, millions of teenagers "create content" on Facebook and Instagram every moment of their waking hours. Some even have followings in the quadruple digits. However, true inbound marketing is neither simple nor easy -- at least, not when it's done correctly. More than 90 percent of purchase decisions don't start with a television commercial or billboard, but with an online search. While inbound marketing helps you appear in those search results, you have to let go of the toxic myths that often pervade inbound marketing conversations and instead embrace these five hard (but important) truths.more

I first became involved in website and application development 17 years ago, when it was a fledgling concept with very few rules or established best practices. Back then, the only thing marketers felt they needed was an “online brochure” that covered who they were, what products and services they offered, and provided contact information just in case someone was interested in calling or emailing.more

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Sliders, Rotators and Carousels. It doesn't really matter what you call them, but chances are, you know what I'm talking about. (and in case you don't it's the thing at the top of the website that cycles, usually unrelated, text and images). And it’s also quite possible that you think no website is complete without one. But you're wrong! I'm going to take the next several minutes to dispel that myth and hopefully, put these ancient artifacts of the web to bed once and for all. You can call them whatever you want, but for the sake of this article, I’m just going to call them sliders. They’re a staple of the website of yesteryear. They're that old friend at the party (usually me) who's long overstayed their welcome. The problem is, a lot of people still think that guy's the life of the party, when in reality, he needs to be kicked out and never invited back. At MINDSCAPE, we deal with modern websites on a daily basis. We create them and we look to them as a source of inspiration. The problem is, if you're not actively seeking them out, a truly modern website is still hard to come by. The thing is, most websites were last redesigned years ago, so while they’re using outdated techniques, we still see sliders everywhere. And since we see them everywhere, we just assume we need one on our site.more

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So, you've made the decision to change CMS (content management system) platforms. Just like buying a new house, packing up and moving can be an exciting, yet frightening experience. With a new strategy, a new admin panel and a fresh new design, it's easy to lose sight of one critical piece: content. It doesn’t matter if you're transitioning to Wordpress, Magento, BigTree or any other CMS, these tips will prepare you for a successful move! And, more importantly, let you show off to your colleagues.more

On February 20, 2016 Kalamazoo, Michigan experienced one of the worst tragedies to ever occur in the city. Residents were terrified as the news began to spread that there was a killer on the loose. The authorities finally detained the gunman and details started to leak out through the media that the gunman was an Uber driver, and he committed 6 murders in between picking up people who had arranged for a rides through the Uber app. Which probably sent Uber reeling.more

Do you feel like you know who your customers are and what’s most important to them? I don’t believe a marketing professional or business owner has ever admitted to me that they don’t know their customers or understand their most pressing problems, and I don’t blame them. Of course you have a solid understanding of who you serve, and how you solve their issues. If you didn’t you’d probably either be out of business or looking for a new job. The more specific questions I’m asking are … Do you know your customers intimately and understand the complexities they face in life outside of the areas in which you can provide support? Do you fully understand their motivations, desires, concerns, or any resistance they might have in choosing the solution you provide? Most importantly, when it comes to connecting with them online, do you understand the specific language they use? If you can answer the questions above in the affirmative … CONGRATULATIONS! I’m sure your business is growing and you’re creating a bunch of rabid promotors of your Brand. Customers love it when they can tell a company has invested the time and effort to truly understand what is most important to them. They typically reward this effort by opening their checkbooks and telling others about the phenomenal experience they had with your organization. On the other hand, if the questions above give you an uneasy feeling in your stomach, don’t worry. I’ll give you some ideas that you can utilize to efficiently get inside your customer’s head, and use the insights you gain to provide an experience that makes them want to tell everyone they know about your company and how well you’ve taken care of them. It is never a waste of time to invest in gaining a deeper understanding of your buyers, it’s a requirement!more

In our 15 years as a digital marketing agency we’ve been asked almost every question a client could possibly ask. Everything from, “Shouldn’t my logo be bigger?” to “Can I have an animated frog hopping around the bottom of each page?”. Although some questions are asked more frequently than others, there are some consistently asked by our clients. Here are just a few of them…more

I went out for a nice long hike yesterday to take advantage of the “warm” (42 degree) Michigan “winter weather” and started to reflect on some of the recent conversations I’ve had with business owners and marketing professionals regarding Inbound Marketing.more

You've devoted time and energy to your Inbound Marketing campaign, but you're seeing less-than-stellar results. Maybe your conversion rate has fallen or your website traffic has reached new lows. Even worse, perhaps you're seeing little sales growth.more

If you've never seen Inbound Marketing in action, you may be wondering: What advantages does Inbound offer? How do businesses use Inbound to increase brand awareness? What can you expect in terms of conversion rates and website traffic? Read on to find out the benefits Inbound can bring to your digital marketing strategy.more

Are you held accountable for increasing the number of visitors to your website and you’ve turned to PPC as the answer? Have you found it challenging to prove an ROI on your PPC advertising campaign? Did you hire a media agency to come in and “save the day” but have had a less than satisfying experience?more

If you’re like the majority of the marketing professionals in the world where your stomach gets tight the moment you read, or are told of the importance of blogging, it might be due to the fact you already have too much on your plate, you don’t consider yourself a writer, or you’re stumped as to what you’d write about anyhow.more

Face it: There's a lot of data out there, and it's not always useful. We're generating more data than ever, and it's understandably become a challenge to know what to sort through and what to throw out. As difficult a challenge as it is to pay attention to marketing metrics, it's also essential for growth. Just realize that what another company is measuring might not be what you need to measure. Find what's important to reaching your own marketing goals, and devise your own system for measuring results.more

You've probably heard people say that email is dead, that it's too old school and not an effective marketing tool anymore. Well, they're wrong. According to HubSpot, 76% of marketers use email more today than they did 3 years ago.more

Think about the last time you glanced at your smartphone screen. Was it five minutes ago? Ten? Perhaps even twenty? Today's adults are as glued to their mobile devices as their teenage kids, constantly responding to text messages, searching for content, and checking emails. This is why responsive website design is critical to your ability to generate leads for your company. Without it, consumers just like you who check their smartphones before they pour their first cup of coffee in the morning won't bother with your site because it doesn't render properly. Worse, they'll hit up your competitors instead.more

I've threatened to write this post for a long time. Too long. There are two reasons it's taken a while for it to happen:more

Whether you’re creating a new site from scratch or just giving your site a facelift, content on the site can be a challenge to deal with. Inevitably, there is always either too much content or not nearly enough! In this blog post, we won’t be dealing with creating content as much as we’ll be dealing with how to go about organizing your existing content!more