Are you treating customers like leads? Today’s customers are not interested in partnering with a company that will treat them like another number. The customer journey needs to be optimized to include everything your audience needs, whether that’s educational content, product demonstrations, or access to your sales team to discuss what they need. First, you need to develop a stronger lead generation strategy that will draw leads and provide value to where they are. Below, we have four ways to build a better lead generation strategy. 

It's no secret that 2020 didn't go the way any of us expected. Businesses have faced numerous challenges and disruptions since March, and there's no way to know when the world is going to go back to normal. While businesses can still operate, it's not as easy to move forward as it was a year ago. With 2020 slowly coming to a well-deserved conclusion, now is the perfect time for your company to invest in a marketing strategy for 2021. Below, we have some elements that every marketing strategy should include for 2021. 

For those that are starting businesses right now, it’s crucial to establish a secure foundation amidst the whirlwind of tasks that need to be done. Writing a business plan is an essential first step for all business leaders who are hoping to prepare and start on the right foot moving forward. Business leaders who take the time to write a business plan are 16% more likely to succeed than those who don’t. Below, we have four reasons why you should write a business plan.

You might feel as if implementing a marketing strategy is more of a guideline than a rule, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You wouldn’t play chess without a strategy, so you shouldn’t market your company without one. Sure, budgets may be tight, and it could be hard to justify implementing a strategy that would require time and, especially if it’s outsourced, money. But the truth is, you can’t afford not to have a marketing strategy. A marketing strategy is instrumental to the success of your company. Your company may barely survive without one, but it will never thrive. You can’t afford to not have a marketing strategy because without your marketing efforts will be much weaker. A company’s strength comes from its very best plans. Why wouldn’t you want to put your company’s very best foot forward on the path to success?

Marketers tend to pour massive amounts of time and effort into specific content strategies, but they don’t always work out the way they are intended. Content is created to educate customers, move them through the customer journey, and relay the industry-specific information they need. But what happens if your content marketing strategy isn’t working? Below, we discuss three ways that your content strategy isn’t working and how you can address those problems.

Content marketing is all about flexibility. Your campaign might be written perfectly, planned to the fullest extent, and performing wonderfully: but sometimes things change! Trends and global events might distract your audience from your campaign, or it might even lose steam after a competitor campaign launches. Whatever the case may be, it's important to have the flexibility and capability to address what's happening with your campaign and make the necessary changes. When something significant disrupts your content strategy, you need to think about how it will affect your business goals. The success of your campaigns and your business all relies on your ability to pivot your content strategy quickly.

Consumer marketing requires a different way of think for marketers who are generally operating in the B2B space. While B2B marketing focuses on the logical process-driven purchasing decisions for businesses, B2C marketing focuses on driving consumer purchasing decisions with emotion. Finding the right approach means tapping into the interests and habits of your customers, using the analytics at your disposal to make the right strategic choice to move forward.

2020 doesn’t look the way we ever thought it would. Businesses have faced unprecedented challenges this year, creating significant disruptions to the way that everyone does business. Now is the time to focus on prosperity and growth for the rest of 2020, while building a strategic plan for your business to thrive in 2021. For your strategy to be as successful as possible, it needs to include certain action items that are measurable and attainable for your organization. 

Content marketing is the key to driving brand awareness and engagement for most businesses, but there is a wrong way of generating content for your business. Finding the right strategy is a critical step forward in generating content, but there are plenty of ineffective approaches that will hurt your marketing efforts. Below, we have four ineffective approaches to avoid while building your content strategy.