5 02, 2015

Social Media Stats: The Big Picture

February 5th, 2015|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

The headlines tell us the basics: social media usage is experiencing a surge ... some channels are growing while others are losing ground ... certain demographics are becoming more active. But what do the numbers look like in the big picture? Adweek recently shared an interesting infographic that shows current data and predictions for 2016. [...]

29 01, 2015

Sharing the Latest & Greatest

January 29th, 2015|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

So you put the finishing touches on some new content and added a link to it from the appropriate page on your website. Now what? Don't just wait for people to go and find it ... broadcast it! Consider pushing your content out with a clever tweet or a timely Facebook post. Do you publish [...]

22 01, 2015

Web How-To: Google as a Benchmark

January 22nd, 2015|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

According to the latest stats shared by eMarketer, Google is the source for a whopping 93% of organic (non-paid) search traffic being directed to websites. Why is this such a big deal? SEO plays a huge part in getting people to our sites. And since Google is the front-runner among search engines, it [...]

15 01, 2015

Content that Caters to Readers

January 15th, 2015|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

As marketers, we like to share examples of other marketers succeeding with their content strategies. Today we shine the spotlight on TIME. The magazine used to send out 10 different e-newsletters covering 10 different vertical markets and has since combined all of those publications into one. The result? With the new version, The Brief, open [...]

8 01, 2015

ROI from the Inbox

January 8th, 2015|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

With 2015 kicking off, we have entered a year when marketers have more options than ever before to reach their target audience. So what channel tops the list for having the best ROI? According to a study Direct Marketing News shared, 60% of marketing executives polled chose email marketing as the number one [...]

18 12, 2014

Online Shoppers: 8 Personality Types

December 18th, 2014|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

As we shop online, our expectations and experiences can be wildly different. Some shoppers know exactly what they want and where to find it, while others need to explore and compare every option out there and be nudged along the way. Advertising Age shares an insightful article that introduces us to eight different [...]

11 12, 2014

Catering to the Consumer in 2015

December 11th, 2014|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

As we look ahead to 2015, what changes can we expect to the marketing landscape? According to 15 industry gurus, a lot! Direct Marketing News recently published an ebook that picks the brains of several notable leaders -- from VPs to CEOs -- in search of some predictions on how changing customer behaviors [...]

4 12, 2014

Shop On: Smartphones & Non-Stop Sales

December 4th, 2014|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

Now that the most-touted shopping weekend of the year is over, what are the results? And, maybe more importantly, what did we learn about people's buying habits? According to The New York Times, sales for Thanksgiving and through the weekend were down an estimated 11%. Bloomberg reports Cyber Monday sales also slowed, with online shopping [...]

20 11, 2014

Creating Web Pages for People

November 20th, 2014|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

As we monitor how Google ranks our sites among the competition or read up on the latest changes the search engines have rolled out in "scoring" pages, one thing to keep in mind: we're writing for people. It's easy to get caught up in all the details of how major engines crawl our pages and [...]

13 11, 2014

All About the Infographic

November 13th, 2014|THURSDAY THOUGHT|

They seem to be popping up all over the place lately, but just how big have infographics really become? According to an article from NewsCred, Google reports that search queries for the term "infographic" have gone up more than 800% in the last two years. Part of the reason this format has become so popular [...]