Psst! We're taking a lil' break for the holiday season but will be back to our regular podcasting schedule on January 6th.
We all know what spam looks like when it lands in our inbox, yet we're quick to approve email marketing campaigns that are strikingly similar…
That's the realization that Steven Moody, founder of Beachhead Marketing, had one day - and what he cautions against in our latest episode of the Call to Action podcast. In the episode, Steven chats with Unbounce's Content Strategist Dan Levy about how to woo the people on your email list (so they don't mark your emails as spam).
Every marketer (and their mom) knows the importance of running campaigns that are data-driven.
But if you've got your head down optimizing for conversions, you can become blinded by that data - and forget that behind every click, there's a person.
Creating better marketing experiences for the person behind the click was a recurring theme at MozCon 2015 - and it's what Chelsea Scholz, Campaign Strategist at Unbounce, discusses passionately in this week's episode of the Call to Action podcast.
Copywriters walk a fine line between adhering to best practices and thinking outside the box.
On the one hand, you don't want to mess with what works. On the other, you need to get adventurous if you're going to stand out from the crowd - nothing kills conversions like lazy copywriting.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Copy Hackers co-founder Joanna Wiebe challenges marketers to take chances with their copywriting, and pinpoints three common mistakes that result in lazy copy that just doesn't convert.
Good copywriters aren't afraid to put themselves out there. They write from the heart and let their true voice shine through in their work.
But being authentic shouldn't come at the expense of writing clear, helpful copy. So how do you make your boss and clients happy without sacrificing your voice?
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, we chat with Unbounce writer Brad Tiller about reconciling your company's (or client's) voice and your own. Then, we speak to Brian Lenney, copywriter at Inbound.org, about how you can use the power of vulnerability in your copy to connect with prospects and push them toward conversion.
Facebook users react to and interact with content differently than Twitter users, and you won't see results from your social media campaigns if you're blanket publishing across all networks. But with all the social media platforms out there, it can be a real pain in the booty to tailor every piece of content to each specific network.
But as we learned in the latest episode of the Call to Action podcast, there's plenty that can be done to streamline the process; Ryan Stewart, founder of WEBRIS, shared some analytics hacks to help you see better results without having to work harder.
Have you ever run a PPC campaign that was working pretty well, but never seemed to get to the next level?
You may have experienced what PPC insiders call the "AdWords Plateau," the point where your campaigns are maintaining their value, but are no longer driving the kind of growth you need.
So, do you just sit back and rest on your laurels? Heck no! We want your campaigns to always be converting better. That’s why in this episode of the Call to Action podcast, we talk to Igor Belogolovsky, co-founder of Clever Zebo, about advanced AdWords tactics that can push your campaigns up and off the plateau.
Jobs in print media may be drying up, but content marketing has created thousands of jobs for writers.
On this new playing field, what exactly does it take to set yourself apart from the army of other content marketers?
According to Demian Farnworth of Copyblogger, it takes great determination, a healthy dose of usability knowledge...
...and a whole lot of caffeine.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Demian breaks down the anatomy of a successful web writer.
Diving into the world of landing page optimization can seem a little bit overwhelming. There is a lot of conflicting advice surrounding your design, your CTA button, your copy. So it may just be easier to throw a page up and cross your fingers for those conversions.
But hold up.
There are still some basic landing page mistakes that every marketer should know to avoid... so why are they so common? That's why in this episode of the Call to Action podcast, we speak to Casey Ark about the most common landing page mistakes that his agency faces, and how to solve them.
For many, Facebook advertising is an untamable beast.
Not only is it super competitive and constantly evolving, but it can also be flat our intimidating. With all those switches and levers, it can be hard to laser in on the tactics you need to optimize your advertising campaigns.
But in this episode of the Call to Action podcast, we'll deconstruct a proven strategy that Matchnode, a Chicago agency, used to dramatically increase the ROI of their client’s marketing campaign.
When you work on a marketing team, the right hand doesn't always know what the left is doing. The analytics people work on their stuff, the content people work on theirs. But could they tell you what the other is working on, and why it's important?
Not always. Which is a shame, because analytics and content marketing aren't as far apart on the marketing spectrum as you might think. Or at least they shouldn't be.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Hiten Shah co-founder of Kissmetrics and Crazy Egg (to name a few), makes the case for why more content folks should spend more time thinking about data, and vice versa.
Marketers are constantly revisiting the timing of their editorial calendars. But the content marketers at Buffer got tired of the same old "What's the ideal frequency?" question, and decided to ask something much more controversial:
What would happen if we were to stop posting altogether?
That question lead to a somewhat nerve-wracking 30-day publishing experiment. In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Buffer's Content Crafter Kevan Lee gives us all the dirty details.
You'll learn:
Just how much traffic Buffer lost during the experiment.
The platforms Buffer used to republish content, and which ones brought them the biggest wins.
Some good one-liners to feed family and friends when they ask you what you actually do at work all day.
So many marketers have speculated about whether they should be publishing longer posts or just more frequently. Which will result in more traffic? More leads? HubSpot took it upon themselves to find out once and for all with an epic publishing experiment that took place over the course of six months.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, HubSpot's Marketing Blog Editor Ginny Soskey gives us the skinny on their results.
You'll hear:
How a late night Twitter conversation between HubSpot and Moz writers inspired the experiment.
Which type of post surprised Ginny by being a poor performer.
Planning a conference can be intimidating. Venues? Expensive. High-profile speakers? Often busy and hard to get hold of. Plans going awry the day of? Stressful. But delighting your audience with an actionable live event? Priceless.
This episode of the Call to Action podcast is all about using video to create exceptional marketing experiences around your events.
Unbounce's Dan Levy caught up with Wistia's Director of Business Development Kristen Craft to chat about how video can be the catalyst that pushes prospective attendees from "maybe" to "I want to go to there."
Some people think that social media marketers get to play around on Facebook all day and call it a job. And with some of them making cringe-inducing mistakes, social media marketers have to be more alert than ever.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Unbounce's Community Manager Hayley Mullen shares how to steer clear of social disaster by avoiding six super common mistakes - and why social media has become further away from PR and closer to PPC marketing. And at the top of the show, we catch up with Unbounce's German Community Manager Ben Harmanus about how our community is growing in Deutschland.
In this episode of Call to Action, Unbounce's Art Director Denis Suhopoljac shares how marketers and designers can work together to create landing pages that actually serve your campaign goal. Then, we talk to full-stack marketer Vincent Barr about what exactly a wayfinding convention is and how it can help you guide your visitor toward your call to action.
Marketing automation helps you create hyper-targeted campaigns, but it can also have unforeseen benefits. In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Marketing Automation Specialist Yash Chaurasia shares how Unbounce's search for a marketing automation platform has lead to better communication and more collaboration across departments.
Still, marketing automation software isn't the magic bullet that some make it out to be. Hana Abaza, VP of Marketing at Uberflip, explains why a fool with a tool is still a fool - and why those who just "set it and forget it" are likely limiting the success of their campaigns.
Having awesome content isn't the be-all and end-all of a successful content marketing strategy. If you're not being deliberate about how you send your readers down your marketing funnel, you're not going to see results.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Oli Gardner, co-founder of Unbounce, recalls how the company used an ebook to pull in leads before the product was even ready.
Then, Unbounce's Dan Levy and Michael Karp of Copytactics discuss tactical ways that you can put your content to work and gain qualified leads in the process.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, Unbounce's Dan Levy talks to Jennifer Pepper (Unbounce’s Customer Success Content Strategist) about this tricky video task. They dive deep into the importance of a data-driven approach to video marketing campaigns, and share some tried-and-true storytelling methods that'll give your videos that extra kick.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, we explore how to write amazing landing page copy.
First, we tell a story of what happened when we made our "About Us" page copy a little bit too much… about us.
Then, Unbounce's Dan Levy talks to strategist and copywriter Marc Aarons about embarrassing writing habits and an easy-to-remember formula for making sure you're simultaneously delighting readers and attracting qualified customers.
In this episode of the Call to Action podcast, we have a quick story about why we've restructured our AdWords account into country-specific campaigns. Then, we speak to Aaron Orendorff of iconiContent about everything display ads: banner blindness, the fat thumb phenomenon and how one company used display ads in their content to recruit qualified employees.
A story of how a clever blog post title halved our open rates, and a breakdown of email marketing tactics that Jimmy Daly, Head of Content at Vero, borrows from the likes of Airbnb, TripAdvisor and Uber.
As marketers, it’s super easy to get caught up in our data and analytics.
Sometimes, we’re watching our click-through and conversion rates so closely that we lose sight of the fact that there are people behind every click. Real people with real emotions.
In this episode we speak to Talia Wolf, CEO and founder of Conversioner, about how tapping into your customer’s emotional needs can make your landing pages more powerful.
Marketers are slowly realizing that good landing page design creates a sense of trust and can ultimately lead to higher conversion rates. That is, unless you’re losing sight of other important things, like making your unique value proposition the star of your page. Or letting design take precedence over persuasive copy. In this episode, we talk to Mark John Hiemstra, Content Marketer at Unbounce, about some landing page design trends that can actually do harm to your conversion rates – and how to determine whether they’re right for you.
Marketing and customer support are often thought of as two distinct departments, each minding their own part of the customer lifecycle. But the two departments are more related than you may think. In fact, many companies are finding evidence that exceptional customer support can have a positive influence on conversions. In this episode, we speak with Len Markidan, Director of Marketing at Groove, and attempt to answer the question, “Does exceptional customer support increase conversions?”
As content marketers, we pour our heart and soul into every piece of content we create. Which is why it's super frustrating to spend an insane amount of time putting together a blog post, only to have it flop.
But what if there was a way to easily tell whether a blog post idea will resonate with your audience, all while making your brainstorming process a breeze?
Say hello to your new best friend, Google Analytics.
In this episode, we spoke with Andy Crestodina from Orbit Media about Google Analytics reports can help make your blog content more successful by leaps and bounds.