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E-Commerce Marketing Strategies: The Ultimate Guide

E-commerce marketing can do wonders for your business. With the right strategies, you can engage people who are interested in your products, build a base of loyal customers, and grow your influence to reach every corner of your market.

In today’s post, we’re going to teach you different e-commerce marketing strategies ranging from SEO tips, content marketing, social media marketing and more.

If you use just one of these strategies, you’ll see results that can help you grow your brand and your bottom line. Before we dive into the tips, let’s talk about the unique power of e-commerce businesses.

Why E-Commerce Businesses Are The Future

The internet has changed the way people buy and the benefits of e-commerce businesses are impossible to deny.

Here is a short list of benefits e-commerce businesses provide their users:

  • Convenience – You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home to purchase from an e-commerce store
  • Speed – Most e-commerce businesses offer fast shipping. Just look at Amazon, who’s gone so far as to test ’30 minute drone deliveries’
  • Options – When shopping online, you can hand pick the products you want without ever having to visit a store and you can compare prices between different businesses without having to visit them

There are numbers to shed light on the shift in markets too:

e-commerce marketing statistics

 

It’s unlikely that retail will disappear, but it’s obvious the internet is here to stay.

If you’re an e-commerce business owner, providing a great user experience and solid marketing strategies allows you to reach a larger audience than you ever could with a physical location.

As an e-commerce business owner, you’re already sold on the power of the internet. For those who have the potential to move into e-commerce, but haven’t yet, consider how you can market and sell your products online to keep pace with the changing trends for the future.

Now, it’s time for the strategies.

SEO E-Commerce Marketing Strategies

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps put your business in front of people with search intent — meaning those who are actively searching for your product.

SEO works well for e-commerce businesses who do it right. Just take a look at this search engine results page for the phrase “green tea for sale.”

Each page that appears in this picture represents an organic search result. Organic means the businesses achieved these results without using paid advertisements. That’s the beauty of SEO — you can achieve results through effort and sound strategies alone.

These e-commerce SEO strategies will help you rank your business on Google and put it in front of buyers looking for your product.

Here are the e-commerce SEO strategies you must use to succeed.

Optimize All Site Pages

The most important pages on an e-commerce website are it’s category pages, product pages, and blog poss.

You want to optimize your pages using the following techniques:

  • Use key phrases in your page titles
  • Use key phrases  in your meta description
  • Place key phrases in your content
  • Optimize images by placing key phrases in their ‘alt tags’
  • Make sure your content length meets SEO standards
  • Add media to your pages like pictures, infographics, and videos

Here’s a great example of an optimized e-commerce website.

Cup & Leafs E-Commerce Product Page SEO Analyzed

The Cup & Leaf blog sells tea products. When you visit one of their product pages you’ll see organized information that also serves an SEO purpose.

Most product pages use the product name in the title. In this example, you’ll see an optimized key phrase as the product title:

When you scroll down, you’ll see a product description that’s optimized but also very informative and persuasive to customers (key phrase highlighted in red):

e commerce product description

 

 

The content is in-depth, but not overwhelming. It uses key phrases but doesn’t stuff them in the content. It’s informative, describes benefits, and cites reputable sources.

It takes time, but providing on page SEO to each of your products will help them rank on search engines.

Cup & Leafs SEO Content Analyzed

The Cup & leaf blog uses content marketing and SEO through their blog. When you look at their blog page, you’ll see posts with titles that match topics tea lovers might type into Google:

e-commerce blog example

Each blog post has optimized content, but also provides useful and relevant information for readers. This is key because content marketing and SEO are more about making users happy than search engines. Typical optimization doesn’t work anymore. The search engines are ranking content that’s useful for readers. It’s now their number one priority:

e commerce content marketing

Notice the techniques used here:

  • Optimized page title
  • Key phrase in the first sentence of the content
  • Internal & outbound links
  • In-depth content

Imagine you’re a tea lover who searches for tips on making great tea. You land on this page and read articles giving you the exact information you’re looking for. Then, when you read the post, it ends with a call to action to check out the company’s products.

This is exactly what Cup & Leaf does.

At the end of one of their posts, you see a call to action to buy their products at a discount:

e commerce call to action

The owner of the company — content marketing expert Nat Elision — shares the entire SEO & content strategy he used to start the company in this guide.

Highlights from the post:

Research topics – using tools like ahrefs, the Google keyword planner, and more, you can perform keyword research to find topics with traffic volume.

Design the blog to drive sales – each post has a call to action to enjoy a discount or try related products

Gain product reviews – this increases social proof and is a positive ranking factor for SEO

Write long-form content – long-form content is a positive ranking factor.

With a sound SEO strategy employed, you can use more e-commerce marketing techniques to build awareness for your company and ultimately drive leads and sales.

Use the Following E-Commerce Content Marketing Strategies

Content marketing works especially well for e-commerce businesses. To have an effective content marketing campaign, you need to understand the full breadth of the phrase.

Check out this definition of content marketing from the content marketing institute:

Content comes in many forms, including but not limited to:

  • Written content – pages and blog posts
  • Video
  • Photos & infographics
  • Social media

Let’s walk through examples of different types of content marketing and discuss what they do well.

Written Content

We discussed SEO and content marketing for e-commerce businesses already, but it’s important to know the details of running a successful content marketing campaign. Here are some need to know items.

Research

When you do the right research, you can create a strategy that targets the right customers and creates the types of content they want to read.

You can use keyword research — a staple of SEO — to discover topics people are actively searching for.

Check out our guide to keyword research for more detail.

You can also research what your competitors are doing well to create better content and use strategies like link-building to leapfrog them in search.

Here’s an example. Using the Ahrefs tool, you can discover a lot of useful information about a competitor. Sticking with our tea example, I found a tea company and looked for search data:

In the organic keywords section of the tool, you can see the keywords that get the most traffic and links to the pages receiving the traffic:

competitor seo research

Then going into the individual pages, you can see where they’re gaining links from, as well as important metrics to know like site authority, the number of backlinks, and the phrases the single page ranks for:

seo data

Using the ahrefs keyword analyzer tool, I can estimate the number of links I need to build to the page:

key word analysis

Next, I’d create a piece of content about chai tea lattes and make it more detailed entertaining and informative than the competitor’s post.

Then, I’d build links to the page by sharing the content with people who are likely to link back to the page. This is known as the skyscraper technique.

You can also leverage reviews to discover what your customers like and dislike about your type of product. Check out this review on Amazon for a green tea product:

e commerce product review

Using these insights, I make create content discussing both the quality and cost-effectiveness of my product.

Question and answer sites like Quora provide useful information as well. I typed in “chai tea” on Quora and got the result:

quora research

Knowing people want to know the difference between masala and chai tea, I could create content on this topic. My result may even show up in a cool Google snippet like this one:

google snippet

Implementation

Once you have solid e-commerce marketing research you can implement your campaign.

It’s important to know your target audience, goals, and key performance metrics before you begin creating content.

You also want to create a content calendar with topics you want to write about and block out time to create content.

If you’re an e-commerce business owner, you might not have time to create the content yourself. This is where a digital marketing agency can come in handy.

At MLT Group we have the staff, resources, and creativity to create a content marketing campaign for your business.

If you’re interested in a done for you e-commerce marketing strategy, fill out the form below for a free audit:




 

Video content marketing has grown in popularity in recent years.

Here’s some data on video per Hubspot:

  • 97% of marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service
  • 76% say it helped them increase sales
  • 76% say it helped them increase traffic.

If you leverage video the right way, it can do wonders for your business.

In a perfect example, Dollar shave club used viral video to grow their business:

In our breakdown of their marketing strategy, we highlighted the following reasons why their campaign worked so well:

  • Hook your audience
  • Keep your brand consistent
  • Know your audience
  • Have a clear message
  • Don’t get lost in your own video

Pay attention to how they used humor, shock value, and intrigue to make a boring product suddenly interesting.

In addition to branding power, video content marketing can help your business rank on search engines. 

Photos & Infographics

Visual content has multiple benefits.

First, it’s a different form of branding and marketing people love.

Second, you can use them to increase important SEO metrics like time spent on page and reducing your bounce rate.

An example from Gadget Snob shows great use of photos on an e-commerce landing page:

 

When you click into one of their products, you see excellent use of captivating photos in their “related products” section:

 

This clean and crisp site design and photo usage compel visitors to check out the site’s products.

You can also use infographics within the body of your blog posts to keep readers engaged (pro tip: use a plugin to make your images pinnable on Pinterest).

Social Media

You can write an entire guide on social media usage for e-commerce marketing.

 

Shopify has an excellent breakdown of social media tips on their infographic:

e commerce social media

 

You can use social media to market your e-commerce business in a variety of ways.

You can create streaming videos and commercials educating users about your product, sharing benefits, and entertaining them.

When you create a new blog post, you can cross-promote your content through all social media channel.

You can become a member of social media groups related to your niche and become an active participant.

Paid social media ads are always a cost-effective way to build your e-commerce brand and drive traffic to your website.

Here’s an example of a product display ad on Facebook:

product display ad

When running Facebook ads as part of the e-commerce marketing strategy for your business, you can use a ton of different techniques to drive traffic to your website:

  • Run promotions and discounts
  • Create a giveaway of your product where users enter their email address as a ‘raffle ticket’
  • Put commercials and videos in your ads
  • Create remarketing ads that display to visitors who visited your site but didn’t buy
  • Create a lookalike audience based on metrics and demographics of your target audience
  • Use ‘boosts’ to drive traffic to your blog posts to aid your content marketing efforts
  • Cross promote your Facebook ads to Instagram

Social media has many applications. Whatever channel or method you use, make sure to make social media a core part of your e-commerce marketing strategy.

Conclusion

These e-commerce marketing strategies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to growing your business.

Choose one, or a few, and utilize them to gain traffic, leads, and sales.

Use them to build your brand and stand out in your industry.

If you’re looking for expert content marketing and SEO help, learn more about becoming a strategic business partner with MLT Group.

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Need Video Marketing? Learn the 4 Ws of Video Production

Including video elements in your marketing campaign is a great way to get attention, engage your audience, and showcase what your business offers! However, tackling something like video production can be intimidating to the uninitiated. So much goes into video production, including budget, camera-work, script writing, music, and post-production work, and it can be difficult to know where to start? We’re here to help. Before you get started with your video marketing campaign, first ask yourself four important questions: who, what, when, and where?

video production

Who:

There are two important “who” questions to ask throughout the video production process:

Who is your target audience? Your audience affects every element of your video marketing from the message to where you share it. What is age, culture, socioeconomic status, or location of your audience? Some video types, outlets, and messages are more effective than others, depending on your audience. For example, if you’re trying to reach a younger, national audience, publishing your video online will be more effective than spending money on a local television commercial.

 

Who is your production team? Video production has many layers and should be handled by a dedicated team. Clearly outlining who your production team is, each person’s role, and their expectations will help the production process go smoothly. Video production is best handled by experienced professionals who can tackle every element of your video marketing.

 

What:

When it comes to video marketing, there are a few ‘whats’ to answer.

All of this will influence the content of your video, and help you develop a specific, relatable message. Whatever you’re promoting, it should support the overall marketing goals of your business. If you’re advertising a sale, promoting a specific service, or trying to expand your customer base, make sure to develop a script and message that remains focused on your specific goal instead of trying to do it all. This will ensure your message remains clear and has the most impact.

 

Where:

Where will you share your video? Are you crafting a video for online advertisements, a presentation for shareholders, or do you want to create a commercial for local television? Not all outlets are appropriate depending on the type of video you’re creating and the audience you want to reach. For example, if you want to demonstrate your product, a television commercial may not be the best outlet. Instead, post demo videos online! Understanding where your video will reach consumers impacts the style and length of the advertisement, and also influences your company’s budget.

 

When:

Create an achievable video production timeline and stick to it. With so many elements, it’s easy for a video production to get off track, especially for the inexperienced. The last thing you want is for your video to cost more time and money than it needs to. With a set schedule, your business will have an appropriate amount of time to dedicate to each point on the timeline, from script creation to filming, and concluding with the launch of your video.

 

MLT Group not only has over 30 years of video production experience, but we’re also marketing experts. This means we can craft an effective video that helps your business achieve its goals. Whether you’re looking for a simple demo video or a full-scale television commercial, we can handle every aspect of the production process.

 

Our video production services include:

  • Script writing
  • Animation
  • Music
  • Voiceovers/Voice acting
  • Editing
  • Special graphics
  • Aerial videography

 

Ready to take your marketing campaign to the next level? Contact us today at 507.281.3490 or sales@mltgroup.com.

 

 

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3 Key Elements of Effective Web Development and Design

web developmentFor your business to grow and to effectively cater to your audience, they need to be able to easily find and communicate with you online. That’s why it’s so important to invest in quality web development. However, web development is made up of a variety of different elements, from the overall design and build to SEO and coding, sometimes making it difficult to see the bigger picture. However, almost everything can fall under three key elements which lead to effective web development and design. By using these elements to guide the different aspects of web development, you can ensure your website facilitates meaningful connections with your target audience.

 

1. Web Design With a Purpose

 

When you hear web development, you probably fist think of web design. After all, your site’s appearance significantly influences visitors. However, your web design should do more than just look good. When done right, web design can do a lot of heavy lifting for your site.

  • Guide Visitors- Visitors typically look at a site in an F pattern, starting in the upper left-hand corner and moving across the right and down. However, their attention doesn’t often last to the bottom right of your site. This means, the upper left-hand corner gets the most attention while the bottom right gets the least. Organizing the information on your site with this in mind helps you guide visitors to high priority information.
  • Highlight Priority Info- Speaking of high priority information, depending on your marketing goals, you can easily highlight what’s most important to your business. Trying to generate more leads? A well-placed contact form can help. Driving sales? You can highlight some of your top selling products or sales right on the home page.
  • Cultivate a Relationship- You can’t talk to your audience all the time, but your website can. Your site’s appearance can go a long way to cultivating a relationship with visitors. Everything from the way your site makes a visitor feel to what the images and content communicate makes an impression on them and lays the foundation for what will hopefully be a long-term relationship!

 

2. Effortless User Interface

 

Whether your site is simple or has a robust ecommerce, excellent user interface (UI) is essential. UI determines the way that software works for the customer and how they interact. Within your website, user interface may include icons or graphics, along with tables, animated elements, and buttons. Think of the way you interact with Microsoft Word or Facebook. To give the user a great experience, UI should be:

  • Clear- Users should understand how to interact with your site. It should be intuitive with clarification when necessary. For example, if the user hovers over a button and isn’t sure what it does, a small text box will appear with an explanation. Remember not to fall into the trap of over explaining!
  • Familiar- One way to ensure your UI is clear is to make it familiar. Use icons and graphics that mimic things visitors are familiar with, such has a shopping cart for their inventory or a chat box to talk with an online representative. This helps visitors jump right into using your site with little to no learning curve.
  • Responsive- Online users have little patience for slow sites. If your UI isn’t quick, visitors will go elsewhere. When visitors leave, or “bounce” quickly from your site, it not only loses you sales but hurts your SEO. Poor coding can contribute to a slow site, so make sure your code is clean.

 

3. Positive User Experience

 

When done correctly, web design and UI create a positive user experience, or “UX.” (Which is great for SEO) User experience is exactly what it sounds like, the way that visitors feel when interacting with a website. For example, does the customer find the website cluttered or clean? Are they able to easily navigate, and do they attach an emotion to the external aspects of the site? A positive user experience means visitors are more likely to stay on your site longer and return later! Here are a few tips for ensuring a positive user experience.

  • Don’t Expect Users to Remember- If there’s something particularly important you want users to see and use, such as a special offer, contact info, or promo code, make it easy for them to use it once they see it. When on a site, visitors are using their working memory, also known as short-term. Nothing is more frustrating than having to write down a promo code on a site so you can use it later. Instead, allow the promo code to automatically apply to their cart once they click on it!
  • Don’t Overwhelm Them- Your site has a lot to offer, but there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing. If users feel overwhelmed on your site, they won’t find the information most important to them or they’ll leave. Instead, break things up so visitors can easily digest information. Also, visitors can get sensory overload which contributes to a poor user experience.
  • Be Personable- Remember, your site is a representative of your business and brand. Don’t be afraid to be personable and address your target audience directly using “you” language. For example, “You’re tired of products that make big promises but don’t deliver. You’re ready for something different. We’re here to help.” This helps to form a relationship, make users feel understood, and contributes to a great user experience.

 

Web development is made up of many tiny parts that, when assembled correctly, come together to make an amazing site for you and your target audience. It may seem complicated, but by using these three key elements a guide, you can ensure your site helps you achieve your goals.

 

Ready to get started?

 

The professionals at MLT Group partner with you to understand you, your business, and your goals, so we can create a website that meets your needs. We handle the nitty gritty, using industry best practices and overcome obstacles creative solutions.

 

Contact the creative team at MLT Group today at sales@mltgroup.com or 507.281.3490, for web development and marketing strategies that go above and beyond!

 

 

 

 

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The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Company Blog (Company Blog Examples Included)

A company blog can help you grow and market your business. It can also help establish your company as an expert in your industry.

Starting a company blog sounds great in theory, but when put into practice, you can experience many obstacles. These obstacles stop many businesses dead in their content marketing tracks.

To succeed, you need a sound content strategy and the right inspiration to follow through with it.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the right way to start a company blog, show you excellent examples of them using content marketing the right way, and provide extra tips to make your words stand out against the competition.

 

The #1 Reason Content Marketing Doesn’t Work For Most Businesses

Blogs are the primary engine when it comes to content marketing for most businesses. Why do some companies fail with their blogging efforts?

Simple, the company never answered this simple question:

What purpose do you want content marketing to serve?

Without the right answer to this question, you won’t build a solid strategy.

Without a solid strategy, you’ll get frustrated and wonder why your plans aren’t working.

If your plan isn’t working, you’ll give up on the process altogether because…you won’t have a clear reason why you shouldn’t give up. A guiding philosophy and purpose makes research, goal setting, and follow through much easier.

 

Step 1 – Develop a “Why” Behind Your Blogging Strategy

There are many solid reasons behind any content marketing campaign.

Here are a few different ones:

  • Thought leadership: Companies and innovative industries do well by establishing their expertise through content marketing
  • Product information: Many products, e.g., cameras, require lots of education before purchase. These companies can write posts to educate users on the features and benefits of their products
  • Helpful tips: Does your product or service do well with tips on using it effectively? Make your blog an educational resource
  • Entertainment – In certain industries, it pays to be interesting, humorous, and entertaining, e.g., media companies like  Buzzfeed and Elite Daily
  • Inspiration – It’s been said that “customers don’t buy products, they buy better versions of themselves.” If your content and product/service can help them transform, your customers will become raving fans, e.g., Best Self Co, which sells goal setting and productivity journals

These are just a few of many potential reasons to start a blog. It’s important to choose one.

After you’ve spent some time finding your ‘why,’ you can dive in and do deeper research.

 

 

Step 2 – Research

Here’s a dumb question…do you know your audience?

Knowing your audience is key to creating a content marketing strategy that works.

All too often, though, many business owners rely on intuition and never research the way their customers interact with content online.

Customer research and keyword research can help you find the problems your customers are having. Great content solves problems. If you can identify their pain points, you can create compelling content they love.

Let’s break down each type of research.

 

Customer Research

Customer research involves finding out where your readers hang out online and what they’re saying about your industry, product, or service. There are many different places you can find useful information.

 

Quora:

Quora is a question and answer website. You can enter your topic into the search box and you’ll see question and answers on a variety of sub-topics. This is a result of the topic search ‘content marketing.’ This question can (and will be) an idea for a post you can write to answer questions from members of your target audience.

Amazon:

You can read reviews of products related to your industry on Amazon to find out what your customers want and need. You can also use their reviews to discover pain points your competitors aren’t addressing.

Look at this review of a marketing book on creating compelling messaging:

customer-research

This review tells us some customers want the information without selling too hard, which is an achievable — even an ideal — goal.

You can also use these options for finding out what your customers really want:

  • Forums
  • Reddit (search by subreddit)
  • Blog comments from industry blogs
  • Surveys

Keyword Research

If you plan on using your company blog to drive traffic and gain leads, you need to harness the power of SEO.

Keyword research is the bedrock of any SEO campaign.

It helps you:

  • Discover topics people are actively searching for
  • Find out exactly how many people search for different topics each month
  • Figure out which keywords you use to compete right away and  gain traffic

Keyword research is a topic that merits its own ultimate guides, and there are plenty on the web you can use to get started:

Once you have a sizable amount of keywords, you can move to step two.

 

Step 3 – Establish Goals For Your Company Blog

The goal of every business blog is the same right? Every company wants their blog to generate business.

Even though traffic, leads, and sales are the end goal for most businesses, there are multiple ways to get there, and setting the right qualitative and quantitative goals will help your business blog stay on track when it’s time to create the content.

 

Qualitative Goals

Qualitative goals are goals you can’t measure with numbers. It’s important to have these types of goals because they guide the way you create your content.

At MLT Group one of our goals is to give away our entire recipe for helping business owners succeed with digital marketing.

This means we create informative and detailed content you could use on your own. If you decide to work with us to put the strategies into practice, even better.

You can take the guiding philosophy — the ‘why’ — and use them to create goals.

Some examples based on the ideas above:

  • Create content on the latest trends in the industry
  • Write how-to content to educate readers on how to use your product
  • Create list-post with custom tips related to your product or service
  • Write content based on the hopes and desires of your readers

The goal here? Put some thought into the personality of your business blog.

 

Quantitative Goals

Good content marketing strategies always use numbers and data.

You want to set goals for these important benchmarks:

  • Conversions
  • Traffic
  • Frequency

 

Conversions

A conversion occurs when a visitor performs a desired action like joining your email list, calling, or filling out a contact form.

You want to set a conversion goal because they’re the end result you’re looking for. You need some measure of engagement.

How do you choose a conversion goal? You can use industry standards to start and measure your progress over time.

Most research says the average conversion rate is two to five percent. Choose a number that works for you.

Once you decide your conversion rate, you can decide the number of engagements you want per month. Enter your ideal number, e.g., 100 calls per month, and set your ideal traffic number based on that.

Traffic

Conversion dictates traffic, not the other way around. You don’t want to chase vanity metrics, so starting with your conversions makes your traffic goals simple.

If you want 100 calls per month and figure a two percent conversion rate, you’d need to reach 5,000 visitors per month.

You can create goals that ramp up from the beginning of your business blog journey to the end.

These sites include spreadsheet examples and calculators to help you figure out exactly what your goals should be month to month:

Frequency

Once you have your conversion and traffic goals set, choose the frequency for your writing schedule.

Best practices change for the website and blog. Th newer it is the more you’ll have to write to reach your goals.

Most experts suggest publishing three to five posts per week. In your case, use a number that works for you and is sustainable.

There’s no point setting a goal you or someone within your company can’t reach.

Step 4 – Follow Through With Your Plan and Write Your Butt Off

The newer your website, the more time it will take to gain traction with your company blog.

This is because newer websites have a lower Domain and Page authority, which are two important metrics used to rank websites on Google.

Content marketing is a compounding effort. The more you post on your company blog, build links, and promote your content, the easier it will be to rank for competitive keywords and topics because your site will be more authoritative. 

Company Blog Examples We Love

Examples provide unique insights you can use for our own business.

Here are some of the company blogs we love along with explanations for why their strategies are so effective.

Sumo.com

company blog sumo

Sumo is an email marketing software. The tool helps you drive new leads with the use of pop-ups, link-trigger upgrades, and more.

A company like this could just write about the features of its products, but Sumo chose to turn their company blog into a business school. 

Each blog post is a tactical guide that gives you step by step instructions to use a technique that helps you grow your bottom line.

Naturally, the strategies often involve using their product, but they write the content in a way that’s so useful and makes so much sense that mentioning their product doesn’t seem pushy at all.

They also provide a custom upgrade or offer as an incentive to join their list:

Sumo practices what it preaches, which isn’t something all marketing companies can say.

They also feature posts from the top experts in different niches of marketing like e-commerce and copywriting to publish some of the best marketing information on the web, period.

Top Posts From Sumo

 

Signal vs. Noise

signal-vs-noise-blog

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of the project management software Basecamp, started the Signal v. Noise Medium blog to share their, often counterintuitive, thoughts on business culture, tech, design, and more.

You could categorize Signal v. Noise as a thought leadership blog, but I doubt they’d find that appropriate.

Instead, they discuss what they believe is the truth about the industry. They’re not clamoring for likes and followers. They’re not trying to build a ‘personal brand.’

In fact, they reject most of the buzzwords and hyperbole that come with the industry and just tell it like it is. And they’re never afraid to have an unpopular or controversial opinion. Their authenticity helps them stand out and draws people to use their product.

Hence the name Signal v. Noise. Noise is the useless, albeit attractive, information in the world. Signal is the truth that drives real change. While most people get ‘shiny object syndrome’ and chase noise — tactics and trends — the team at Basecamp tries to do what works based on principles they’ve gained over time and through experience.

Top Posts From Signal v. Noise

Due

due-corporate-blog

 

Due is a payment processing company. Similar to our Sumo example, Due often publishes posts on topics different types of entrepreneurs — all of which need payment processing — might want to know about.

They also cover a wide range of topics about the financial industry.

This all-encompassing blog, which never promotes their product outright, brings in revenue and leads with this educational approach.

Top Posts From Due

Tips for Building a Popular Company Blog

Now you know how to create a content strategy for your company blog.

You’ve seen examples of popular business blogs.

To end this post, we’ll leave you with our best tips for building a blog that stands out and getting it in front of the right people.

  1. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth about your industry.
  2. Use humor. Company blogs don’t have to be dry and boring.
  3. Use tools like Buffer to share your content regularly.
  4. Curate content from other business blogs in the industry and share it on social media.
  5. Join communities and forums on places like LinkedIn and Facebook – participate first, share your stuff later.
  6. Whatever posting frequency you choose, stick to it. 
  7. Send a polite email to people you mention/link to in your posts letting them know how their content helped you.
  8. Think long term. Content marketing takes time.
  9. Find your unique selling proposition. Answer the question – what makes your business different?
  10. Write about topics that aren’t directly related to your industry, like this snack company did when creating a viral post about employee wellness. 
  11. Republish your posts on platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, and Thrive Global.
  12. Repurpose your content in different formats like Slideshare, Instagram posts, and video.
  13. Feature author bios for the writer(s) to give your posts a personal touch.
  14. If applicable, use guest contributors to outsource some of your writing and publishing.
  15. Have fun and create content you want to create, but readers also love.

Conclusion

Company blogs can be a major part of your marketing strategy. Like all good strategies, tools, and techniques, you get what you put into them.

If you’re dedicated, persistent, and willing to iterate, you can become a thought leader, grow your traffic, or achieve any other business related goal.

Does your company have a blog?

What strategies are you using to promote it?

Let me know in the comments.

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How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for your Business

digital marketing strategy49 percent of businesses do not have a clearly outlined digital marketing plan. Are you one of them? Plenty of businesses use digital marketing techniques, but they are often not fully realized or consistently utilized. This results in time and money spent with lackluster results. However, utilizing an effective, fully fleshed out digital marketing strategy can boost your business’ site traffic, conversions, and help you better reach your target audiences.

 

Don’t throw techniques at the wall and hope for the best. Instead take the time to create an actionable digital marketing plan. Here’s how to get started:

 

Analyze: Before implementing a new plan, learn if and how your current digital marketing strategy is working and adapt accordingly. Begin by analyzing your current digital marketing strategies. Ask yourself the following questions:

 

  • What is the goal of your digital marketing strategy?
  • How do your current techniques help with your ultimate goal?
  • Are you reaching your target audiences?
  • What platforms are best for reaching your target audiences?
  • Which marketing channels are most effective for your business?
  • How do social media platforms factor into your marketing strategy?
  • Which techniques are working? Which aren’t?

 

 

Choose Your Metrics: There are plenty of metrics you can use to measure the performance of your digital marketing campaign, but depending on your ultimate goal, not all may be useful. For example, if you’re trying to boost traffic, you may want to focus on traffic sources and the rate of returning visitors over return on investment or conversion rates. Before starting your campaign, determine at least three metrics you’ll use to evaluate your campaign’s performance.

 

Engage Your Audience: Whatever your strategy includes, it’s important to engage your audiences. Engaging them helps to develop a relationship, build awareness of your business, and help drive sales. You can do this by connecting with your audiences on their preferred social media platforms, creating targeted content that connects to your audience, and making sure your message visible. You can also utilize ad campaigns to quickly get to the top of searches and entice your audience to visit your site. The better you engage your audience, the greater your online presence, and the more customers will find your business!

 

Evaluate: Don’t engage in digital marketing blindly. Evaluating your strategy, using your predetermined metrics, will help you determine what’s working, what’s not, and how you can improve. If your digital marketing strategy is not proving effective based on your chosen metrics, you should go back to the analysis step and determine why it’s not working. Are you targeting the right audience? Are you effectively reaching them? Are you using the right metrics to measure your campaign’s performance?

 

Get Professional Help Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy

 

Creating and executing an effective digital marketing can be a time-consuming process. Make it easy by getting help from the digital marketing pros at MLT Group. We’ll create a personalized digital marketing strategy based on your business, industry, and goals. Then, we’ll execute it, so you have more time to put towards your business.

 

Ready to get started with your digital marketing strategy? Don’t wait! Contact our friendly professionals at sales@mltgroup.com or (507) 281-3490 today!

 

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Which Platforms Should Your Business Use for Social Media Marketing?

social media marketing
Not all platforms may be right for your business. Get the most out of your social media strategy by engaging with the right ones!

Every social media platform has its own culture, audience, and purpose. Because of this, not every platform may be appropriate or worthwhile for your business to have a presence on. But how do you know which platforms to include in your social media marketing strategy? Today, we’re going to explore a few of the most popular social media platforms, so you can determine which ones are a good fit for your business’ marketing goals.

 

Facebook:

While there are exceptions, most businesses can benefit from a presence on Facebook, if they use it properly. Facebook is a great place to build relationships and converse with your target audience. Using it strictly as a sales tool won’t garner the results you want. Think about it, how many people do you know that willingly seek out ads? That doesn’t mean you can’t promote your offerings on Facebook, just make sure to balance it out with genuine interactions and audience engagement.

Instagram:

This is a highly visual platform, allowing users to upload pictures, with captions and text being secondary. If you have a lifestyle, fashion, food, art, or luxury related business, Instagram is a great place for you to show off and promote your brand. It’s easy to use and you don’t have to be an expert photographer to produce great looking images. The pre-loaded filters and editing tools can give any image a professional or artistic feel. If your business doesn’t have a lot to show visually, Instagram isn’t a worthwhile platform.

 

Pinterest:

Pinterest is a visual, action driven platform where users can create boards and pin pictures, articles, recipes, crafts or other inspirational content to them. It can be used to share ideas, tell visual stories, promote a lifestyle, or your brand. The key is to have visually engaging content to share. Don’t think your business is very visual? Plenty of businesses have gotten creative, using Pinterest to share educational infographics or even post jobs. Also, the overwhelming majority of users are female, so if you’re business is looking for a way to reach out to women, Pinterest is the place to be.

 

Youtube:

If your business has any videos, you should have a presence on Youtube. It’s the perfect place to feature commercials, instructional videos, explainer videos, or even tips and expertise. Most businesses that have videos can benefit from Youtube.

 

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B businesses or businesses actively recruiting top talent. It’s the most professional and business focused platform on the list, making it a great place for businesses and business owners to network, generate leads, and show off your offerings.

 

Depending on your business and your marketing goals, some social media platforms won’t be worthwhile. Not sure where to start with your social media marketing strategy? We can help! The marketing pros at MLT Group can help you develop and execute a social media marketing strategy to promote your business, brand, and generate leads. Contact us at sales@mltgroup.com or 507-281-3490 to learn more today!

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7 Common Web Design Myths BUSTED!

Our digital world moves quickly, and there always seems to be a new rule or standard. Every year, the web is flooded with articles talking about the year’s latest trends and game-changing techniques. It can be hard to keep up or to even know what to pay attention to. This leads to a lot of misinformation and myths, especially when it comes to web design. Most of these myths are built on a grain of truth or were true at one time but staying loyal to these outdated ideas will do more harm to your business than good. Today, we’re going to bust the 7 most common web design myths!web design

 

1. Visitors Won’t Scroll/Place Your CTA Above the Fold

 

These two myths go hand in hand. When the internet was still in its infancy, users weren’t used to scrolling through pages for information, so anything below the fold would largely go unnoticed. This led to sites religiously placing their calls to action (CTA) above the fold. However, both the internet and users have grown up a lot and it’s time we act like it. If your site is engaging and your message is strong, users won’t have any problem scrolling below the fold.

 

2. You Don’t Need a Mobile Site

 

This is another myth that used to be true. When internet use on cellphones was expensive or unavailable, mobile optimized websites were more of novelty than a worthwhile marketing tool. Now, the number of mobile users is only growing. Mobile devices allow consumers to search for products and services in their area right when they need them, so it’s no surprise that mobile ecommerce traffic has surpassed desktop traffic. Have you ever tried using a non-mobile optimized site on your smartphone? You’ll only tolerate the slow load speeds and poor navigation for so long before you go somewhere else. If your site isn’t mobile optimized and responsive, visitors will find a competitor’s site that is.

 

3. Leave No Whitespace

 

With limited real estate per page, you want to use every inch of it right? Not quite. When used correctly, whitespace not only improves the aesthetic of your site, but can even increase your ROI. When met with a cluttered page, visitors become overwhelmed and have difficulty finding important information. Whitespace makes your content easier to digest and even improves comprehension. It can also be used to guide users to the areas of your site you want them to see the most.

 

 4. The More Options, the Better!

 

Consumers always say they want more; more options, more variety, more features. However, this isn’t quite true. It’s not that consumers want more options, but rather they want to easily find the option that best fits their needs. Cluttering your website with every possible option will actually decrease conversions, as consumers find it difficult to commit and choose. This doesn’t mean you can’t offer variety—it just means you have to guide users to the options that best fit their needs, rather than bombard them with all of them at once.

 

 5. You View Your Website the Same Way Visitors Do

 

This is similar to the myth that you should like your website. This may sound counterintuitive but hear us out. You have an understanding of your business that your target audience doesn’t. They have questions, concerns, and may not understand certain elements of your business. It’s your website’s job to address their needs and guide them to what they want. This disconnect between businessowners and users can cause a lot of problems, but if you’re able to put yourself in their shoes, you’ll be able to better address their needs.

 

6. Everything Should Be Accessible Within 3 Clicks

 

It seems consumers are only growing more impatient, so it would be reasonable to assume that if a visitor can’t find what they want on your site within three clicks, they might leave. However, this unofficial web design rule has been debunked by a number of usability studies. While ease of navigation is essential in web design, consumers are willing to click around and explore a website to find what they want. As long as visitors feel they are making progress and being presented with valuable content, they will be willing to explore your website.

 

7. More Feedback is Always Better

 

Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth?’ When you receive too much feedback on your site’s design, this is exactly what can happen. It’s not that feedback is bad, but it needs to be valuable. If you need feedback on your site’s design, make sure you only ask those who understand web design, your business, and your target audience instead of sending out a mass email asking for input. Too much invaluable feedback can derail your project and lead to a poor design as you try to accommodate everyone’s minor tweaks. If you’re really unsure about something in your site’s design, ask your designer. You hired them for their expertise and they will guide you to the best design solutions for your site.

 

Did you believe any of these web design myths? Does your website adhere to any? It may be time to redesign your website! Contact the web design professionals at MLT Group at sales@mltgroup.com or 507.281.3490 today! We partner with you to create a design that not only looks great but is also easy to use and appealing to your target audience. We also provide digital marketing services from SEO to PPC and more.

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Which Type of Commercial Video is Right for Your Business?

Commercial videos have proven to be a powerful marketing tool. They’re entertaining, engaging, and effective. Now, it’s easier and more cost effective than ever to create videos for your business. But with all of the different types of videos out there, which ones are best for your business? Keep reading to learn more about different types of commercial videos and how they can boost your business!commercial video

Demo

Do you have a product or program you’re selling? Demos are a great way to showcase their benefits and how it works. Showing potential customers just how your product works will give them confidence in what they’re buying and decrease their purchase hesitation.

Tutorial

Do your customers need instructions on how to use your product? Tutorial videos are a great way to educate customers and help them use your product to its full effect. The product might come with instructions, but videos are extremely helpful for visual learners and easy to digest. Short tutorial videos are also great for teaching customers how to use different parts of your product.

Training/Education

Regardless of your business or industry, your employees probably require some type of training to perform their job well. Whether it be how to use equipment, first aid, or information regarding your product, training and educational videos can help acclimate new employees quickly. Not only can training videos be re-used, making them cost-effective, they also increase knowledge retention.

Broadcast Commercial

Broadcast commercials are one of the more expensive options on this list, but that’s because they’re so effective. They can reach a massive, captive audience. You can also target a particular audience by airing your broadcast commercial on the channels they most use at the times they are most likely to be watching.


Internet Commercial

Internet commercials have many of the same benefits of broadcast commercials, without the price tag. They can be inexpensive to produce and still reach a large, targeted audience. Internet commercials can also be shared on your business’ website and social media, racking up views and exposure.

Testimonial

There is no marketing tool more powerful than a satisfied customer. They will spread the word about your business and encourage others to visit you. Testimonial videos take that a step further. Videos of satisfied customers’ testimonials can be spread far and wide and be re-used, giving them a long shelf life.

Explainer

Explainer videos do just that- explain things. They are particularly useful if your business or products are new, complex, or abstract. For example, if you have a groundbreaking program to sell, you can use an explainer video go guide the viewer through the thinking behind the program, how it works, and what it can do. Animations are especially effective for explainer videos as they are entertaining and can illustrate abstract concepts. Done right, explainer videos can educate viewers and encourage them to buy! Here’s an example.

The commercial video professionals at MLT Group have been providing video production services for over 30 years. From broadcast commercials to training videos, we’ve done it all. We offer comprehensive video production services, handling everything from script writing to editing. If you’re ready to utilize the power of commercial videos for your business, contact us at 507.281.3490 or sales@mltgroup.com for your FREE consultation.

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Why Your Business Needs a Blog

When it comes to maintaining your business’ website, you probably think of updating information, pictures, and managing your SEO and advertising efforts. But there’s another important element you’re forgetting— a blog.

Blogs are an often underutilized business tool. There are a number of hidden benefits to blogs beyond promoting your business, and if you’re not taking advantage of them, your business can fall behind the competition. Let’s take a look at what a blog can do for your small business.blog

Help build a relationship between your business and consumers

Blogs give you a great opportunity to connect with potential customers. They are a voice for your business when your sales staff can’t be there, telling customers what you stand for, what services you offer, and developing your business’ persona.

Help your site rank on search engines

When you type in a search on Google, their bots crawl around the web looking for sites that are relevant to the inquiry. One way bots evaluate sites is through keyphrases and geotargets. If someone searches for “floral arrangements in Minneapolis,” and you have a few blogs that highlight floral arrangements in that location, the bots will view your site as relevant, placing it higher in the search rankings. Bots also look for websites that are frequently updated with new, quality content. Blogs allow you to do this with ease. Even posting once a month lets bots know that your website is active.

Blogs work, even when you can’t

You can’t be promoting your business, interacting with customers, and boosting SEO 24/7. Blogs can. There are no expiration dates on blogs, so even blogs published months ago are still working for your business. Also, each new blog builds on those previously published, so the longer you consistently post for your business, the greater the benefits.

Build authority for your business

If a stranger walked up to you and claimed that they were a hairstylist, would you let them cut your hair? You’d probably want some proof of skill first. This is what blogs can do for your business. With plenty of competition claiming that they are experts in your industry, blogs give you an edge by allowing you to show off your expertise to potential clients.

Provide Content for Social Media

Creating fresh content for your business’ social media profiles can be time consuming. However, your blog is a great source to draw from. You can easily have blogs auto-publish to Facebook or Twitter, or manually share them. This exposes your content to a larger audience and allows you to get more mileage out of one piece of content.

In business, you need every advantage to rise above the competition. Utilizing blogs for your website is a great way to gain an edge. If you’re looking to improve your site’s rankings, engagement, and authority, MLT Group is here to help, offering a number of SEO services, including blog writing. For a FREE consultation, contact the professionals at MLT Group at 507-281-3490 or sales@mltgroup.com.

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How Facebook’s Latest Update Affects Your Business’ Social Media Presence

Recently, Facebook has made a significant change to its algorithm to prioritize posts that encourage meaningful connections between individuals. This means more posts from friends and family will appear on users’ timelines and fewer from businesses, brands, and organizations. This attempt to cut down corporate clutter on users’ newsfeeds has small businesses seeing a decline in viewership. Even before this change, businesses found it challenging to appear on their target audience’s radar; now it’s only going to get harder.social media presence

This change doesn’t mean Facebook is any less important for small businesses. It still attracts a large audience with 2.13 billion monthly users, and it would be ill-advised for businesses to neglect maintaining and growing their social media presence. But while it has become more difficult for small businesses, it’s not impossible. It just requires a different approach.

1. Prioritize Connection Over Sales:

It’s tempting to post sales pitch after sales pitch, but you’re not doing yourself any favors. Facebook is a place to build a connection and a relationship with your audience that will translate into sales. With Facebook now prioritizing meaningful connections over commercial clutter, this is more important than ever.

2. Use Ads:

One commercial aspect that won’t be affected by this update is ads. Paying for ads is a great way to get your business in front of your target audience. Facebook allows businesses to be very specific in who they target, narrowing down their audience by age, location, gender, and even interests. Depending on how long you want the ad to run, it doesn’t have to be expensive.

3. Create or Join a Community:

Businesses can create or join groups on Facebook that focus on their industry or expertise. By creating or joining a group, businesses can attract their target audience. For example, if you own a photography studio, you can join a group for local couples planning weddings. There, you can share your photography ideas and expertise. Just remember to stay away from ‘salesy’ language. Genuine participation will garner better results.

4. Create Events:

Is your business hosting an event? In additional to traditional advertising, create an event on Facebook. Local events will appear prominently in users’ timelines and you can invite followers to attend. When users respond that they are either attending or interested, their response may appear in their friends’ timelines as well, further spreading news of your event.

5. Engage With Your Followers:

It’s easy to think of Facebook as just another place to advertise your business, but at its heart, it’s social. It’s a great opportunity to interact with your audience, building a relationship and brand loyalty. When users comment on your posts, leave you reviews, or send you a message, you need to respond. This won’t only make an impression on the user you’re responding to, but will also make your business look good in the eyes of those who see it.

In the end, Facebook’s update is meant to benefit users. Small businesses that can appeal to this change will benefit, not only from improving their presence on Facebook, but also by better appealing to their audience.

Are you looking to improve your social media presence or update your social media strategy? Contact the digital marketing experts at MLT Group at sales@mltgroup.com or 507.281.3490 to schedule your FREE consultation today!