[INFOGRAPHIC] Facebook's EdgeRank

As marketers we have to stay on top of the constantly changing SEO landscape. A part of that is learning to interact with the social networks our leads expect us to use.

To help everyone out, PostRocket is making a series of infographics to explain EdgeRank, Facebook’s special algorithm used to determine what posts show up in a user's news feed.

They just posted lesson #3. We encourage you to check it out along with lessons #1 and #2 by clicking the links below.

EdgeRank 101
EdgeRank 102
EdgeRank 103

Why Trade Shows Are the Perfect Opportunity for Your Product or Service to Sell Itself

The grandfather of modern marketing himself, Peter Drucker, said, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

Often, knowing and understanding the customer is carried out from a distance. Yes, you can (and should) engage with customers via social media, email or phone, but in today’s digital age, you won’t always get the opportunity to meet with the customer in person.

Not, that is, unless you attend trade shows, which allow you to meet face to face with multiple prospects in a day — some of whom you never would have had the opportunity to speak with otherwise. Consider these stats:

• Seven out of 10 attendees plan to buy one or more products at trade shows. 
• 76 percent of prospects at trade shows ask for quotes and 26 percent sign purchase orders.
• 72 percent of visitors say the show influenced their buying decision. 

Based on these stats, getting a trade show attendee to sign with your company should be like shooting fish in a barrel. But, as many marketers who invest in trade shows will tell you, it's not that easy. To turn a prospect into a customer, you must engage visitors in meaningful conversations that show you understand and can meet their needs (more adequately than your competitors) so your product or service can sell itself.

"But," you say, "if I'm doing all the legwork behind the scenes, getting to know the customer, etc., then my products and services aren't really selling themselves, are they?"

You got us. No, your products and services are not just going to magically sell themselves without a little research and strategy on your part. However, once you discover what your prospects need and can clearly point out how your product or service can cure what ails them, the rest is simple.

Here are some tips to make the most of your trade show experience (and get a leg up on competitors).

Get to Know Attendees Beforehand

Before you set foot in the exhibit hall, you should know what industries your prospects are in, what types of roles and decision-making power attendees hold within their organizations and what their concerns are so you can directly address their hot buttons in your marketing material. After catching their attention, you can start the types of meaningful conversations that lead to a conversion.

Check out the List of Exhibitors

Knowing the types of businesses who will be at the show will help you prepare a competitive strategy. By anticipating your competition's sales pitch, you’ll be able to showcase features or benefits your company offers that they don’t.

To give yourself even more of a competitive edge, consider purchasing a booth at a show not typically associated with your products and services. When you attend a niche show, your competitors will most likely not be there, giving you the opportunity to “cross-pollinate ideas into your product lineup, and come up with things your competitors and clients have truly never seen before,” says starterist.com.

Make a Good Impression

Once you’ve done your competitive research, your goal should be to make such a good impression on the prospect that they 1) realize their need for your product or service and 2) are so impressed with your company that they don’t feel a need to research other vendors. The only thing that attendees evaluate more than the product or service you are selling is you, which is why you must make the best first impression possible.

One of Our Sales Associates in Action at a Recent Trade Show

Be aware of your body language. If you’re sitting down, talking with an associate or flipping through your own material, attendees assume that you are too busy to talk with them. Instead, approach them, engage them and welcome them to your booth.

Once you draw your prospects in, listen to their concerns before jumping into your sales pitch so you’ll know exactly which topics to stress when you do start talking about your product.

Then, draw upon the knowledge you’ve gained during your attendee research to answer as many of the prospect’s questions as you can. If you don’t know the answer, tell the prospect you will find out, get their contact information, research the answer to their question and be sure to get back to them within a few days.

Give them a unique toll-free number that redirects to your direct line so that the prospect has an easy way to get in touch with you and so you can easily track any phone leads from the show.

Follow up with Leads

Always follow up with leads. Send a personal email to clients who had questions you’re researching the answers to or who expressed interest in making a purchase.

For leads who visited your booth but were still on the fence about what you had to offer, shoot them an email offering to help them answer any questions or address any concerns they may have. This will help you stay at the forefront of the prospect’s mind without seeming pushy.

The next time you attend a trade show, jump on the chance to get to know and understand your future customers, match them with the product or solution that best meets their particular needs and watch your product sell itself.

Five Updates You Need to Make to Your Back End User Interface

When customer feedback signals that your user interface needs to be more efficient and visually appealing, it’s time to look into updating it.

In this blog post, we targeted five areas to focus on when redesigning your online application.

Navigation

If your site is giving your users carpal tunnel, you need to reduce the amount of clicks it takes for them to reach frequently viewed pages. Include a main menu with clearly defined sections, and allow users to access it from any page on the site.

Search Filters

Don’t make your users scroll through long lists of information to find what they’re looking for. Improve your site’s efficiency by including search filters, not just a search bar. Give users multiple filter options to narrow down their results.

Consumer Control

Users are often more self-sufficient than companies give them credit for. If there is a simple way that your users can complete a task online, make it an option on your site. Consider how consumers purchase your products and services, request information, etc.

Simplified Page Structure

The text and design of your back end screens should be organized. Clearly mark links with the function they perform such as "Submit Your Request" or "Go Back to the Home Page." Finally, get feedback from your customers when they pilot the new site. Ask them the following questions:

• Does the page structure makes sense?
• Are links clear? 
• Is the information on each page is organized correctly?  

Video Tutorials

Give your users an easy way to see how your site has been updated by creating tutorial videos. Your customers may not want to sit through a 30-minute demo on all the updates you made to your site. (Who does?) Instead, break the information down into multiple videos that each addresses a section of the site that has been updated.

It's also a good idea to give prospects a sneak peek at the updates you've made. Though they're not able to access the site yet, it's important to show that you have considered your current customers' needs and are continually looking for opportunities to improve their experience.


Our new user interface will launch April 29! To see how we've updated it, check out the video below.

Google AdWords: Are You Doing It Right?

You initially started using AdWords as an easy way to expand your online ad reach. But you soon discovered that what appeared to be a simple task became more challenging when you realized that you only had 130 visible characters  to entice an ad click. (That’s less than a tweet!)

With any given search, there are tons of ads competing for space. If you want to be competitive, you have to stand out. So how do you make your ad stand out?

Here are some recommendations from PPC Hero.

Choose Keywords Carefully

The keywords you use in your ad need to be relevant to a consumer's search and should match the terms potential customers would use to find your products or services. (To help you identify relevant keywords, we recommend using an online ad tracking solution like ClickPath.)

Make Your End Goal Clear

Your ad should reflect your conversion goal whether it is completing a sale or generating a lead. Include a strong call to action in your text that tells the customer what you want them to do once they click on your ad.

Build a Good Landing Page

When a potential customer clicks on your ad your landing page is their first impression of your business. If your landing page is bad, you are less likely to achieve your conversion goal. Your landing page should live up to the expectations generated by your ad.

Use the Available Settings to Your Advantage

The settings in AdWords allow you to specify when, where, how, how often and which of your ads are shown. Tailoring the settings to your needs instead of using the defaults should bring in more clicks and conversions.

You can find more tips and ideas on writing an effective AdWords ad here.

Cashing in on April Fools' Day

Yesterday, we saw several businesses take part in online pranks, from long-time participants (Google) to more recent contributors (the White House). Some pranks were a little bizarre (pizza-flavored Tic Tacs), while others left us wishing they were a reality (Sony's headphones for cats).

While surfing the Internet and spotting all the fake product releases on April 1 is entertaining for consumers, is it actually profitable for the companies that engage in all the tomfoolery?

The answer is yes.

April Fools’ Day is a golden opportunity for marketers to get free publicity, test new product offerings and set their brand apart.

Free Publicity

Think about how many articles were posted in major publications yesterday reiterating “The Best April Fools’ Day Online Pranks.” All that free publicity really adds up for businesses, which is why marketers are the ones behind the scenes coordinating and creating the elaborate content. For example, Google, who planned more than ten fake announcements on April 1, created a video, landing page and scent search results for Google Nose alone.

Testing Ground

Businesses such as Think Geek used April Fools’ Day to pilot some of its zanier ideas. A few years ago, Think Geek introduced Canned Unicorn Meat into its fake product lineup, and after receiving an overwhelming amount of feedback from its customers begging for the prank product to actually be offered, it obliged. The product sold out within weeks.

Branding

A parody is a great way to set your business apart from the competition. Even if your company doesn’t usually put on a humorous tone, participating in April Fools’ Day makes your brand more dynamic and allows you to connect with customers on a new level.

If you’ve never entered the realm of April Fools’ Day corporate gags and are worried about confusing your consumers, start small. Next year, use social media as an outlet to try out an obvious prank where humor is readily accepted and see if it improves your social reach.

How to Create an Awesome Facebook Cover Page in Three Steps

In light of Facebook's recent update to its photo guidelines, which now allow you to include CTAs in cover photos, we wanted to show you how to get creative with your cover graphics.

• Check out these great Facebook cover photo examples from HubSpot, Jeff Bullas and Mashable. 

• Reference HubSpot's Essential Cheat Sheet for Social Media Cover Photo Dimensions, which includes pre-sized templates.

• Include a link to your content in your cover photo description.
• Assign a toll-free number to your Facebook page to track phone conversions.

Once you've created your cover photo, post a link to it on our Facebook page so we can check out your handiwork.

Three Signs You Might Be a Marketing Hoarder

There’s a growing problem in the marketing world. It’s hard to identify, because many businesses that struggle with this problem seem perfectly normal to the naked eye.

But in the nooks and crannies of these businesses, there lurks a deep, dark secret.

Hoarding.

Chances are, you’re familiar with the term. Shows such as A&E’s “Hoarders,” TLC’s “Hoarding: Buried Alive,” and Animal Planet’s “Confessions: Animal Hoarding,” have shed light on the problem of excessive attachment to possessions and animals, leading to unsanitary living conditions and alienation from family and friends.

But the concept of hoarding is not one that a lot of people apply to marketing. Like hoarding of possessions, this practice can be harmful to your business and can alienate your consumers.

Are you a marketing hoarder? If you have any of the following symptoms, you just might be.

You Have Trouble Letting Go of Old Marketing Content

“But that’s the way we’ve always done things.”

“It’s worked for us in the past.”

“This might work for us again someday.”

Sound familiar?

Is your marketing department cluttered with emails, white papers, print ads and direct mail pieces galore? Don’t get us wrong — there’s nothing wrong with having a large inventory of content. However, there is something wrong with investing in and maintaining that content without assessing its value to your business.

Marketing is all about getting the right message to the right customer at the right time. The value of content should not be determined by how much money you invested in it or how cool everyone thought it was at that trade show three years ago. Instead, base your marketing decisions on how much profit your campaigns directly generate for your business and the level of impressions they have on your consumers.

What to do about it.
Divide your content into categories: content you can’t do without, content you need to re-evaluate and content that without a doubt needs to go. Then segment your audience into personas and determine which content is appropriate for your audience’s demographic at each stage of the sales cycle. If you find your content is not quite right for a particular audience, start fresh and create a campaign that appeals to your consumers’ interests.

Once you’ve put your campaigns into place, analytics tools like ClickPath will be your friend. Tracking the metrics that are most important to your business will help you assess your prospects’ engagement with your marketing and quantify the value of your campaigns. If your ads aren’t doing anything for you in terms of customer engagement and ROI, you’ll know it’s time to bid that content adieu. (But be warned: Gathering data and using it to your business’s benefit is tricky work. Read on to see why.)

Your Data Is Disorganized

Impressions.

Organic search ranking.

Click-throughs.

Page views per visit.

Email open rates.

White paper downloads.

Video views.

Returning site visits.

Calls.

So many metrics, so little time.

We’ve established that having an analytics process in place is, of course, the first step toward assessing which campaigns can stay awhile and which need to go. Unfortunately, with the volume of data available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. That’s why only 0.5 percent of the world’s data is actually being analyzed and 70 percent of useful data is not being taken advantage of.

With the multitude of analytics software on the market, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if it’s possible to obtain data, you should. But just because you have the ability to capture a certain type of data doesn’t mean you should if you end up with more data than you can analyze or data that won’t help you reach your business goals.

What to do about it.
First determine what metrics you’ll use to gauge your success. For example, if your business offers a top-tier service or high-value product that’s commonly found online, it’s likely that prospects who are serious about buying will call your business directly for more information. In that case, search terms that lead to calls would be an important metric to track.

Then determine your top metrics (no more than five) and create a dashboard that allows you to track your marketing success. ClickPath even has a built-in dashboard (shown above) and yields organized reports that help you quickly evaluate your campaign performance. As you develop your analytics process, you can evaluate the success of the marketing campaigns you decided to keep and any new ones you decided to create.

For more on selecting the right metrics, check out “The Definitive Guide to Marketing Metrics and Marketing Analytics” by Marketo.

You Have Limited Customer Interactions

“Call now.”

“Click here.”

“Download this.”

“While you’re at it, buy our stuff too.”

Feeling a little overwhelmed? You’re not alone.

When prospects are hit with a barrage of marketing, they’re confused as to who you are and what you’re asking of them. Their first reaction is to shut down, hit unsubscribe and add their number to the Do Not Call list.

Think of the hoarders’ homes you’ve seen on TV. Because their homes are overtaken by so many possessions, it’s hard to tell who they are as a person. On the flip side, when you walk into a nicely decorated, organized house, it’s easy to catch a glimpse of the owner's personality because they’ve chosen to keep things in their home that truly matter to them.

Likewise, when your message or marketing is cluttered, your customers don’t know who you are as a company or what you want them to do.

What to do about it.
Follow the KISS principle. When you deliver marketing messages that are consistent, targeted to your audience’s interests and needs and have a clear call-to-action, people are willing to listen to what you have to say. Through analytics, you’ll be able to assess what your consumers’ sweet spots are, and before you know it they’ll be on speaking terms with you again.

If you suspect that you might have a problem with marketing hoarding, start by getting your campaigns organized, put some analytics in place and begin improving the lines of communication with your customers.