The Daily Carnage

The savvy marketer's hub for industry news, insights, resources, and culture.

Today’s Issue

Elbow Grease 💪

How to clean your lists.

Issues

View All

5 Types of Bad Backlinks You Don’t Want

APRIL 25, 2021

The way your mom talks about you vs the way your ex talks about you is vastly different. Mom touts you as the brightest and most talented person in the world – if moms could interview for jobs on our behalf, we’d all be Fortune 500 CMOs. On the other hand, what your ex says about you might be less endearing.

Sure, there are advantages in not listening to what people say, but what people say can definitely affect you for better or for worse. You can think of backlinks as people talking about you. Some are welcome, but others you’ll want no association with (please stop DMing me.) Neil Patel is helping us take note of 5 types of backlinks you don’t want.

Links From Spammy Sites. Sometimes you’ll find a backlink from a site that has absolutely nothing to do with you. Worse yet, sometimes the site contains inappropriate content that could serve to tarnish your reputation if things get out of hand.
Links From Link-Mill Websites. Building up a repertoire of backlinks helps you gain authority in Google’s eyes, but the links have to be authentic. There are plenty of places you can pay for links, but many of them don’t offer any real value that will work in your favor. Focus on creating high quality content and the links will come.
PR Release Links. It’s exciting to announce something new for the world to see, and a press release is a great way to garner attention. However, a keyword-heavy press release filled with backlinks is not the kind of press release that will help your SEO.

Study up on the last two types from Neil Patel.

How to Promote Your Eco-friendly Initiatives on Social Media

APRIL 21, 2021

We live on a pretty neat planet and we’re glad to share it with y’all. Our world deserves a tremendous amount of respect for its numerous abilities. Heck, the transitions from the Hadean Era (in which our beloved globe was covered in hot lava) to the *more recent* Ice Age (which ended about 11.5 thousand years ago) illustrate Mother Nature’s knack for successful rebrands.

Earth is likely going to be around much longer than we will, so it’s up to us to make sure we’re good guests. If your brand is on board with leaving the world better than you found it, then people will love hearing about the steps you’ve taken to become more sustainable. PromotionWorld wants to help you get the word out with some ways to promote your eco-friendly initiatives on social media.

Create campaigns that raise awareness around sustainability. When you invest in creating products and services with sustainability in mind, be sure to quantify this in some way your audience will understand. For instance, highlight how you’ll plant a tree with every purchase, power your offices with solar energy, etc.
Give your customer the badge of a hero. Make your customer the hero of your story and they’ll want to support the story. Post content highlighting the positive impact of purchasing one of your products. Change starts at the individual level, and that means your customer.
Show behind-the-scenes of your sustainable action. While you talk the talk, show your audience you can walk the walk too. Social media is the perfect forum for a video diving into the tangible sustainable practices you’re invested in. If your initiative is to save water by using recycled materials, show people how much water is being saved. Or share some photos of where and how you’re planting those trees you promised.

Everyone can get on board with sustainability. Don’t miss the remaining promotion strategies.

9 Mistakes to Avoid When Marketing or Hosting Your Next Webinar, According to Experts

APRIL 20, 2021

2020 showed us that Zoom has quite a learning curve for some people. Perhaps your entire team watched in horror as a colleague thoroughly cleaned their nose with the camera still on. There are also those who haven’t yet mastered the mute function as the train rolls by every morning.

It happens to the best of us, and it can be embarrassing. Best to move on and hope your own Zoom incident won’t haunt you years into the future. But when you go from attending Zoom calls to hosting webinars, you’ll want to ensure all goes without a hitch. Hubspot is sharing 9 mistakes to avoid when marketing or hosting your next webinar.

Your webinar isn’t valuable. It’s not easy to provide people with insights and knowledge they haven’t seen or heard elsewhere. But if you know something people don’t know, then your webinar will be much more valuable. If there’s no clear or unique takeaway, then what’s the point of hosting the webinar in the first place?
Your webinar is too sales-y. Of course you have something to sell. People attending your webinar already know this. But they’re attending because they want to learn something valuable, not listen to an hour-long sales pitch. Give them content related to your offerings but not about your offerings.
You’re pursuing too many goals with one webinar. Your webinar must have a singular focus. This will ensure the content all stays relevant around the core topic, and you’ll attract people interested in learning more about the topic. If you try to do too much in your webinar, it may seem scattered and lacking a primary focus.
You’re not acknowledging the realities and limitations of the format. While people tune into your webinar, they’re probably tuned in to other things as well. Anticipate that people will multitask while viewing your webinar. Keep the most important bits concise and front and center as they are not to be missed.

Read on for more avoidable webinar mistakes.

28 Marketing Certifications That Will Take Your Career to the Next Level

APRIL 14, 2021

Do you know what the best part about Snapple is? It’s the fun fact under the lid. But the ice tea is pretty great too. How many drinks actually teach you something while you consume them? While fact #17, “The Bee Hummingbird weighs less than a penny,” may not be the kind of knowledge that advances your career, it may just make you the MVP at your favorite bar’s next trivia night.

It feels good to learn. Whether it’s a quick fact, a YouTube tutorial, or an in-person class: knowledge is power. To help you maintain your learning journey, CoSchedule is sharing 28 marketing certifications that will take your career to the next level.

Digital Marketing Institute. DMI offers more than just courses and certifications. You’ll find a community of more than 130,000 members and over 25,000 certified professionals. It’s a widely recognized platform to expand your marketing knowledge.

Google Digital Garage: Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. Google is the perfect starting point for those just getting started in digital marketing. While taking notes and memorizing and understanding key concepts is necessary for any course, this one emphasizes applying the knowledge to real-world situations.

Facebook Blueprint Certification. Looking to explore the ins and outs of advertising on Facebook and Instagram? This is an excellent place to start. You’ll find a series of certifications for different proficiency levels.

Cornell Digital Marketing Certification Program. If you prefer the kind of structure online school has to offer, then this course will be a good fit. You’ll have a dedicated instructor to aid in your learning and classes will include no more than 35 students. You’ll create digital marketing plans, learn about emerging technologies in the field, and grasp the overall digital marketing landscape.

There are so many courses for your consideration, so read on to find the perfect fit.

Earn Press Coverage for Your Brand in 5 Steps

APRIL 13, 2021

Let’s face it, marketers are professional attention seekers. It’s not a bad thing. Some things need the attention of others, and we’re going to do everything we can to get that attention. Whether it’s a paid search ad, an organic social post, or even a sign on a bus stop bench, we want somebody to see it.

When you want the whole world (or just part of it) to see what you’re all about, press coverage is a huge help. While any press may be good press, we’re talking about the kind of press you plan for – not the press you get when a hacker takes over your Twitter. Here’s how to earn press coverage for your brand in 5 steps from Moz.

Ideation. Before you even decide on your piece of content, figure out what kinds of press outlets you’d like to see coverage in. Are they national news outlets or industry-specific sources? Furthermore, what headlines would you like to see? Working in reverse will help you better define the means to the end you wish to pursue.
Producing a content marketing campaign. Determine what question you want to answer in your content piece and think about what kind of data you’ll need to back up your answer. Will a survey allow you to collect the data you need? Perhaps a history of a topic’s popularity on Google Trends can show you its wavering relevance over time. Pick the best source of data to accurately inform your readers.
Design and copywriting. Organizing your data and using it to tell a compelling story is a must. Think about how you can present your data and story in a chart or infographic as well. These sorts of graphics are constantly used in press coverage, so don’t miss out on creating a well-designed and easily shareable graphic. Include your logo so people will know who created it even if it isn’t linked to you.

Press on for the remaining steps.

Relevant Messaging Ideas: Be Refreshing

APRIL 12, 2021

Imagine being stranded in the middle of the desert and stumbling upon a vending machine selling bottles of sand. First of all, who did you wrong to end up stranded in the desert? Second, what evil person fills bottles with sand and keeps them stocked in a deserted vending machine? It’s the perfect place to make bank on Cactus Cooler. Anyway, as you can imagine, the bottle of sand is the furthest thing from refreshing.

When you’ve been wandering the desert, the last thing you want is more sand. It just tends to get a little monotonous, and it’s important to change things up. The same goes for your messaging: doing the same thing over and over will only get you so far. Here are some refreshing messaging ideas from Nonprofit Marketing Guide to help you stay relevant.

Have an opinion. The effort to remain neutral is completely understandable. However, it leaves much to be desired in the way of getting to the core of your beliefs. After all, don’t your patrons want to know who you are and what you stand for? Give them a chance to get to know you by voicing opinions that matter to you. You don’t need to isolate people who like pineapple on their pizza – just find something relevant and important to your organization.

Try humor. Laughter is good for the soul and allows people to easily connect and relate. Of course, you should exercise good taste when using humor in your messaging. Steer away from anything that might get a laugh at the expense of others and keep it fun and entertaining.
Do something other nonprofits don’t (even if they should). How can you change up your routine a bit in a way your patrons will enjoy? Think about the typical practices a nonprofit will use for fundraising and make tweaks to stand out a bit. Do you make calls seeking donations? How about making a few calls just to thank people who have already donated?

Don’t worry, we won’t leave you high and dry. There are still more tips to explore.

What Is Cross-Promotion? 11 Ideas for Your Marketing Campaign

APRIL 11, 2021

Teamwork makes the dream work. It’s exactly why we’ve seen the astounding successes of the world’s best duos. Think Batman and Robin, Bob Ross and paint, or even PB&J. On their own, these people and things are perfectly capable, but together they are greater than the sum of their parts.

Your brand can have the same effect with the right cross-promotion strategy. Finding the right strategic partner will help you become an even greater force within your current market and markets you’re just starting to dip your toes into. G2 is sharing 11 cross-promotion strategies for your next marketing campaign.

Run a co-branded contest (and boost it with paid media). People like free things – especially if the free thing in question is valuable to them. A giveaway or contest is a proven method of gaining signups and attention. A co-branded contest will reach a larger audience, so the right partner with the right audience will help you strategically grow your own audience. Be sure to run paid media ads to promote your contest to aid your organic efforts.
Get booked as a guest on top-rated podcasts. Keeping an active podcast is hard work and takes a lot of time. Reaching out to a podcast host can help them save time trying to find a guest. Search for “podcasts” on LinkedIn and filter by your industry. This way you can quickly find podcasts relevant to your audience.
Endorse influencers on your blog. Influencers provide an effective way for brands to connect with audiences. While partnering with influencers for certain campaigns is beneficial, sometimes all you need is a mention. Including an influencer in a blog boosts their brand and in turn, they could boost yours by sharing your content. Let influencers know when you mention them in content.

See more strategies from G2.

International SEO Strategy for Non-Dominant Language Audiences

APRIL 6, 2021

If you’ve ever traveled somewhere people speak a different language than your own, then you know from experience how challenging it can be to navigate everyday things like getting around or ordering food. And behind languages are cultures with unique histories that ultimately culminate into what we witness as observers.

SEO may seem so fairly uniform and standardized. While this is true to an extent, you’ll find the need to adapt your strategies when your web presence transcends geographic borders. To shed some light on international SEO, Search Engine Journal is sharing strategies for non-dominant language audiences.

Create Content in the Target Language

No surprise here; to communicate with your target audience, you’ll need to make sure you’re speaking their language (literally). If your site is already built out for English speakers in the US, you can easily use the same site to target American expats living in France.

Use Hreflang Tags to Help Content to Be Discovered by Your Audience

A little fuzzy on Hreflang tags? These tags tell Google which language and country a specific page is intended for. For example, “en-us” is an Hreflang tag indicating the English language in the United States. There are a few ways you can use these tags to fit your needs.

Target English speakers in France. If your Hreflang tag is currently “en-us”, you can just use “en” to target English speakers everywhere, including France. But if you have a specific site or page just intended for English speakers in France, you could use “en-fr”.
Target French speakers in the US. The Hreflang tag follows the same language-country format, so in this case, we would use an “fr-us” tag.
Exclude French speakers outside of France and the US. Hreflang tags don’t offer exclusions, but you can achieve this by excluding IP addresses outside the locations you’re trying to reach.

Read on about localizing the language for your audience.

A guide to creating product positioning statements

APRIL 6, 2021

How many of y’all tried your hand at breadmaking early on in the pandemic? Food was flying off the shelves, so a little DIY went a long way. If you’re a sourdough lover, you’ll know you need a starter before you can begin baking.

A product positioning statement is just like your sourdough starter; you use it to craft the perfect messaging for a campaign. Let’s launch into Appcues’ guide to creating product positioning statements.

What is a product positioning statement? A product positioning statement serves to define your target audience and how your product or service helps this target audience. It’s important to have a product positioning statement so your organization can align on messaging regarding your products.

To give you an idea of how it should look and help you craft your own, Appcues has a simple template you can use.

[Your product’s name] is the [market category] that provides [benefit that sets your product apart from the competition] for [target user group] who [need/want X solution].

You don’t have to limit yourself to this, but it can help you craft your statement with all the necessary components. Try to keep yours under five sentences.

Some things you’ll need to know before you write your own:

Name your product. You guessed it – a product positioning statement will need to incorporate the product’s name. How else would anyone know what it’s about?
Market category. Which industry does your product fall within? Before you solidify this, make sure you define it the way your customers would define it. In other words, use your customer’s terminology to define your market category so the message will better resonate with the customer.
What’s the benefit. Here, you’ll lay out how your product helps customers and why it’s better than what your competitors offer. It helps to do a competitive analysis of your competitors’ products so you can better elaborate on your biggest differentiators.

Keep reading for more tips and examples from different brands.