The Daily Carnage

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10 Tips for Effective Subject Lines

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Last week, y’all showed a ton of interest in learning about subject lines. Did you know that for every $1 spent on email marketing, you can expect an average ROI of $55? Crazy, huh? With that kind of ROI, it makes sense to take SL’s seriously.

Our buddies at DirectLync are sharing 10 tips to make your subject lines really stand out.

You don’t want your subject line to get cut off, so be brief. Marketo analyzed 2 million+ emails and found that 4 words garnered the most opens and 7 words garnered the most clicks. Try to keep your word count within this range for best results.
Don’t give it all away in the subject line. Captivate your audience with something that will pique their interest and prompt them to open the email to learn more. Stay away from clickbait!
Use CTAs/verbs/questions. Asking a question challenges people to think. Invite people in by imploring them to consider your question or CTA. They’ll be more likely to engage and see what you have to say.
Personalize it. It’s all too easy to differentiate a blast email sent to everybody and one that is truly more specific to you. Do things like include individuals’ names, segment your audiences, and use drip campaigns to send emails with different treatments based upon the actions of individual subscribers.
Create urgency. Give people a reason to act now. The easiest way to do this is by emphasizing deadlines.
Quantify what you’re delivering to your subscribers. Cut through the mix of vague emails. Be straightforward with your audience by indicating a time-frame, statistics, or data.

DirectLync doesn’t stop there. You know what to do to get more tips and examples!

Social Spotlight: Square and The Power of Focus

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

Happy Monday, folks. We found out Sprout Social does this thing where they put a big ol’ spotlight on the strategies used by the best brands on social. We thought it was pretty cool, so we’re sharing it with you.

This time, Sprout Social is putting mobile payment processor, Square under the magnifying glass. See Square is attempting to humanize payment processing.

To do it successfully, Square creates a connection by photography, videography, and custom illustrations. All to reflect the people behind the business.

Here’s what Sprout Social found after an analysis:

Square focuses on the stories, challenges, and triumphs of small businesses. This equals social storytelling that is emotionally relevant and has brand affinity. A combo like that can drive conversion and loyalty.
Square uses offline experiences to make its social content richer and more relevant. For example, when tracking how, when, and where customers are spending through the platform, Square can use that data to drive real conversation.
Using social channels like Youtube and Instagram, Square is able to carry out the message of “caring for your success and the success of your business” to thousands of subscribers. Plus, Square gets into how-tos, demos, and tips too.

Impressive, don’t you think? Wait, wait, wait – here come the takeaways:

B2B is really H2H, and Square is a killer example. Shine a light on the real people with real challenges and triumphs.
Sprout Social suggestions “thinking about how the product experience can drive social content.” Break down the interactions and find ways to engage with your followers on social.
It’s your data, use it when you need it. All the feedback you collect is an opportunity for you to create fascinating stories.

Smash the button for the full spotlight.

Fresh Color Inspiration from the World’s Greatest Masterpieces

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Raise your hand if you’re in need of fresh sources of color inspiration. As marketers and designers, we’re constantly dealing with color whether it’s in social graphics, printed brochures, or new branded guidelines.

So where do you turn for inspo? Maybe Instagram? How about Pinterest? We want to share something a little different today. A blast from the past if you will.

Designer and color enthusiast Ryan McGuire has created, Color Lisa, a curated collection of color palettes based on “masterpieces of the world’s greatest artists.”

Color Lisa is one heck of a collection! We’re talking about the greats like Andy Warhol, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and much more.

Ready to explore artists and color palettes together👇

Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait. Colors pulled from this piece of art is more bold with greens, golds, and a splash of burnt orange, which could give ag-tech brands, bistros, or coffee shops some flair.
Leonardo DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Now, you didn’t think a site called, Color Lisa, would leave out the magnificent Mona Lisa, did ya? Brands that are natural, practical, and have an eco-friendly story might want to grab inspo from LD.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Abstraction Blue. Depending on whether you emphasize the darker or the lighter tones, it pairs well with legal firms and coastal vacation rental companies.

And there’s plenty more where those came from. The next time y’all are in need of colorful inspiration, there’s no need to look further than history’s famous art.

B2B Marketing Strategies and Tactics for Growing Your Business in 2020

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Folks, we got a request for B2B advice. So, we found out Profitwell came up with 9 strategies tackling the challenges that come with marketing to other businesses.

There are commonalities between B2B and B2C. On one hand, you’re always trying to get buy-in from a human. It’s how you market that differs.

For example, a baker at a street fair could say “Take a bite of my fresh, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. So good it’ll take you back to grandmas kitchen.” This same baker can go to a corporate office with a pitch like “My fresh, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies can boost morale during meetings without any worry of allergy concerns.”

B2C = consumer satisfaction. B2B = benefits the bottom line. Get the picture? Okay, let’s get to those B2B strategies.

Bring back human interaction by offering live chat. You could engage on-site visitors, answer qs, and identify qualified leads. Live Chat can lead to an 82% on-site conversion rate increase, 13% more revenue from your customers, and 51% faster response times.
Get SEO and content marketing on your radar. We hear “89% of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B buying process.” Get to a point of delivering high-quality content – promote that content, build links, make it shareable, and protect your rankings. It’s a looong game with a big pay off.
Don’t skimp out on social media. B2B is strong with platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Share blog content, case studies, and industry research. Plus, get social on social. Interact with prospects and customers by seeking feedback on products, understanding frustrations, and delighting them in every encounter.
Email marketing has the versatility to be used throughout the buying cycle. You can create hyper-relevant email drips, product emails, purchase reminders, recommendations, win-back campaigns, and much more. Plus, did you know for every $1 spent, email generates $38 in ROI.

There’s so much goodness in Profitwell’s article. If you’re in the B2B space do yourself a favor and click through.

The Definitive List of Marketing KPIs Every Team Should Track

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

What KPI’s should I give a dang about? Y’all we’re going to get so good at answering this Q, we’ll be able to describe the taste of it! Okay, not really… Data doesn’t have a taste, ya silly billies.

Databox went ahead and made our lives easier by telling us which KPI’s to track for a variety of instances. Their team polled tons of marketers just to be sure. Well, let’s get into it, folks.

First off, Key Performance Indicators measure the quantified progress towards important business objectives. Got that? Good, moving on…

B2B Marketing KPIs

Business to business marketing is a whole different animal, but it’s not rocket science. Focus on understanding key concepts like Customer Lifetime Value, Customer Acquisition Cost, and Lead Quality.

Jacob Landis-Eigsti says CLV is crucial since “You need to know the lifetime value of a customer, so you can decide how much you’re able to spend to acquire a customer….”

Other B2B KPIs: Organic click-through rate, Conversions by content, Visitor-to-lead conversion by source and 14 more.

Content Marketing KPIs

It’s easy to get caught up in vanity metrics because of how readily available those metrics are. Focus on measurements that allow you to see how your content works the bottom line?

Top Content KPIs: Time on page, Click-through-rate (CTR) of internal links, Scroll depth, Organic rankings, plus 15 others.

Email Marketing KPIs

Email marketing really has 3 main points of success: deliverability, open rates, and conversions. So ask yourself…

Was your email delivered to its intended recipients?
How many people opened it?
Did people take your desired action?

Check out the suggested KPIs for SEO, social media, influencer marketing, brand marketing, and Product marketing.

10 Proven Strategies to Go Viral on Pinterest

FEBRUARY 10, 2020

Pinterest is a hotbed of creative inspiration as well as a place for brands to effectively influence users and sell products.

Like everything in the digital world, if you can develop and maintain a solid strategy, then you can rise in the ranks and reach the goals you set for yourself. Here are 10 tips from Search Engine Journal.

Be Selective Of Your Boards: People on Pinterest are more interested in following content rather than those posting content. Take note of which of your boards are most successful and allocate your energy to promoting those above others. The board with the most pins may not even be the most popular.
Pick the Best Time for Pinning: Buffer says that the best time to pin is around the afternoons and evenings. Aim to pin on weekdays between 2-4 p.m. and 9-11 p.m. EST or research what time your target market is most active.
Take Advantage of Red Letter Days: Be sure to pin content related to upcoming holidays in order to spur action.
Spark Engagement with Contests: Give away something awesome in your contests, but steer away from spammy tactics like asking Pinners to post tons of comments or requiring them to endorse your website or blog. Don’t run contests too often either.
Keep an Eye Out for Popular Boards: This is a great way to get exposure to new followers. Look out for boards that have multiple contributors and lots of followers.
Don’t Be Afraid to Curate: Folks on Pinterest aren’t expecting all original content on your boards. Pick and choose what photos support your brand’s expression while capturing attention.

Go forth and pin your way to inspiring your audience. SEJ has a few more tips left. Plus, if you’re looking for some proof in this Pinterest pudding, then check out Joy Cho’s boards to see these tips playing out.

The Best Content Review and Approval Process to Eliminate Errors

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

In case any of y’all want to check out the 5 ways to Use LinkedIn to Power Your Business.

By your order, we’re learning from CoSchedule how to work through a content review and approval process in the most efficient way possible! This is the workload that happens after a first draft is completed and before you hit publish.

Here’s why your team should implement a formal process:

Fix mistakes before your material goes live
Optimize and improve the content to its fullest potential
Ensure your targeting and strategy stayed on point throughout the creation process

Not to mention, a formal content review allows for consistency across your entire writing team.

Step 1: Define Your Stakeholders. AKA who needs to be involved in your content. Have an open conversation with your team that defines the roles and expectations.

Step 2: Clarify Your Process. Layout your review process from start to finish. Discussing the layout with your team will avoid too many cooks in the kitchen as well as hold accountability.

Step 3: Map Out Your Timeline. When making a timeline, consider things like how long each step of the review takes, and how often your team publishes.

Step 4: Lay Out Brand Guidelines. By this point, ya know who’s doing what. Next, make editorial guidelines to make sure content is consistent no matter who creates it.

Step 5: Compile everything into a repeatable system. All of that set up means nada if it can’t be repeatable.

CoSchedule goes deep into the weeds with this article giving examples and step by step checklist to kickstart your content review and approval process. You know what to do!

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Which one is better for your website?

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

Are you ready to rummmble? In one corner, we have the heavyweight champ, WordPress against its audacious challenger, Squarespace! Who will take the rightful place as the single best-known site creator? It’s all up to you.

Folks, we’re tackling an age-old question today. Which is better: WordPress or Squarespace? Though it may not be as exciting as a caged, wrestling match for a world title, it’s still important you have all the facts before making a decision and taking it to your boss.

Luckily for us, our friends at Flywheel brought us the gritty details to make that decision easier. Let’s dive in.

Ability to launch your site

Squarespace: No hosting/domain name worries. Simply create an account, choose a template and you’re on your way.
WordPress: Yes, you need a domain name, a web host, and to install WP on your site. But you get full creative power.

Ease of Use

Squarespace: The block editor allows you to add content blocks and mix-up your layout, but it lacks in customization. In a few hours, you can have a website launched.
WordPress: There is a learning curve to creating on WP, but the payoff is beautiful. Plus, there’s a WordPress community to fall back on when you need help.

Support

Squarespace: Live chat and email are included in a paid plan with Squarespace. All we gotta say thank the marketing gods. Nothing is worse than needing help and having to jump through hoops to get it.
WordPress: When it comes to support, WordPress offers community forums and meetups. This way you have resources to answer your qs when needed.

Interested in launching a new site or upgrading an old one? This article covers an in-depth analysis of WordPress v. Squarespace from content management and SEO to maintenance and integrations. It’s one solid read!

How to Create Effective Social Media Guidelines for Your Business

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Hootsuite highly recommends y’all lay down the law with effective social media guidelines. We nod in agreement.

Even if your biz isn’t active on social platforms, your people are. Guidelines can encourage employees to follow official accounts, boost your brand’s reputation, and so on. How does one create guidelines? We’re glad you asked.

Let’s get started👇

Reach out to employees to see if there on common concerns you can address.
Share links to your company’s official social channels. And include brand-specific hashtags.
The FTC requires a user to identify themselves as an employee when they discuss company-related matters on social media.
Be overly clear on what information should and should not be shared on social platforms like private information about coworkers, financial disclosures, R&D news, upcoming products, or any other sensitive information.
Hootsuite suggests, “If you collect information about your customers, it’s paramount that you and your employees protect those details.“
Trolls don’t just live under bridges. Prepare your crew with the resources and protocol needed to handle harassment. More importantly, let your crew be the change, and encourage your crew to spread positivity.
Practice inclusivity on and off social media by using pronouns (they/them/theirs/folks), or by not making assumptions about gender, race, experience or ability. If you care, your employees will care.

Hootsuite runs through more do’s and don’ts, but we wanna get to a few examples:

Nordstrom asks their employees to ensure their posts “do not create a real or perceived conflict of interest.”
Best Buy’s guidelines come with the subtitle: “Be smart. Be respectful. Be human.”
Intel offers 3 rules of engagement: disclose your relationship to Intel, protect the brand, and use common sense.