The Daily Carnage

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

Today’s Issue

All About Organic 🥬

How to grow on social.

Issues

View All

7 Critical Steps of Product Marketing

JUNE 26, 2019

We’re talking about a different kind of PM today. Not private messaging or post meridiem, but product marketing.

Product marketing can be a little confusing to define. After all, it’s one of the few job functions that touches product, marketing, and sales.

So, how do we define it?

Cue Hubspot definition:

The process of bringing a product to market. This includes deciding the product’s positioning and messaging, launching the product, and ensuring salespeople and customers understand it. Product marketing aims to drive the demand and usage of the product.

As marketers, we all know that a good product means nothing if it doesn’t reach the right audience.

So, how do you ensure success on your next product launch? Follow these 7 steps.

Product Research: It’s not the most glamorous step, but it is crucial. In this step, product developers and marketers work closely together testing the product in a controlled environment.
Product Story: Here’s where you define your who, what, why, and how. Think about the problem your product solves and how it differs from your competition.
Product-Focused Content: This step is all about content creation. Your content creators will focus on marketing copy, blog posts, case studies, landing pages, and more.
Product Launch Plan: Your product launch plan will list out who is responsible for what. It’s important to be extremely detailed with your launch plan and to consider every last detail.
Product Launch Meeting: It’s go time. When your product is launched, get the team together to discuss how it’s going.
Community Engagement: As your product begins to gain steam, consider capitalizing on what the market is saying about it. Reach out to partners, influencers, press, and existing customers.
Sales and Marketing: Communication is key throughout the entire product launch between your sales and marketing team. ‘This ensures the messaging created for the product is consistent all the way through to the first sales call.’

How to Manage a Remote Team

JUNE 24, 2019

The workplace is changing.

The water cooler is now a Slack channel. The conference room whiteboard is now filled with video chat.

You get the point.

Over 70% of white-collar professionals work remote at least once a week. Despite the upsides of having remote teams, managing them and maintaining the same level of collaboration as you see with a traditional office can be a job in and of itself.

So, here are some helpful tips on how to get the most out of a remote team.

Respect office hours: Remote workers have reported that their number one struggle with being a remote worker is the inability to unplug after work. To keep your team productive and happy, set clear expectations on work hours.
Meet face-to-face: Words often get lost in translation when communicating online. A simple way to avoid this is to communicate through video on a regular basis. Video can help you properly convey tone, build relationships with your team, and help you read their emotions better.
Give them room to breathe: It’s tempting to micro-manage a remote team. Pro tip: don’t. Trust your hiring process and let your team do what they’re paid to do.
Invest in the right tools: Staying organized is key. Don’t skimp on tools that’ll keep your team organized and focused. Example; Trello for project management, Zoom for video calls, and Google Drive for managing files.
Get together: Getting your team to meet in person can go a long way towards making them feel like an actual team. Consider an annual retreat where your team can actually spend time together.

What the hat?

JUNE 24, 2019

If you’ve spent any time in the SEO world, you’ve likely heard the following:

White Hat, Black Hat, Gray Hat, and (yes) A$$ Hat.

We’re gonna give you the highlight reel so you feel more educated if and when the hat conversation arises.

What you need to know:

What are hats? Hats are SEO philosophies. Each hat is tied to how closely SEO professionals adhere to Google’s Webmaster guidelines.
What do the colors mean? The colors are indicators based on the tactics you use to rank.

Now, let’s break down the colors:

White Hat: If you’re following white hat strategies, you’re a rule follower through and through. White hat practitioners adhere 100% to the Google Webmaster guidelines.
Gray Hat: White hat strategies are good and well, but the truth is, if you’re only using white hat, it’ll take you years to rank. Enter gray hat. ‘The minute you do something to attract or acquire links, you are no longer a white hat.’ Gray hat strategies put you right in the middle.
Black Hat: You rebel you! If you’re actively looking for ways around Google’s guidelines, you’re likely wearing a black hat. There’s controversy around black hat strategy, but some SEO pros will tell you it’s a necessary evil.
A$$ Hat: Whatever hat you wear, don’t wear the a$$ hat. A$$hats implore high-risk strategies that can hurt the clients’ site. They typically don’t tell the client about said strategies. Another type of a$$hat is a person and/or company that markets SEO services with ‘zero’ SEO knowledge.

3 Ways to Regain Scheduling Control

JUNE 20, 2019

Fun fact: Studies show that the average professional spends almost five hours per week scheduling meetings. 😱

That’s nearly 20 hours per month.

That’s a lot of time! And we all know that time is money.

So, today we’re recommending a few ways to minimize your time spent scheduling and regain control of your calendar.

The Do-It-Now scheduling method is exactly like it sounds. You schedule everything in real-time, at the very moment of request. Not only will this save you a ton of time, it’ll make things significantly easier for you.

You’re probably thinking, wait a second, there are too many moving parts with scheduling, like multiple calendars, emails, timeframes, etc.

We would’ve agreed with you a few years ago, but, today, thanks to smarter productivity tools, there are new ways to schedule that remove these barriers to real-time scheduling.

Use your phone to schedule: We’re guessing most of you aren’t literally attaching your phone to your hip (sorry Dad), but there’s a good chance it’s always within reach. To reduce time spent scheduling, download a mobile scheduling app. *Hint: check out the tools section below. 👇🏽
Share your free and busy times: A big deterrent to real-time scheduling is the inability to know when someone is available. This problem is what creates those endless rounds of scheduling emails. Stop the guessing game by using a calendar link tool so folks can see when you’re busy or free.
Text it: The average person sends almost 95 texts per day. When it comes to real-time scheduling, the ability to set-up a meeting without leaving your text thread is paramount.

How to Write a Great Email Signature

JUNE 18, 2019

If you’re anything like the average office worker, you’re sending out about 40 emails per day.

Think about this…

40 emails per day equal 40 opportunities to market yourself.

So, how do you market yourself through email?

Your email signature.

More often than not, our signatures are an afterthought.

Here are a few ways to create a better email signature:

Focus on your name, affiliation, and secondary contact information: Your name should always come first. Following your name is your affiliation, which could be your job title, your employer, school, etc. Depending on the context of your signature, consider adding your personal website or phone number.
Don’t go crazy with color: There’s nothing wrong with a pop of color to stand out, but try to keep it simple by sticking to one or two.
Include a call-to-action: Your email signature should always include a CTA. It shouldn’t be salesy or pushy, but it should intrigue people to click through. Update your CTA on the regular.
Track your links: Always be tracking. Head over to Bitly.com and create some custom links to see if folks are clicking through.
Let people book time on your calendar directly from your signature: If you spend a lot of time booking meetings, consider adding a scheduling link.

Alright, you got some work to do. Hubspot offers a free email signature generator if you’re looking for an assist. Check it out here.

The Top Types of Images to Post on Instagram

JUNE 17, 2019

Do you ever find yourself posting just to post?

We work with a lot of clients who tell us, “we heard we should be on Instagram, but we really don’t know what to post on it.”

While there are no hard and fast rules on what you should be posting, the following types of images perform the best.

UGC: Or user-generated content. UGC not only shows social proof, but it’s one of the best types of images to resonate with your audience. Why? Because it’s real and people like real.
Behind the scenes: Similar to the gag reel at the end of the movie, people love behind the scenes content. Don’t overthink your behind the scenes content. Your goal is to remain as authentic as possible.
DIY images: Depending on your product or service, you may need to get creative here, but DIY and educational content always perform well.
Influencer images: Influencer marketing is showing no signs of slowing down. Consider reaching out to a micro-influencer (1k to 100k followers) to start.
Motivational images: Look no further than the Nike IG handle for this one. If you’re sharing motivational images, think about people who have overcome the odds, underdogs, inspiring stories, etc.
Contest images: If you’re looking to drive more engagement and followers, contest images continue to be a solid path. To make a contest more impactful, try to partner up with a few brands.

Your Search Intent Guide

JUNE 16, 2019

It’s that time…

If you’re new here, we talk about SEO stuff every Monday.

You’ve probably heard about search intent a time or two. We’re gonna break it down with a quick and easy guide.

What the heck is search intent?

Think of search intent as the goal of the person using the search engine. Search intent is crucial for a solid SEO strategy.

There are 3 types of search intent:

Informational Searches: Let’s say you want to build your own planter box. You’d likely search for “how to build a planter box.” This type of search is informational. Think of it as the research phase. You likely aren’t converting with an informational search.
Transactional Searches: Ok, now you’re ready to make a purchase. A transactional search would be something like, “best coffee makers under $100.”
Navigational Searches: Let’s say you want Lululemon shorts. You’d likely search for ‘Lululemon shorts.’ This is a navigational search because your user already knows where they’re going.

Google put their own spin on the original search intent distinctions with the following:

Know (informational), Do (transactional), and Go (navigational).

If you wanna nerd out and see how Google defines these 3 types of searches, head over to the quality rater guidelines here.

Now that you know more about search intent, make sure you check out the tool section below to make know, do and go actionable. 👇

Add More Context to Your Content

JUNE 12, 2019

The glory days of 100% reach across social platforms are long gone. 😢

You know this already though.

According to Sprout Social, brands are seeing a median engagement of 0.09% per Facebook post and 1.60% per Instagram post.

Despite the numbers, consumers are still taking to social to interact with their favorite brands.

It’s up to us marketers to keep them engaged and rethink how to make social work. One of the best ways to encourage consumers to go beyond the content is to provide more context.

Here are a few ways to rethink the current context of your content. Say that fast 5 times!

Change up the headline: Rather than copying and pasting your post headline, consider mixing it up. You can do this through quotes, statistics, challenges/solutions, and/or takeaways. Encourage clicks by leading with the most intriguing part of your article.
Better imagery: Grabbing a stock image from Unsplash and calling it a day ain’t gonna cut it anymore. It’s time to reconsider how you’re using images in your posts. Here are a few ways to mix it up:
- Incorporate words: Use quotes and stats directly from the article.
- Add motion: GIFs are a great, simple way to show variations in one update with your product or service (and people love them).
- Tell a story: With carousels and galleries, telling a story with images is easier than ever. Check out what CHANEL did for Mother’s Day here.
Use whitespace: Less is more. To avoid overwhelming your customers with oodles of text, consider using as much space as possible without using more words.

Dive in deeper below.

Write Better Instagram Captions

JUNE 12, 2019

What’s in a caption?

Apparently a lot, according to Instagram.

If you remember back in January, IG dropped some knowledge on how the algorithm works.

Here’s what they said:

“What shows up first in your feed is determined by what posts and accounts you engage with the most, as well as other contributing factors such as the timeliness of posts, how often you use Instagram, how many people you follow, etc. We never hide posts from people you’re following – if you keep scrolling, you will see them all. Again, your feed is personalized to you and evolves over time based on how you use Instagram.”

So, how do you continue to show up higher in the feed?

Strong(er) captions.

Here are a few tips:

Caption length: Instagram gives you 2,200 characters and up to 30 hashtags to use per post. If you can provide 2,200 characters worth of value, do it. A good rule of thumb though is always quality over quantity.
Front load your caption: Users only see the first two lines of text when scrolling. It’s crucial to lead with the hook of your caption in order to get a click to read ‘more.’
Include a call to action or question: What do you want your followers to do? Ask that simple question before each post. Whether it’s a click to the link in your bio, a re-share, or a like, your goal is to encourage engagement on every post.
Draft your posts elsewhere: Consider opening up ‘Notes’ or ‘Google Docs’ to draft your Instagram posts. It will allow for more distraction-free writing.
Don’t be a robot: Write your captions like you’re talking to your friends. Instagram is meant to be conversational, so try to be as natural as possible.