The Daily Carnage

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

Today’s Issue

Flip-Flops 🩴

Why people switch brands.

Issues

View All

The 6 Best FREE Keyword Research Tools in 2022

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

If it’s free, it’s for we.

We love sharing the best freebies around for your SEO and keyword researchin’ needs. Let’s break down the top contenders of 2022:

Moz Keyword Explorer: This is one of the go-tos for general SEO support and keyword research. While Moz only shows a few metrics for keywords, that’s kinda a good thing. Moz uses a “Priority Score” to simplify keyword research by giving you the bottom line on whether a keyword is worth chasing.
Google Keyword Planner: It’s no surprise that one of the biggest platforms for paid ads are going to have a tool that is ideal for for researching paid keywords. Even if you don’t buy Google Ads, the Google Keyword Planner is a MUST for in-depth research on search volume, forecasting, and new keyword discovery.
Semrush: If you need some advanced SEO support, Semrush has a slew of tools to help. If you need initial, low-volume research, that’s free and easy. The more granular you get, the more likely you will have to pay for these tools (watch out for those keyword rabbit holes if you do).
QuestionDB: Just as the name suggests, this is perfect for finding question-based keywords. This thing sources from forums, social platforms, and search engines to find the how’s, why’s, and what’s that people are asking. Then it’s up to you to answer those big questions.
Jaaxy: This lean tool is great for affiliate marketers, especially those just getting started. They have valuable access to a keyword’s Alexa/voice rankings and affiliate programs.
Keyword Surfer: Get keyword insights as you Google around with this easy browser extension. This includes data like search volume and SERPs. Plus they have a Free AI Article Outline Generator to help your SEO hierarchy.

Check out the full post by Zapier for all the pros, cons, and premiums.

I Got 99 Problems … And They’re All Related to Keywords

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

SEO isn’t just about keywords, listicles, or interrogative statements these days. (Think: How do I teach my dog to sit?) It’s all about the content, baby. It’s great that the algorithm is picking up on actually useful content, but it can be a little overwhelming to know where to start with your own content.

Search Engine Journal essentially breaks it down to topic modeling and topic clusters.

Don’t worry if that doesn’t immediately click, think of it this way:

Topic modeling

Topic modeling works like this: rather than just hitting on specific terms, you’re providing more context which lets Google know more precisely what and what isn’t covered in your page or article.

Topic cluster

A topic cluster is basically a series of pages with related content that all tie together. You’ll want to start with a main page that flows out to related sub-content.

Google is really looking for pages that show that they’re experts in a field or topic, have credibility and will provide the most useful or interesting content. Read the full post from SEO Journal to maximize your SEO and content.

The 2022 TikTok Holiday Marketing Guide

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

TikTok is great at providing marketers with educational resources for its platform. They recently published a holiday marketing guide. It provides some insights into user engagement trends around the holidays, and tips for planning content.

We wanted to share some of our favorite bit-sized bits of the guide.

Key dates to keep in mind:

Nov 24 Thanksgiving
Nov 24 Black Friday
Nov 26 Small Business Saturday
Nov 28 Cyber Monday
Dec 18 Hanukkah
Dec 24 Christmas Eve
Dec 25 Christmas Day
Dec 26 Kwanzaa
Dev 26-31 End of Year promotions
Dec 31 New Year’s Eve
Jan 1 New Year’s Day
Jan 1-30 New Year’s sales + resolutions

Planning for your campaigns:

A Breakdown of different TikTok formats:

TikTok provides several tools and templates to help marketers out. Here are tips of when to use each tool based on the type of content you want to share:

Smart Video: Generally used for combining videos, photos, or both.
Smart Text: Great when you don’t know what to use for captions.
Smart Video Soundtracks: Get music inspo right from the source.
Quick Optimization: Automatically create “TikTok-style” video formats.
Asset Analysis Report: TikTok’s analytics for all of your creative performance data.

There’s also an overview of TikTok’s various ad options, and how to make best use of each plus key planning tips and approaches. So go ahead and grab this guide for yourself by smashing the button below.

Statistics and Tips for Utilizing User-Generated Content

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

The best thing you can do to market yourself as a brand is to let your customers speak for you. That’s where user-generated content (UGC) comes to play.

Hypetrain recently made a LinkedIn post that lists the latest stats on UGC in marketing. Here are some of the takeaways:

56% of consumers say UGC photos and videos are the content they most want to see from brands.
Engagement increases by 28% when consumers can view a mixture of UGC and branded content.
Ads with UGC generate 5x greater click-through-rates.

These stats support the trust in this type of content, but UGC also has the benefit of being the most up-to-date form of content. So how can you use it for yourself? Hypetrain also provided a list of the top trending UGC types:

Testimonials. Testimonials are one of the most valuable forms of UGC on the planet. Client testimonials can demonstrate to your target audience that you have a thorough understanding of their problems and pain points.
Quizzes. Sharing results of a brand’s available quizzes or questionnaires has been a growing trend for short-term video UGC. This is especially true for D2C brands that have products users can sample.
Commentary. If you content has discussions and comments, they can be turned into sharable content.

Check out the full post on Hypetrain’s LinkedIn.

Your Little Black Book for Black Friday Email Strategies

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

It’s not too late to jump on your holiday campaigns…but like…you better get on that. Here are some little-known strategies to look out for this season and possibly use yourself:

Build Your Black Friday Email List. Keep your email lists growing by incentivizing new signups with additional discounts, free shipping, or a gift, depending on your budget.
Schedule Your Pop-ups. Shoppers have too many options and little patience. If you’re using pop-ups, make sure sure they count by only conveying your most important messages at the right time in a user’s browsing.
Experiment with Timing. There are a million other distractors launching BF campaigns. Act early, act late, or go completely rogue with timing.
Make Your Sale Memorable. We’re not talking about an eye-catching ad or clever subject line. We’re saying to literally make it as easy as possible for customers to remember a sale or event with calendar invites, reminders, SMS opt-in, etc.
Use the Element of Surprise. Don’t leave it all in the subject line. Tease them to receive a discount found in the content.
Offer More Benefits. It’s not all about discounts, people. This is your chance to see how beefy your rewards program is to offer more value. If not, maybe it’s time to get one.
Make Your Subject Line Stand Out. Find ways of sticking out of a sea of “Black Friday Deal” subject lines. AND even if you’re not running a Black Friday sale, you can still capitalize on Black Friday attention.
Redefine Black Friday for Your Brand. How can you make it a holiday that your brand was born to celebrate?
Tease Your Next Campaign. Like we said, it’s not too late to act on these strategies. But maybe you’re better off teasing your next big move.

Check out all the details and a whole lot of visuals from Drips blog post.

8 Steps to Start Strategic Marketing Planning for 2023

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Are you ready for 2023 already? Good for all those who can say “yes” to that. For everyone else, don’t sweat! Here are some starting points:

Review Where You’ve Been. Let’s start from the top and review your old plans before you make new ones. Did you reach previous goals? What tactics did you try this year? What worked? What didn’t work? What resources would help the most?
Set New Goals. Now that you know your older goals, reflect on changes. Set one or two primary goals and a few secondary goals.
Conduct an Audit. Audit the marketing elements and assets you have and see if you need to update or add new items. Do you have all essential digital and print marketing materials (such as brochures, web pages, business cards, signage, etc.)? Do you have profiles and accounts on all relevant marketing channels? Do you have the right system for collecting customer data?
Conduct Market Research. You have to know what others in your industry are doing with their marketing, too. Who are your competitors? What are they doing well? What are they not doing well?
Assign KPIs to Goals. Make your goals crystal clear. Add key performance indicators (KPIs) to all of your goals so you can measure your performance, divide, and conquer.
Set a Budget. Your marketing research should help reveal how much others in your industry are spending. Consider what budget you will need to reach assigned KPIs.
Choose Strategies & Set a Schedule. Choose the type of marketing strategies you believe will help you reach your goals, and begin to lay them out on a calendar. Set dates for campaigns and set up campaigns to try and test.
Develop a Plan to Measure Your Success. You will need to be able to look back and assess your efforts. Set dates and deadlines to check in and review your work. Share report data with key stakeholders as you go.

Check out the full My Area Network blog post to get more details for each step.

19 A/B Tests You Should Run on Your Website

OCTOBER 30, 2022

Sometimes it’s not the most obvious A/B tests that drive the most growth. But you won’t know until you start testing things out. So what should you test? Here are some ideas to help you out:

Typography

Serif vs. sans serif
Colors
Font size
Type faces

Calls to Action

Position
Color
Text

Pricing Schemes

Freemium vs. free trial vs. money back guarantees
Free trial length
Pricing each plan

Landing Page Copy

Short-form copy vs. long-form copy
Video vs. text sales pages
Actual text

A/B Tests for Your Website

Number of columns
Background images and patterns
Navigation links
Link colors
Contact form fields

Check out all the deets for all 19 tests in Neil Patel’s post!

How to Fix the 14 Most Common Content Strategy Mistakes

OCTOBER 26, 2022

If your content isn’t moving you toward your goal, your content strategy isn’t working. But what can ya do? Well, Go Visually put together a list of counter-strategies to some of the most common mistakes marketers make. Let’s get into it by listing our top favorites from the list:

1) Not Documenting Your Strategy: Often times, teams are operating content creation without a true process. The fix: Physically map out a content strategy with assign tasks, goals, and approvals.

2) Working without audience analysis: If you’re don’t know who you’re trying to reach, or assuming (gasp) that you know your audience, your content probably won’t connect. The fix: Talk to your potential customers, ask questions about what they care about, and get inside their minds to understand your ideal audience.

3) Lacking Consistent Content: Be sure your content isn’t created and published inconsistently. One-off pieces are cool from time to time, but a cohesive content plan is better. The fix: Break your strategy down into “content campaigns” that also ensure you’re tailoring content for each audience.

4) No Goals? No Way: Posting to post doesn’t help anyone out. To be truly effective, every piece of content should be mapped to a goal. The fix: Simply ask yourself: “why?” and “what?”

5) Swerving Market Trends: Marketers can struggle to stay up to date not just with popular market trends, but the latest competitors’ movements as well. The fix: Sometimes a coincidental event can turn into an opportunity for you to expand your content. When you have your core strategy in place, being flexible to tackle new trends becomes a lot more manageable.

Check out the other 9 common mistakes and a whole bunch of content ideas on Go Visually’s blog!

7 Marketing Tips to Effectively Explain a Complex Service

OCTOBER 25, 2022

How to make a stand-out brand:

Step 1: Have a unique service, product, or process.

Step 2: Let ’em know why you’re different.

But Step 2 can give marketers trouble if a service is highly complex or technical. So how can you reach people on all terms?

Start with the audience’s goals. You’ll know your messaging is working if your buyers can instantly find out the answers to these questions:
- Who is this product for?
- What does this product do?
- Why should customers want to use it?
- Why do customers need it now?
- How is this product different from what else is out there?
Try to simplify your buyer’s journey into 3-4 steps. Making it simple for people to understand how they can become a client is one of the best ways to gain more business.
Get inside the mind of your audience. To reach your audience, you have to think like your audience. Always ask questions potential customers might be asking while learning about your services.
Get direct feedback. If you’re not sure what people think about your product or service, ask them! Potential and current customer surveys are direct ways to see how your users are using your services (or if they are aware of other services you offer).
Leverage storytelling when you can. People respond the most to stories. Integrate storytelling into your marketing efforts through case studies, explainer videos, or personal testimonials.
The numbers never lie. Analyze the numbers across all tactics to discover what is working, what isn’t, and where there are untapped opportunities for making your messaging more effective.
Determine what channels to use. Effectively explaining a complex product or service means meeting customers in the format that they prefer.