Be in the Know
- Movies Anywhere to launch a movie-sharing feature called ‘Screen Pass’
- GiveVision partners with Sony to develop and manufacture wearables for people with visual impairments
- Soothing live animal webcams to watch while you’re stuck at home
- Tech giants are getting creative to manage the COVID-19 crisis
How to Write a Killer Blog Post in 7 Steps
Blogging isn’t diminishing in popularity. In fact, websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links. Wowza!
And for good reasons too. For one, blogging gives you the chance to rank higher in Google Search Engine results, which boosts your credibility. Luckily for you, DirectLync has a few steps to up your blogging endeavors.
- Research is the most critical part of your blog. Be able to answer the questions your audience is asking. A good start is to check out Reddit and search for your industry to see what pertinent discussions people are having.
- Determine your keywords. Use Google’s Keyword Planner to search words/phrases related to your products or offerings. This will give you an idea of what people are searching for.
- Create an outline. It can be intimidating at first to write an entire blog. Break it down to organize your general ideas and sections. Use headline tags for format planning (H1 – Page Title, Large; H2 – new sections within the article, medium; H3 – sub-points, small).
- Fill in the gaps! You have your outline, now convey your points in full sentences. Use research to back your points and build credibility. Pew Research is a great source for this. Lastly, the optimal length of your blog post will generally fall in the 2,250 to 2,500-word range.
- Include add-ins like images, CTA’s, and comment sections to break up the content. Make it visually appealing while creating interactive elements by means of sharing and discussion!
- Touch up that content. Use Grammarly to eliminate errors and improve your writing. Be sure you’ve hit all critical points and add backlinks to ensure that Google recognizes your reliability.
Last, but equally important is promotion. Head over to Directlync to see how they suggest moving forward once your content piece is totally finished.
Email Marketing with DirectLync
It takes diligence and creativity to stay on top of your email strategy, especially since inboxes are crowded with emails. That’s why a flexible, easy-to-use editor that allows you to customize the email experience for your readers is worth its weight in gold.
Cue DirectLync’s Email tool.
Where most email editors lack flexibility and customization, (unless you’re proficient in HTML) DirectLync’s drag and drop email editor gives you the flexibility you need to create the perfect email without knowing any code.
But here’s the kicker – you can personalize your readers’ experience with the ability to hide content blocks on desktop or mobile. And to top it all off, you’ll have access to over 500,000 free stock photos to create graphically engaging emails.
Check it out and see what others have to say about DirectLync!
The New Normal
Today we examine the burning question: Is my brand relevant right now?
Short answer: probably not.
This isn’t business as usual, and your product or service is very likely the LAST THING people want to hear about in this moment. If your client (or boss) is pushing you to keep advertising full speed ahead – or worse, offer some sort of horrible coronavirus special – the sane answer is “hell to the no.”
Unless.
Unless there’s a way you can HELP. Some brands are doing a great job of pivoting and offering ways to help make a crappy time of isolation a little bit easier. For example:
- UHaul is offering 30 days of free self-storage for college students forced to leave campus.
- Restaurants like Bob Evans are offering free delivery for comfort food when it’s needed most.
- Stores like Dollar General are offering “senior hours” for susceptible older shoppers to avoid the crowds.
Think about ways your brand can provide true value in a time when many people are isolated and anxious. If you can be a helper – put it out there! If not, best to hold off on advertising until things calm down.
Read the full “Coronavirus Implications for Marketing” by Mark Shaefer
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Live Life One Step Ahead
We can all look up to Big Ben. Standing strong and tall and always a cheerful attitude. No, we’re not talking about the clocktower that stands watch over London. We’re talking about the friendly Kiwi in today’s ad.
ASB Bank shows us that they’re here to help us fulfill our ambitions. Take Big Ben for example. There’s just no limit to what he can do, but he stands by his ultimate dream and makes it a reality.
“Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Albert Einstein
