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Inbound Marketing Case Study: Construction Marketing Association image

A great example of the power of Inbound Marketing to achieve measurable results is the launch of the Construction Marketing Association (CMA). Established in January of 2010, CMA employed a comprehensive Inbound Marketing program to build awareness, drive memberships, and launch such initiatives as the STAR Awards, professional certification, and a career center Like all successful Inbound Marketing, a search-optimized website was foundational, coupled with extensive and relevant content. An award-winning blog and integrated social media profiles distribute content and communications. Frequent webcasts and white papers reinforce thought leadership. The CMA inbound marketing campaign was recognized for the following awards: Communicator 2011 Silver CMA Social Communicator 2011 Silver CMA Blog Hermes 2011 CMA Blog Below is a snapshot of the website, blog, Facebook, Google Plus ...

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Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing – Infographic image

Inbound Marketing is hugely popular thanks to the tireless efforts of marketing automation software publishers including Hubspot, Marketo, Eloqua and Pardot, each with a different spin on what constitutes effective Inbound Marketing. Still, each of these sources is selling software, so there is clear bias for Inbound Marketing, and bias against many Traditional or Outbound Marketing techniques. In some cases, this bias is so exaggerated, that it borders on conspiracy! Now that we have your attention, consider a recent study by Hubspot (The State of Inbound Marketing in 2012) that compares Inbound to Traditional or Outbound marketing, identifying lower costs and greater effectiveness of Inbound. The conspiracy? Hubspot defines Outbound marketing as trade shows, direct mail and telemarketing. Ok, what about ...

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YouTube Video as a Top Marketing Strategy image

Some pundits project that video will soon dominate all content on the internet. While this seems unlikely, video is the fastest growing marketing vehicle, doubling in volume from just 2010 to 2012, and triple digit growth expected thru 2015! (Source: Cisco) This growth and popularity is propelling videos importance in the marketing mix. Not surprisingly, YouTube dominates video usage with 43% of all views. (Source: comScore). Why consider video? According to Forrester Research, “any given video in the index stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of results than any given text page in the index.” Need more convincing? Google purchased YouTube. It is no coincidence that videos often rank highest in search engine results. Consumers are increasingly ...

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Accounting and CPA Firm Marketing Best Practices image

Marketing is becoming more important than ever to Accounting and CPA firms of all sizes. Why? First, competition is increasing from local, regional, national and non-traditional accounting service providers. Second, marketing has changed radically in the last few years, and accounting firms, conservative by nature, have been slow to change. Third, like other professional service firms, CPAs do not invest enough in marketing, or implement as many marketing initiatives as other industries. So why should CPAs reconsider their marketing?  Because the modern and digitally-focused marketing mix is proving to deliver dramatic and yes, measurable marketing results, regardless of company size and financial resources. This blog will show you how with the Top 10 Marketing Best Practices for Accounting and CPA Firms, along ...

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Video Shows Marketing Services Available for B2B Brands image

A video from the Modern Marketing Partners shows various marketing services available to B2B companies. MMP created the video to bring their services to life while showcasing various B2B (business-to-business) examples of marketing case studies they have completed. Neil Brown, MMP's CEO explained, "The marketing world is changing as we know it. B2B companies are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the changes in marketing and we want them to know that we have the tools and services available to help them generate valuable leads while building their brand awareness." Modern Marketing Partners is looking to expand their offerings to B2B companies and wants to make it known that their agency model is flexible and fits to their needs. "We ...

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Facebook Business Pages Best Practices image

Basic Best Practices for Building Out Your Facebook Business Page Let's put it this way, if your company isn't on Facebook, it's harder for your products and services to be found. Face it - as much as you may want to resist Facebook as a social media channel, you will find that no matter what, some of your customers use it as their primary resource in learning about new companies, checking out their products, the company's personality and more. Below we will cover absolute musts for building out your company business page for Facebook. These best practices will put you in a position to build your company's brand awareness and generate new customer leads. Page Setup: Important Points on Facebook Business Page ...

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Using Twitter as an Effective Marketing Tool image

Over the past few years, the popularity of Twitter has soared. In fact, back in February, Twitter announced that it was just a few thousand people away from reaching the 500,000,000-user mark, meaning a whopping half-billion people are using the unique social media tool. With numbers this high, it’s no wonder so many people taut the use of Twitter in the marketing sphere; look at how many people you could potentially reach! Keep in mind, though, all those users can also make it harder to get noticed. To truly make waves in the Twittersphere, you need to have an effective strategy in place. Try these tips on for size: Provide quality The content you post on your Twitter feed should always, always, ...

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Branding Basics: Why Branding is Your Biggest Marketing Decision image

Branding is typically thought of as developing a name or a logo for a company or product (service). However, branding is much broader and includes brand strategy, brand identity, brand management and the brand experience. Here we will cover quick basics of branding so that you can understand all the elements of brand creation. We'll also explain the importance of branding as it relates to customer brand perception. 1. Brand strategy relates to customer and market insight, positioning, product definition, brand hierarchy, and platform; brand strategy serves as the foundation to brand identity, management and experience. 2. Brand identity is all visual (and verbal) elements including name (trademarks), logo, messaging, graphic themes (including color), taglines and messages, and standards or guidelines. 3. Brand management ...

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Bad SEO: Blackhat Techniques Are a NO NO! image

Search engine optimization or SEO that employs so-called Blackhat SEO techniques is a NO-NO! These aggresive and unethical techniques are used in an effort to improve rankings of a particular website. On blackhat SEO techniques Google says, “In the pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, a few sites use techniques that don’t benefit users, where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked.” How does Google deliver search results? Google crawls, indexes, and serves your website in search results. Google describes crawling as “the process by which Googlebot discovers new and updated pages to be added to the Google index”.  Then, “Googlebot processes each of the pages it ...

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LinkedIn as a Marketing Weapon: Profiles and Company Pages image

LinkedIn can be a powerful marketing weapon to maximize brand exposure, and generate sales leads. Building out your LinkedIn profiles and company pages should be your first steps. Here we'll cover tips, tricks and examples for improving your LinkedIn profile and LinkedIn company page. In today's digital age, people define LinkedIn as a digital resume. This definition fails to communicate the power of LinkedIn for reaching diverse audiences, and building brand awareness, and driving sales leads.   Improving LinkedIn profiles of key subject matter experts, spokespersons and customer-facing staff, as well as enhancing the your LinkedIn company pages are key to success! This 2-part series blog post will provide you with tools for using LinkedIn as a marketing weapon. Below you'll find 7 ...

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IT Reseller Marketing: Case Study image

IT Resellers and value-added resellers (VARs) are more focused on marketing than ever before. Why? Because the modern marketing mix is proving to deliver dramatic and yes, measurable results. This blog is a marketing case study that will show you how a leading IT reseller (VAR) employs digital and inbound marketing to build awareness and drive sales. A related blog in this series is a marketing case study for a top accounting/CPA firm's technology consulting division that Modern Marketing Partners implements thought-leadership content marketing via the Internet and social media to drive sales leads. Be sure to check out the post on accounting and CPA firm marketing best practices as a supplement to these case studies. CHALLENGE Brittenford Systems is a leading VAR in ...

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Marketing Agency Selection Tips image

Selecting a great marketing, advertising, creative, Internet or social media agency partner can be tricky for several reasons. First, there are so many agencies in any geographic area, coupled with different specialities and sizes. Second, it can be difficult to assess non-quantifiable skills like  creativity, or assess new and unfamiliar requirements like search engine optimization.  Third, it is easy to be subjective and hire the agency with a slick presentation.  Or hire the hot shots that pitch, only to get assigned inexperienced youngsters that drive your marketing into the ground. Now consider the fact that making the wrong marketing agency selection can be expensive, embarrassing, or even jeopardize your career!  Also, please do consider that a majority of  marketing managers ...

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6 Email Essentials for Successful Campaigns image

As referenced in our last blog, Email Marketing Basics, email marketing is still growing in use, and can be effective in reaching otherwise elusive prospects, and extremely measurable. But like all marketing tactics, there are email best practice techniques to realize the best return on your marketing investment (MROI). To support your success with email, the Modern Marketing University shares 6 Email Essentials for Successful Campaigns including email list development, email design, email software and email service providers, email timing and frequency, email testing and campaign measurement. 1) The Email List The foundation of any email (even direct mail) campaign or program is the list. Obviously, home-grown customer lists have the highest potential for opening, followed by opt-in email lists from a variety of your own ...

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Email Marketing Basics: Statistics and Glossary of Terms image

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! Email is not dead. On the contrary, email marketing is growing! According to a 2011 survey by BtoB magazine, 63% of respondents were likely to increase spending on email in 2011 (second only to websites) with 29% keeping spend constant. Also, The Email Marketing Institute recently released Q1 2012 email results stating, “North America Email Trends and Benchmarks Results showed a 21.4% increase in average volume per client from Q1 2011 to 2012.” This blog will cover some background on email marketing, why you should consider email, and provide a Glossary of Email Terms. Our next blogpost, 6 Essentials for Successful Email Campaigns, shares details on email list development,  email design, email ...

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Marketing Brochure Showcases Modern Marketing image

The Modern Marketing Partners agency services brochure is now available! Take a look at all of the projects we've worked on as well as the services we offer our clients. Not only does the brochure showcase several examples of marketing programs by Modern Marketing Partners, but it also raises questions to you on what you are doing to keep your marketing efforts up-to-date, efficient and well, modern! You can download your copy by clicking here. Then you will be able to view services and work examples that cover the following: Breakthrough branding and naming services Modern integrated marketing communications Website development and search optimization Advertising campaign management Social media marketing Traditional print advertising design and collateral Lead generation Content marketing Marketing for start-ups Integrated product launch Use the comment box below and tell ...

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Accounting and CPA Firm Marketing: Case Study image

Accounting and CPA firms are embracing marketing more than ever before. Why? Because the modern marketing mix is proving to deliver dramatic and yes, measurable results. This blog will show you how a top accounting/CPA firm deploys thought-leadership content marketing via Internet and social media to drive sales leads. Two additional blogs in this series give you more information on accounting/CPA firm marketing including Accounting and CPA Firm Marketing Best Practices,  and a marketing case study for a leading accounting technology value-added reseller (VAR). Click Read More below to view this complete marketing case study. CHALLENGE Armanino McKenna is the largest accounting firm in California, ranked 35 in the United States by Accounting Today. Armanino Consulting is the technology services division, and 8th largest value-added reseller (VAR). After ...

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Marketing Planning Checklist image

Part 3 in our marketing planning series details a marketing planning checklist, a useful tool to identify a broad range of marketing strategies and tactics used in typical marketing plans. Our Marketing Planning Series includes:  1) Marketing Planning Best Practices, 2)  Marketing Budgeting Best Practices, and 3) the following Marketing Planning Checklist. Of course, marketing plans come in a number of “shapes and sizes”, from the annual tactical plan, to project or functional plans, to the detailed strategic marketing plan. A given marketing program may range in complexity, budget and requirements. Different markets and products likely require vastly different marketing strategies and tactics. So a Marketing Planning Checklist should allow for a range of marketing scenarios. This checklist is based on ...

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Marketing Planning Best Practices image

The Importance of Marketing Planning In the midst of this severe market recession, effective marketing planning is more important than ever before. Marketing budgets are being scrutinized more than ever before. Surely, the skill and quality of marketing planning can support both the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing. Likewise, understanding marketing planning best practices can aid marketers at all levels in realizing their potential. This blog will consider the different types of marketing plans, while other blogs in this series will cover related topics including how to establish marketing budgets, and how much some top business-to-business (B2B) brands spend on marketing. In addition, a marketing planning checklist will be provided, along with a link to the results of a survey regarding ...

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New Rules of PR: A Guide to Modern Publicity image

The popularity and use of free publicity, PR, public relations or media relations historically increases when the economy tanks. In the midst of this seemingly extended downturn, PR is certainly gaining priority in the business-to-business marketing mix. At the same time, PR is changing significantly. So how can you refine your PR to realize greater results? This blog will examine how PR has changed, and how your PR program can change to leverage new PR opportunities. Next, we‘ll focus on the specifics of PR distribution options and develop overall new rules of PR. PR Has Changed – Have you changed your PR? So, how has PR changed? Not to overstate, but PR has changed more in the last few years than in ...

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Advertising Testing Tips image

Advertising is one of the most expensive elements in the marketing mix, whether print, broadcast or online. And because of the fickle and subjective nature of advertising, seemingly great ideas can flop, while unexpected approaches surprise even the most experienced marketers. With all financial investment at stake, it makes sense to gain insight into customer reaction. There are a variety of options for advertising testing. The extent of testing depends on the expected advertising budget-both ad production and placement. Clearly a $1.3 million Super Bowl spot requires more elaborate testing than a $20,000 print ad. So what are the advertising testing options? And when should you use one testing type vs. another? Advertising Testing Options Most experts agree on two broad types of advertising testing: ...

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Search Engine Optimization—SEO—Top Priority for Modern Marketers image

Achieving top position for keywords in search engine results pages (SERPs) is becoming one of the highest priorities of marketers. Why? Because studies* show that only the top few search result positions drive click-through, website traffic, registrations, and other great results like sales! Despite this priority, the majority of company or brand websites lack even the most basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. *(Source: Search Engine Watch) Developing your website, or retrofitting an existing website with best practice SEO is critical to achieving improved organic or natural search engine results (vs. paid search results). Search Engine Optimization Techniques SEO is impacted by on-page coding and content, off-page link-building, and social media presence. Some of the techniques and features that support search engine optimization include: Meta ...

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Content Marketing – What’s the Big Hype? image

You’ve heard it over and over, “Content is King.” And in just the last couple of years, you keep hearing a new term—Content Marketing—as the hottest thing in, well, marketing. So, what’s the big deal? To be honest, quite a bit. Content marketing is getting attention because it supports critical goals including sales lead generation, customer retention, and brand awareness. It seems that marketing departments and marketers are transforming into authors and publishers. We define content marketing as the creation and distribution of educational and/or compelling content in multiple formats to attract and/or retain customers. Having excellent content to post on websites, blogs, or social media channels is essential. Not only does content build search authority, but it reinforces thought leadership and brand positioning. Content Marketing ...

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Integrated Marketing Communications: A Modern Take on IMC image

No question, modern marketing is a new twist on Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC! And why not? IMC was invented over 20 years ago, before the Internet! With modern marketing comes a necessary need to redefine IMC into modern integrated marketing communications. MIMC? No, too many acronyms. How about Modern IMC? This blog shares some great history and background on IMC, followed by some insights into how IMC has changed with new marketing emphasis on Internet, search optimization, content and social media. IMC Background The next  two paragraphs that are excerpts from a Master's Thesis – Integrated Marketing Communications, IMC: Theory, Practice and Reality, by Alexandra Mimoun. The idea of Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC was conceived in the United States, at the end of the 1980s, ...

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Web 2.0 Best Practices Case Study: Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center image

Modern Marketing Partners Launches IMEC Website with Web 2.0 Best Practices Web 2.0 is defined as a user-friendly, content and resource-rich website with search engine optimization (SEO) features, social media integration and sharing, mobile access, and conversion forms or registration pages. Web 2.0 CASE STUDY MMP recently launched a state-of-the-art, Web 2.0 website for the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC), a government-sponsored (Department of Commerce) organization that provides manufacturing consulting services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), including ISO quality implementations and factory automation. IMEC's prior site had poor SEO, and a less-than user-friendly content management system (CMS). The new IMEC website has extensive search optimization features, and complete social media integration including a blog, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In addition, live and virtual events have both calendars and registration pages. Resource Centers vary for each ...

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Modern Marketing Top Ten Best Practices image

Ok, so modern marketing is very different than marketing 20 years ago. 10 years ago. Even 5 years ago. The Four P's are celebrating a 50 year anniversary. Without an update? Advertising is no longer the epicenter of marketing. It has been replaced by the Internet for all but the biggest retail and consumer brands, or 99% of all marketing! So what are modern marketing best practices? The modern marketing mix is multi-faceted. Multi-channel. Modern marketing is the integration of traditional marketing with Internet and social media. Strategic marketing drives Outbound and Inbound marketing. Content is king and marketing is more cost efficient and measurable than ever before. Any questions? So if you are a modern, successful marketer, what should you be doing? ...

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