Memorial Day 2014
In honor of Memorial Day, the protocol 80, Inc. offices will be closed on May 26, 2014. Enjoy the weekend with your friends and family and remember to honor our fallen veterans.
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May 23
May 23
Using Content Marketing For A Powdered Metal Company
We all want to generate more leads, prospects and sales, right? Whether you are a manufacturer, rural tourism promoter, service provider or non-profit, you are all looking for more leads, prospects and sales. Your sale may be a donation or an actual exchange of money for goods/services. The bottom line is, you want to generate more leads and prospects that convert to sales.
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May 23
Do You Want To Know More About the Visitors to Your Website?
We cannot stress enough the importance of data to any marketing initiative. The more data you have the more you understand where your efforts succeeded and failed and you have amazing data to build your future strategies on what you know instead of just shooting from the hip. We're going to assume that you already have Google Analytics installed on your website, which is good, but now you have the power to know more. It's now time for anyone with a website to get started with Google Universal Analytics and Google Tag Manager.
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May 20
Your Old Friend Email Still Has a Few Tricks Left!
A common rumor in marketing and on the Internet is that email is on the way out and will surely be replaced by social media. This is not surprising considering the fact that at the beginning of 2014, 72% of all internet users were on social media. Most Internet users know just how easily and quickly information spreads over social media. In fact, sharing content can be done with the click of a button on various social media sites and that content has the potential to reach millions of people at astonishingly low costs.
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May 16
Event Reminder: Google Partners Event at Our Office
As a reminder, the Google Partners Connect event that we are hosting at our office will take place on May 21st from 2pm-3pm EST. There is still time to RSVP. This event is a great opportunity to learn how to grow your business. The topics are focused on helping small businesses find success online. This event will be free and refreshments will be provided. Afterwards there will be time for an open discussion and questions if you would like to learn more. Want to see more details about the event? You can find additional details here.
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May 14
A MUST READ About Digital Marketing Strategy
This morning I came across a lengthy article that I would categorize as a MUST READ for any small business or organization with a website and a desire to have your web presence produce results for you. The article, which is a borderline manifesto entitle, 'One Trick Ponies Get Shot And other stories: Digital marketing strategy done right', speaks at length about what a true digital marketing strategy is, and is not. It speaks to many marketing fundamentals that a lot of small businesses just don't know. I would go so far as to say many medium sized businesses don't know these fundamentals. At least that has been our experience. 8 Properties of a GOOD Marketing Strategy http://www.portent.com/onetrick/#chapter2 This section hits on what so many businesses miss with their website redesign or implementation of the various web marketing tactics, overarching business objectives. The Marketing Stack: Organizing Your Strategy http://www.portent.com/onetrick/#chapter3 This section does a ...
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May 13
Complete Online Marketing Strategy Infographic
These days just having a website is not usually enough. If that's how you see your online presence, my guess is you probably aren't generating and leads or sales from your website...it probably just sits there. A complete online marketing strategy will allow you to reach more individuals, when they are looking, where they are looking, on any device, convert them to a sale or lead, and track them every step of the way. Sounds good, right? Of course it does. But you still may not be convinced. Need more convincing? Check out our infographic below with some stats that just might start changing your mind. Please feel free to share using the embed code below the image. Just in case you aren't a visual person, here are a few key stats!
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May 07
Get Content Marketing Ideas Using Feedly
If you're looking for an inexpensive way to market your business that really connects with your ideal buyers, content marketing is your answer. Need a refresher on content marketing? We have a whole category on this blog about it here, including a 'What Is Content Marketing?' post.
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May 06
Your First Blog Post
Most people know how essential blogging has become to running a business and increasing revenue; however, many small businesses have trouble implementing this marketing tactic. Blogging requires quite a bit of time and effort, and let’s face it, most small business owners work around the clock, leaving little time to worry about starting a blog. But for those people how are ready to give blogging a short, here are some helpful tips to make your life a little easier. Introduce Yourself! This step is easy to overlook but you need to introduce yourself. If you want people to read your blog, they should know who is writing the blog so include a brief autobiography and the history of your business. Try to answer the following questions: What does your business offer? When was your business established? Where are you located? What sets you apart from your competitors? Readers need to feel a strong connection to any author if they are going to continue reading whatever content is being ...
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May 02
6 Steps For Handling Content Marketing Leads
With all this talk of content marketing and landing pages, an obvious question might be, "What do I do when someone opts-in or downloads a piece of content from my site?". Great questions! It's a question that will likely be a bit different from one company to another, but here's a basic list of tasks: 1 - DO NOT CALL THEM UP AND TRY TO SELL THEM Did you hear me scream that? I hope. I don't want the engaged website visitor getting a restraining order against you. You're welcome. Aggressive sales people may think that simply visiting your website makes a person a qualified lead that the sales team should pursue. They aren't. If someone downloads a resource from your website, it simply shows that the web visitor has now engaged with your content. They may open it, and decide that it wasn't what they thought it was. They may love it. Hopefully the latter is true and they tell everyone they know that would benefit from the content to go get it (via email, social media, etc...). The main ...
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How to Audit your Online Marketing
If you are executing digital marketing, congratulations! You are most likely already one step ahead of your competition, and making strides to meaningfully connect with prospects online. But, how do you know if you’re seeing continual success year over year, and improving your metrics?
Without the tools in place to analyze and benchmark your efforts, it is impossible to scale your online marketing and ensure continuous success.
