Week 6: Enticing Clicks with Calls-to-Action (MKTG 348)

Hey guys!

So for week 6, we are learning all about calls-to-action. You may be wondering what is a call-to-action (CTA). Well it is button that promotes an offer and links to a landing page. It pretty much kicks off the conversion process. So below is a photo on Hubspot Academy which goes through the process. As you can see the first image is your call to action which in this case is a member engagement free e-book with a link below stating read now and the next image is your landing page and it has information about the product and by entering some information you will be able to get your very own. The last page is the thank you page. The main idea was that you had a button to click with an offer that interest you and links to that landing page.

If you were interested in making your own CTA's then, a good idea is to make it action-oriented. You are trying to make this very simple for your customers by telling them exactly what you want them to do. In the image above see how easy their call to action was. It said to read now or another exaple is when you see one that says download the free guide now. It was simple and didn't confuse your customers. So  download is your action oriented verb. Next, you are going to want them to include keywords consistent with the offer and landing page. This process helps customers understand what they are going to get. You need to make your call-to-actions stand out. Why not make it interesting and you want your customer to click on it. You also want to use strong and appropriate page placement. You want to have it uniform with the content on the page. Don't make it look like it doesn't fit in with the webpage you want to make it look like it belongs there. Lastly, you want to test changes and analyze their results. So instead of having your CTA one color change it and see if it makes a difference and gets you more clicks.

There are so many ways to make effective CTA's you just need to be able to have it stand out and know there is always room for change. You need to be able to accept that in order to be successful you need to be able to change when needed to. So guys I felt this one had a lot of information to grasp however it was very interesting. See you guys in week 7!

Week 5: Amplify Your Content With Social Media (MKTG 348)

Hey guys!

Social Media has had such a great impact on society today. We use social media everyday and some of us are on it for hours. Also, social media has a lot of influence on today's  lives including businesses, statistics show 80% of marketers and 60% of sales professionals found qualified leads on social media sites.The question that business owners ask is whether they should use social media in their business or just pass.  Hubspot states, "66% Of marketers saw an increase in leads from social media after spending just six hours per week on their social channels."

In order to have social media benefit you and your business you need to figure out how you can use social media effectively. It's just like a research paper and what is the first thing you need to do before you start writing you ask? Conduct research! Then you are able to write and gather feedback.In the research stage we have social monitoring.  It should be used during the research stage of developing a social media strategy. This stages also helps develop your buyer personas. Hubspot states the next stage is, "Social Publishing which is the writing stage. This is where you post content across your social media platforms.

If you decide to use social media for your business you must optimize your social media profile. Make your company logo the profile picture. You want your customer to know who they are looking at. Also you want a clear and concise company description. Also provide the link to your company's site to your  customer. You want to put all the information all out there for them. A good idea to execute is to be sure to use 140 characters or less and include a link and an image on twitter. It will grab your audience especially if have relevant content. As far as Facebook you want to be sure to use less than 250 characters and showcase your brand’s personality. The best thing you can do in order to be successful is to publish your content on a regular basis.

Week 4: The Fundamentals of Blogging (MKTG 348)

Hey guys!

So on Hubspot we are discussing the craft of blogging. Blogging is a place to regularly publish and promote new content related to your business and industry through a blog. One way to make your blog stand out is picking a topic and title related to educational content, and answer questions that people want the answers to. When trying to pick a topic you should create a list of brainstorm ideas. The best way to have people acknowledge your blog is to use words that your personas would use when searching for your page. A good idea is to include a long tail keyword in the title and also shorten the title keyword to 60 characters in the search results.

One thing I read about is to use white space so your audience is able to focus on the content your trying to share and focus less on the background. Another thing to remember is to keep your site clean and organized. Use bullet points and headers to break up some of the information. One thing I always know is if I go on to a website to gather information and it's cluttered or lacking format it scares me away so keep your site to the point and organized. Also the one thing about blogging I have learned is if you are able to convey your message and have content that the industry is currently looking for then you will get more followers.

Week 3: Content (MKTG 348)

Hey guys!

So the next video we went through on Hubspot was all about content. The first thing you must ask yourself  is what is content? When we refer to content we are trying to deliver a message to our visitors, leads, commuters, customers, and promoters. You are able to deliver the message by blog, email, landing pages, and social media. Without content you have nothing to deliver. Without content the internet would  be empty.

Since, everybody wants to have the best content out there the best type of content is "remarkable content". Remarkable content is what makes people want to read, share, and come back for more main factor physical space. Also your content must have a purpose. What will be the purpose of your website? You need to determine the purpose  then you will be able to determine the format. When choosing a format there are case studies, reports, websites, and etc. You need to focus on your buyer personas and where they are on the buyer journey. Your buyer persona is going to be your idea customer and the buyer journey has 3 steps, awareness, consideration and decision. The better you know your ideal customer then you will be able to make your own buyer persona and figure out where they are on the buyer journey.