TopRank Digital Marketing News

As social media helps to boost online awareness for an ever-expanding list of companies, it poses the simultaneous challenge of measurement.  In an interview with eMarketer, Carol Kruse, Vice President of Global Interactive at Coca-Cola, stated, “Before you have ROI, you have to really understand how social media is driving your business.”

For B2B marketing programs, marked by traditionally longer lead times, the social media measurement challenge becomes even more pronounced. In essence, how can a company connect the dots between the online awareness generated by social media marketing and eventual sales?

In data cited by Forrester Research, US search marketing spend approached nearly $16 million in 2009. Per the graph below, this number is expected to rise exponentially, nearly doubling in size by 2014:

The reason behind this rapidly increasing budget allocation can be summed up succinctly and powerfully: return on investment. In a survey by eMarketer, 53% of senior level marketing executives across multiple industries point to Search Engine Optimization as the most effective online marketing tactic for generating conversions, while 49% point to paid search.

This week, Microsoft released the B2B social media whitepaper ‘Learn and Earn: A B2B Social Media Whitepaper from Microsoft Advertising.’  In this piece, author Mel Carson recounts the lessons learned and successes achieved from Microsoft’s foray into social media and blogging.

Many of the lessons learned by Microsoft in regards to blogging, such as establishing a strongly defined ROI to measure efforts, are the same guidelines that shape blog marketing best practices in programs offered by TopRank® Online Marketing.  An example of such an integration is the  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program between TopRank and Microsoft Dynamics solutions provider InterDyn BMI, which features an added emphasis on blog marketing.

According to last year’s State of the Blogosphere report by Technorati, approximately 346 million people worldwide read blogs.  According to the same report, more than four in five bloggers post product or brand reviews and blog about brands they love or hate.  In other words – bloggers have influence about brands and they aren’t afraid to use it.

Bloggers are the world’s connectors that help businesses, products or idea reach a tipping point, or level at which momentum becomes unstoppable.  These connectors are the people who “link us up with the world” and have influential social networks.  Clearly this is an important group for spreading ideas online and connecting end users with your business.

Since being founded by Joe Pulizzi in mid-2007, Junta42 has existed as a premier destination helping marketers and publishers better understand content marketing.  Pulizzi himself posts on the subject of content marketing consistently, via his blog, The Content Marketing Revolution.

In a listing of the top 42 content marketing blogs released by Junta42 just last week, Online Marketing Blog was ranked #4 overall.

Online Marketing Blog, by TopRank, has been providing Internet marketing insights, resources and commentary since 2003.  Just a sampling of topics covered by Online Marketing Blog includes:

Many companies launch corporate blogs taking into account only what the blog should do for them, rather than what they should do for their blog.  This can lead to blog posts being published sporadically, without the support of a consistent messaging strategy or editorial calendar.  Ultimately, this makes it extremely difficult for the blog to support overall company objectives.

The following case study features a blog marketing tactic developed by TopRank® Online Marketing for B2B marketing software provider Marketo that helped guide blog messaging, increase blog keyword traffic and improve blog referrals to the company’s website.

SES San Jose - Coming This August!

Each August, the heart of Silicon Valley beats a little faster as it becomes infused with the latest insight from the search marketing industry.  This year is no different as Search Engine Strategies (SES) hosts SES San Jose, the leading education and networking event for in-house and agency Internet marketers on August 10th-14th.

This year, SES San Jose will feature social media marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) insight from TopRank® Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden.  Odden, recently named to the SES Advisory board, will appear on two panel sessions and head up one pre-conference training workshop.

PR News Online Webinar
Boosting Your Bottom Line with Online News & Other Cost-Effective PR Tactics
June 10, 2009 Your Desk or Conference Room

What small business owners lack in marketing budgets, they have to make up for in marketing and PR savviness.  Cost effective marketing tactics, including email marketing and press release distribution, can positively impact awareness and revenue without negatively impacting budgets.

People and companies that start blogs often do so for different reasons ranging from promoting products to opening up channels of communication with customers.

Answering the question of “How you start a blog?” must go beyond the mechanical process of signing up at a service like Wordpress, Blogger.com or Typepad.com.  While each of these services provides step by step instructions, they don’t have any way of providing a blueprint for success in each specific situation. 

IML Audience Response Systems

IML, a market leader in interactive audience response systems, offers the only wireless voting keypad to include a built-in microphone and live text messaging functionality.  Such innovative audience response systems are used in a variety of settings, from conferences and events to fundraising and silent auctions and are sought by meeting planners, coordinators, and corporate marketers across the U.S.

In their search to expand market awareness, web site traffic and sales, IML has engaged Minnesota based SEO firm, TopRank® Online Marketing, to develop and implement an internet marketing program focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), blog marketing, and digital public relations (PR) services.