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The most important objective for modern businesses
Recently I had an issue with my mobile phone. To sort it out involved calls to customer services and a couple of visits to store. Which is when things got all a bit much for […]
Why Mark Ritson has a point about content marketing being bollocks
Mark Ritson is a man whose views I value greatly but his recent missive ‘Why content marketing is a load of bollocks’ initially felt like a headline grabbing article without enough depth. But on further consideration it […]
Confused by whether its Content strategy or Content marketing strategy?
I’ve been asked to do a pre-print review of a content marketing book authored by a leading light in the content marketing world. The key thing that stood out for me was the lack of […]
Rocket out of (possible) recession
The UK economy may well be heading for some tough times. How businesses react to tough economic times is what often makes or breaks them.
But what is the ideal strategy for flourishing when others are […]
Customers don’t care about you
The world is awash with messages such as:
“We’ve launched this revolutionary new product…”
“Our team is great and looking forward to helping you…”
“Our customer service is the best in the business…”
“We are great look at us…”
Blah, […]
Emotions are key to successful Customer Journey Mapping
“Seventy-three percent of top marketing teams say that a customer journey strategy has positively impacted overall customer engagement” According to the Salesforce ‘State of marketing 2016’
A customer’s journey always starts with a need or want. […]
5 things Linkedin Sales Navigator hasn’t got right yet
If you are serious about using Linkedin to drive leads then you’ll probably already be paying for a premium subscription or using ‘Linkedin Sales Navigator’. Many key features are now housed within Sales Navigator and […]
Five tips on feeding the content marketing beast
Content marketing is a very hungry beast. To drive effective inbound marketing you need to feed that beast frequently. For most businesses creating enough quality, original content can be hard. It takes resource and time to […]
Two things that will deliver content marketing success
Businesses are producing vast amounts of content nowadays and much of it isn’t really effective. As the Content Marketing Institute found out only 30% of B2B marketers and 38% of B2C marketers rate their efforts […]
5 Pro Tips For Increasing Your Business Popularity Through Instagram
For businesses, Instagram has not only catapulted the awareness of their brand but even acted as one of the most powerful sales driver. This picture sharing app has become one of the most favorite social […]
Why we need Chief Value Officers, Not Chief Marketing Officers
Words have power and ‘marketing’ is a very weak word. It’s vague and fluffy and this results in vague and fluffy activities being performed in its name. Plus, everyone seems to have a different view […]
Do you need marketing automation?
Here’s some facts to get you warmed up
Best-in-Class marketers are 67% more likely to use a marketing automation platform, with 87% of top-performing firms using this technology. These companies as a whole see 14% overall growth in […]
Marketing Automation – Making the Shift
Is this a new term to you / your business? Do you know where to begin in implementing this type of software in to your marketing mix? Read on for Cutivate Marketing’s insights on how […]
The Most Important Element of Content Marketing, a Positive Value Exchange
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as follows…
“Content marketing is the strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the […]
Video Marketing Masterclass: Stereoscopic 3D video
If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then video is worth at least 24 pictures each second, based on the standard frame rate for moving images. Any video marketer worth their salt knows how to […]
Why businesses are in an information ‘Arms Race’
While recently writing my talk for the Business Outlook Conference which is entitled ‘Future Proof Your Marketing’ I realised that the growth of the internet has led to a simple but profound arms race between […]
Marketers stop focusing on what’s changed, it’s not that important
We keep getting told that things have changed hugely in the past few decades. That the world is a very different place to what it used to be. And they are right. Lots of ‘things’ […]
6 steps to successful content marketing
Before embarking on these steps make sure you get input from all the stake holders and be realistic about what you can achieve with your available resources.
Analysis – understanding your products or services, business structure, […]
Why a lot of content marketing is rubbish
Everyone is into content marketing nowadays and many are getting it wrong. I don’t mean the tactics and technical delivery of it. Especially with automated systems such as Infusionsoft and Eloqua to help out. Where […]
Slimy toads on roads inevitably end squashed – why stories work
Humans remember stories better than they do a list or sequence of words or numbers. My 7 year old son uses a simple mnemonic technique to learn new and difficult words. For example ‘because’ is […]
Customers don’t buy what you sell
Customers buy emotions, not things. It’s not your product or service they really want. It’s the emotional result of the product or service they are after. Customer satisfaction is emotional satisfaction.
So although talking about the […]
5 tips to optimise your Linkedin marketing activity and get more leads
Linkedin is driving the most and best quality traffic to corporate websites. So as a lead generation tool it’s the place to be. We can easily get a 10% response rate to ‘cold’ lead generation […]
Why your social activity should consist of stories – it can give a ROI of 2800%
There is a magnificant piece of research that went on a few years ago which neatly summed up a what marketing can do. It proves why marketing is so important for creating value, and profits, […]
What’s the vital ingredient in social media marketing?
Well the clues in the name – social….Social does not mean… stand there and talk at me for hours on end and tell me how great you are. You may be great and I may […]
5 reasons you should give it away for free
One thing i’ve heard a lot, especially among professional service providers is, “If I give it away for free they won’t need me.” It’s usually when we are discussing what they should be posting in […]
How to stand out in Linkedin updates – for a limited time only
You may have noticed the recent addition of a paper clip to the update box. This will be familiar to those who have company pages but now they have rolled it out to personal status […]
How to get your banner ads onto Linkedin profiles
The new rich media additions to the Linkedin profiles are a great opportunity to create much more compelling profiles than previously. I’ll show you what I mean and how to get a marketing banner onto […]
Strategy tips for Linkedin Company pages – they’re not rubbish anymore
A year ago you would have been right to say to yourself “Why should I put effort into my company page, they’re rubbish”. Especially if you’re not a large company with hundreds or thousands of […]
Worst kept secret about Linkedin
The ability to use Linkedin to search for and find almost every professional business person in the western world is why it’s great for marketing or sales. However, you can’t just see everyone you want […]
3 key points about the new Linkedin profiles
One of the big Linkedin changes of 2012 – amongst a plethora of changes – is the recent profile change. I think Linkedin have done a good job with this and they are rolling it […]
Reaching out to your prospects on Linkedin
If your target audience are affluent ‘white collar’ workers then they are on Linkedin. Or at least 95% of them are. So, if anything, see Linkedin as the best database of your target audience in […]
Linkedin Endorsements – good for building trust?
You will have seen the new endorsements feature on Linkedin. I’m sure you’ve given a few and received a few already. Linkedin is pushing them so a big blue box appears at the top of […]
What do I say in social media?
I recently did a seminar about social media to a group of business owners (small and medium sized businesses who are starting out in social). It made me realise that it’s not really the ins […]
New Linkedin profiles – where have they gone wrong?
Linkedin have been rolling out a few changes over the last couple of months and I’ve got to say I don’t like the recent profile changes. So here’s my opinion on the new profile….Larger photo […]
Pay or not on Linkedin?
I’m often asked if it’s worth upgrading to the paid version of Linkedin. The answer depends on how much you believe Linkedin can bring you new business. So do you believe? I do because it […]
If you still want to tweet into Linkedin – here’s how
Although I think the recent cut off between Twitter and Linkedin is no bad thing there is a way around it. Personally I didn’t like seeing unfiltered twitter streams in Linkedin as they are differing […]
Getting leads from Linkedin
In the last post I talked about the importance of getting your targets to come and have a look at your profile. According to research 3% of those visiting your profile will reach out to […]
What’s a good Linkedin strategy
A good Linkedin strategy depends ultimately on what your objectives are. However, there is one common objective that all strategies should have…
Get your target audience to look at your profile!
It’s been shown that nearly 3% […]
‘Branding’ – When is a clown, not a clown?
There are as many ideas about what a ‘brand’ is as there are marketing consultants. I’d like to put forward my thoughts in a way I hope business owners would find useful. Originally a brand […]
The chainsaw test
I’ve been thinking about the single most important factor that determines if someone actually buys your product or service – and it’s trust. In order to buy, a potential customer needs to;
Trust that the product […]
Linkedin Tips #3 – Lead Generation
By now your profile should look good and be packed with key words and phrases that describe you. Your profile should reflect what you want to show potential customers (or prospective employer). You hopefully have […]
Linked in Tips #2 – building your reputation
In the last tips there were ideas for getting your Linkedin profile working hard for you and a little about getting involved in groups. Now lets look at building your reputation on Linkedin. This is intended […]
Linkedin tips #1
Here are some tips for making the most out of Linkedin – please subscribe to the list to get more
Some general principles
Know your objectives – e.g be seen as an expert in your field, who […]
Do you know who you are, really?
First post – so I thought I’d start with a fundamental question many business owners struggle with.
What I mean is can you answer these questions?
What is the core purpose of your business? What does it […]