FIFA 21 to Herald Playstation 5

ps5 FIFA21
With the new release of FIFA 21 just at the corner in less than 10 days, it is also the arrival of Playstation 5 on the market that is building a growing impatience among gamers all over the world.

With the current pandemic and people less tempted (or sometimes not allowed) to go outside, online gaming is making a real boom in 2020, and the end of the year festivities will see many new releases. The top players in this market are expecting to make massive profits this year.

Social engagement is getting crucial for gamers and is increasing. FIFA 21 and ps5 both promote social interactions, and a lot of expectations have been building up about their upcoming releases.

PS5: a marketing campaign with Doritos

Sony is actively preparing for the launch of the PlayStation 5 for the holiday season. Even though the PS5 can already count on thousands of fans, ready to buy it upon its release, Sony is nevertheless determined to reach more and more potential buyers for its next-gen console.

For this, the Japanese firm has teamed up with the famous cracker brand Doritos as part of a major marketing campaign, as can be seen from recent images shared on Reddit.

Is Sony preparing a PlayStation 5 Pro?

A few weeks ago, users of the PS5 subreddit shared images of Doritos “Chilli Pepper” flavor packets that display the profile of the console’s DualSense controller. Posts on Reddit claim that the famous packages are currently available in Europe, but no mention has yet been made of the US and the rest of the world.

A contest to win a PS5

This is a really big hitting marketing campaign: indeed, Doritos packages don’t just feature the PS5 logo. Chip lovers are also invited to enter a contest to win a brand new PlayStation 5, just that!

The campaign also promises more than 2,000 other prizes up for grabs for those who buy bags of “Chilli Pepper x PS5” chips from the famous cracker brand.

For now, no specifics have yet been released on the exact details of how to participate in the famous competition, but it should be soon. Unless the instructions are indicated on the Doritos packages?

A launch on November 13 for the PlayStation 5?

Doritos is not at their first campaign!

As one of the most popular chip brands, Doritos is not doing its first marketing campaign involving the world of video games. Indeed, seven years ago (in 2013), the brand had already participated in a vast promotional campaign similar to that of the PS5, but this time in collaboration with Microsoft for the launch of the Xbox One.

A few months earlier, Doritos had also made the buzz by promoting the game Call of Duty Cold War on its packets of chips, although the game had not yet been officially announced!

In any case, as regards the partnership between Sony and Doritos, there is no doubt that it will benefit both the Japanese giant and the famous American brand of chips.

Get Some House Renovations Ideas

house renovation
A home improvement project provides your home with many benefits.

Improving your home can make your home a nicer place to live and make it sell for more money. Having expert knowledge is not always necessary for home improvements. Even for big projects, it is easy to get the job done with a little knowledge and the right advice. Here are some tips to get great results in home improvement.

Why renovating your home

You may have occasion to repaint your porch. You should use a high quality exterior paint. Make sure you use the same paint type as the existing paint. It’s best to use oil-based paints for trim, since it’s more durable. It should not, however, be used on decks or other outdoor flooring, as it tends to become very slippery when it snows.

If you want a project that takes minimal effort and makes full impact, grab a fresh bucket of paint. A new coat of paint makes your house feel fresh and new without the costs or headaches attached. It ensures buyers will be interested in moving in.

Any home improvement project will be hard work. Create a list of all the tasks you must take care of. You may also want to get an additional opinion to ensure you didn’t miss anything during your assessment. It will provide you with a complete plan of what will be done and allow you to get a good idea of what it will look like upon completion.

Located above eye level and therefore out of mind, gutters, chimneys, and downspouts are often ignored during home improvement and maintenance projects. It is essential to make repairs if necessary. A dirty chimney presents a very real fire hazard, and letting your downspouts and gutters get clogged can cause water intrusion and serious structural problems.

Visit open houses to find ideas of what may look in your home. Doing this will allow you to check out modern looks so that you will better be able to imagine the look of your home with these options. This is much better than simply looking at the modern options at your local hardware store. You’ll find many homes have the touch of an interior designer, ideas you can take for free.

Don’t omit any detail

Every bathroom, kitchen and laundry area needs an exhaust fan. This keeps moist air headed outside and stops mold growth indoors. Exhaust fans can also reduce the humidity that causes rot.

Caned chair seats are naturally subject to sagging as time passes. This is easily correctable, however. Using a sponge, wet the underside of the sagging caning on the chair. Make sure to use warm water. Allow the water to sit overnight, drying out the caning. Keep doing this until you completely fix the caning.

Today, you need to watch for sub-par drywall when considering home improvement projects. Never utilize sheet rock or wall board that was made in China. Much drywall has been made in China since 2005. Most of it is of terrible quality. In some cases, drywall from China can emit harmful gases, which can corrode wires.

Completely changing the flooring in a room can be very expensive, no matter whether the new flooring is tile, wood or carpet-based. An affordable option is to remove the flooring and use colored stain on the concrete. The stain makes the concrete have a new industrial look that can match any decor.

Replacing your outlet covers with new ones will add a fresh look to a tired room. As time passes, outlet covers frequently start to age and discolor. Replacing your outlet covers helps refresh your home’s appearance.

Don’t forget the yard

If you are not able to take good care of your yard, try changing it to a low maintenance version to make it less work. Plants that don’t require much water and rock beds are very popular for this purpose. A low maintenance yard will save you time, and low water requirements will save you money.

When you use these tips you can get rid of any hassles or extra expenses that might happen if you do not plan. It is time to approach your next project confidently.

You might now always find the information that you need to make home improvements, but you should be looking for it. This article is a great place to start.

If there are some cracks in the roof, buy a roll of tape made of aluminum. Peel the paper backing from the sticky take before you apply it to the cleaned surface. This ensures a waterproof seal over any cracks.

If you door still squeaks despite your best efforts to remedy the situation, it may just need a new hinge. Your local hardware store will carry what you need. Just take the hinge off and attach the new hinge on the door and then the frame. Try aligning the hinge and replacing the pins.

Before you pop open that can of paint and get your brush out, remember that you need to protect your flooring. This will help ensure wet paint doesn’t ruin them. A cheaper way to get this done is to layer old newspapers. Drop cloths and plastic sheeting are also available to protect your floors from paint drips.

Consider insulating your residence during your next home improvement project. Use weather stripping along all the exits to the outside world. Your heating and cooling systems will be more efficient if you can reduce the amount of outside air entering your home. That is going to mean savings on your utility bills.

Whatever your home improvement project, you need a designated space for all waste and debris that piles up as a result of your projects. Removing the materials can be costly, so planning ahead is a great way to realize substantial savings and keep the project moving.

Exhaust fans should be installed in cooking areas, in the laundry room and in every bathroom. Venting moist, humid air outdoors reduces the chances of mold or mildew forming inside your home. Lowering indoor humidity will also prevent the trapping of condensation in the walls, thereby preventing rot.

Stop Selling Dreams to Your Prospects


Making your customers dream is one thing … delivering what you sell is another!

Make people dream by telling the story of their company, their product, staging themselves or their company, that is the art of storytelling. You become the hero of your own story, humanize your communication and demonstrate your values. The approach then arouses the support of a community which will then attach itself to this representation.

You capture the attention of your prospects and retain your customers. If storytelling is an art rather practiced by marketing experts and requires increased vigilance so as not to fall into manipulation, overselling is practiced more commonly at all levels of the purchasing cycle, mostly by selling power.

Overselling the Dream

To oversell is to make a promise and not being able to keep it, knowing full well that the probability of fulfillment will be low. Promise of deadlines, functional promise, price promise, product promise, result promise … This desire to sell at any cost naturally translates after the purchase into a customer disenchantment which can cost the company dearly, in the end.

Customers and prospects regularly share with previous experiences with service providers that ultimately led to a gap between promise and reality. Why is this damaging to their business?

Selling needs to be always positive and reactive towards the needs expressed by prospects. But wanting to sell at all costs simply to say yes to each request from your prospects and customers is a mistake in positioning. Do not sell unattainable dreams if you can’t deliver.

When we say “no” to our customers or prospects

Because we don’t have a magic wand or a crystal ball. If the telephone remains today the best channel for acquiring truly qualified prospects and making appointments, cold telephone prospecting requires more rigor and perseverance than ever. By adding digital to our offer, we simply allow our telemarketing team to call warmer prospects, improve the ratios on the outgoing call, make a warm call and gain in quality on the potential of conversion by our customers of the appointments delivered.

To make appointments, generating leads via digital is not enough. Having a website is good. Having a website that converts (landing page, form, call to action, etc.) is great. Having inbound contacts is very good. But even if your inbound contact is a web form to book an online demonstration of software, or a request for a quote on a service … what do you really know about the prospect?

Does he have a project? Is he the only decision maker? What about the purchasing cycle? What is his budget? So many questions necessary to qualify the lead before transmitting to the sale. And rare are the B2B meetings that are taken without picking up the phone. The telephone exchange remains the only way to qualify and convert your lead into a sales opportunity.

This is why we should say no to prospects who want an appointment only with digital prospecting. The reason is not to do digital to make digital because it is trendy, but to deliver appointments!

Digital without social networks and without content, is mission impossible.

Because you don’t attract flies with vinegar. Yes, digital prospecting works. Yes, a well thought out multichannel acquisition strategy and with the right tools, it works. Yes, generating qualified prospects and incoming leads is possible. But a strategy of content without content is impossible.

The content is: blog articles, videos, testimonials, infographics … in short, materials on the internet to establish your expertise and reassure your know-how. So that the prospect selects you and not your competitor when looking for a provider.

The main thing is not just to have a Linkedin profile or a blog, but to participate and to be active on the internet.

You can support clients in defining their content strategy and their multi-channel acquisition, without being a purely content agency. Define what they must produce as content (type, format, frequency, etc.) and the involvement of customers then becomes essential in the implementation.

Multichannel prospecting without the right tools is complicated.

Who says multichannel says multiple points of contact and not just a linkedin profile and emails. It is a question of having a tool which centralizes and manages all the points of contact, to know which message to send, to whom, when and by which channel.

Combine marketing and commercial performance and efficiency. Align marketing and sales efforts. Scale your marketing and commercial approach. Of course, prospecting without tools is possible. But automating tasks saves time and efficiency.

What may be obvious to some is not necessarily obvious to others. To say no to a prospect is to guard against his future disenchantment as a customer if he was sold dreams, to have a clear promise, to commit, to respect his positioning and to deliver what has been sold.

Why Marketing Your Mattress Company With Coupons Is A Good Idea

nice bedEverybody needs a good night sleep. This is why mattress businesses can be very successful. Most people are willing to spend extra money just to ensure they are going to enjoy a restful sleep each and every night. However, as mattresses aren’t cheap, acquiring a nice market share can be difficult, particularly if your mattress company markets high-end products.

This is where coupons should come into play to help your business grow. If you haven’t considered using coupons to market your mattresses, you definitely should. There are a few good advantages to using this marketing method to make your mattresses appealing to a wider category of people. Let’s take a look into some of these benefits your business could take advantage of.

The first advantage is that you’ll attract more clients by offering them the opportunity to use coupons to get discounted mattresses. As this is a very competitive market, enticing consumers into committing to a specific brand or company is a difficult thing to do. They would use your website to do their research, but there’s no guarantee they aren’t going to buy their mattress from one of your competitors. By creating and offering coupons, you help keeping these potential customers close. Many of them would save these coupons to make use of them by the time they will make the purchase. Furthermore, they might pass on these coupons to their friends. Either way, coupons will help you gain new clients.

The other advantage of coupons is that they can help you spread the word about your company and about the best features of your mattresses. Coupons are excellent for brand recognition and brand awareness. People who come across them might remember the name of your company whenever they will talk about mattresses with their peers. Word-of-mouth is a very powerful marketing and communication vehicle. If you can stimulate it by issuing coupons, you’ll be able to enjoy free publicity. Even those who don’t need a mattress right away will remember your brand, so that would be money well spent.

A mattress coupon can be an invitation for people to buy more stuff from your store, just look at laylamattresscoupons.com and how well it attracts new customers. People would come to take a look at your discounted mattresses, but they might end up buying bed sheets, pillows or other such products. You’ll make a nice profit, whether they decide to purchase also the mattress or not.

The most important thing is that they’ve got to visit your store due to the coupon they found on a website or in their local newspaper. Besides, you may not have to pay huge fees to have your coupons advertised in media. Many websites and magazines are happy to publish such offers for free, as they know their readers love coupons. You’ll spread the word about your business without having to spend an arm and a leg on marketing and advertising.

In order to keep your business profit under control, always make sure that your coupons have an expiry date. The last thing you want is to have people asking to redeem their coupons one year after the promotion is over. Limit the availability period of these coupons, and you’ll be able to estimate how many mattresses you’d sell at the discounted price. Although such projections may not be extremely accurate, they should be able to help you figure out the health of your bottom line.

If you do your research before taking action, you’ll be able to find the ideal value of your coupons. Remember that you should measure your outcome, as that’s the only way you can assess the success of your campaign.

US real estate market returns to pre-crisis highs

DenverIn most US cities, real estate prices have returned to their 2006-07 level. But opportunities still exist for investors looking for a strong rental return.

Denver is the American city that has experienced the largest influx of workers in the last twelve months: 706,000 people looking for a job have settled there. At the same time, the average home price in Denver jumped 11.5 per cent during this period to $441,500.

In the United States, the real estate market is spread everywhere. The price of more than half of the homes now exceeds their pre-crisis level. The real estate crisis caused by subprimes, these questionable mortgages granted to poor households to gain ownership, is indeed over in the United States.

The recovery in the real estate market is mainly due to the strength of the job market.

A strong market

In twenty-one of the top thirty-five US cities, prices are reaching a historic high, reveals a study of the real estate site Zillow. And in seven major cities (Dallas, Seattle, Denver, San Antonio, San Jose, Austin and Portland), the price of over 95% of housing is above the peak of 2006-2007.

For the 12 months, the average price of a home in the United States has increased by 8.3% to $217,300. This is 8.4% above the previous peak. Beware, some cities remain devastated though: in Las Vegas for example, less than 1% of homes have regained their pre-crisis value.

While interest rates have begun to rise in the United States, they remain at a favorable level: an average person can borrow at 4.5% over thirty years. For now, the slow rise in interest rates has had no impact on the property market. Another driver of the increase in price is the decrease in the stock of homes for sale, which contracted 4.8% last year. But it is mainly the strength of the job market that explains the rebound in the real estate market. In May the US unemployment rate fell below 4% of the labor force, a level not seen for decades.

Like Denver, other lesser known cities remain accessible and much more profitable like Nashville (Tennessee), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) or San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin (Texas), even San Diego (California)

In the United States however, there is a close link between the labor market and the real estate market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a US citizen changes jobs on average every four years. According to a study by the National Association of Realtors compiling data from Linkedin, Denver is the American city that has seen the largest influx of workers in the last twelve months: 706,000 people looking for a job would have settled there.

Meanwhile, the average home price in Denver jumped 11.5% during this period to $441,500. In the capital of Colorado, the median value of a home reaches $397,700, 65% above its peak in 2006-2007, and 99% of homes are worth more than at the time of the housing bubble!

If rates remain accessible, many Americans will be unable to borrow, which is why rental demand remains strong.

Be selective

New York, San Francisco or Miami – the favorite cities of Europeans in the United States – now seem too expensive to allow an investor to obtain an attractive rental return. At best you can expect a gross yield of 5% in these cities. In New York for example, it is difficult to have better than a big studio if your budget is between 500,000 and a million dollars. For a two-bedroom apartment, you need more than a million dollars, and you will not be in Manhattan!

In contrast like Denver, other lesser-known cities remain accessible and significantly more profitable like Nashville (Tennessee), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma), Atlanta (Georgia), San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin (Texas) or San Diego (California). These cities are all the more interesting because the rents have increased much less than the purchase price: it is therefore crucial not to buy too much to obtain a satisfactory rental return. In Dallas a very large house in perfect condition sells between $180,000 $250,000 and yields between 5% and 6% annual yield.

Rents which have increased by only 1.3% in median value in the last 12 months should continue their catch-up, because the rental demand is strong in the United States. But if rates remain accessible and the subprime crisis is over, many Americans will remain unable to borrow. Owners whose property has been seized by a bank can not apply for new credit until at least seven years have passed. Likewise most students who have taken out a student loan to finance their education cannot buy a home until they have finished repaying their loan.

The same is true for those who have fallen into the trap of revolving credit cards. This explains why the average age of first-time buyers in the United States now exceeds 35 years. For those who plan to buy a property to rent it, this is a favorable situation, as it will take many years for these tenants to become homeowners.

Get good advice

What advice to give to those who are considering investing in the United States?

It must be remembered that an owner can evict any unscrupulous tenant in less than a month, but it must however return the property in perfect condition between two occupants, which has a cost. Another American specificity is that some homeowners’ associations can set binding rules. For example they can prohibit short-term rental, or even visiting children or young adults. In many buildings, it is possible to rent an apartment only once every twelve months. The foreign buyer has an interest in carefully reading the rules of the condominium before committing.

If you are interested in purchasing real estate in one of the most affordable cities like Chicago, consult a specialist like Kale Realty. There are opportunities but risks as well, and if you are investing from abroad you need a local broker well aware of all local angles and aspects to consider.

Optimizing Your Site For Smartphone Users


Every smartphone user knows how important it is to own such a great device.

After all, there is so much you can do with a smartphone. Aside from entertainment and other personal usage, they can enhance your working life too.

A phone unit can function like a mini laptop, allowing you to send and receive emails anytime and anywhere. It provides access to websites and blogs you can read and allows you to make purchases on Amazon, eBay, and other e-commerce websites.

The questions now are, do you own a website? Is it meeting the needs of on-the-go smartphone users? Is your site mobile-friendly? People are used to surf fast websites like facebook, instagram and other social marketing platforms, and nowadays they cannot stand it when they encounter a slower site. Fast sites are the norm.

Optimizing your site for mobile use is essential for boosting your rankings. After all, Google is moving towards a mobile-first index. Delaying your participation in the mobile revolution will cause you to miss out on potential smartphone user customers.

Simplify Your Site

The very first step in optimizing your site is to make sure that the interface is simple. A smartphone user has a limited screen space. It is therefore essential that you plan on the key pieces you want to include on your page.

If you are promoting goods or offering services, it is smart to keep the purchasing entry point as simple as possible. Disregard content that is not essential to your buyers. By keeping the number of pages to a minimum, you help speed up your web pages. So plan your layout and simplify it.

Fix Site Speed

According to Searchngineland, the threshold for e-commerce website speed is only two seconds. Beyond this timeframe, the site may lose a possible visitor and a conversion. This means making sure that your site loads fast is essential to mobile ranking. One way to help speed it up is by optimizing your image use.

Images that are too large will tend to slow down your site.

So make sure to optimize your images properly. You can also remove unnecessary characters from your source code to take off the load. Just make sure nothing in the functionality changes. Lastly, reduce redirects. Too many of them can cause your site to constantly reload and slow down.

Plan Your Mobile Design

As mentioned earlier, smartphone users have a very minimal screen space. A responsive design will not just be appreciated by your visitors, they can also easily engage on your site longer. One tip is to eliminate flash elements.

Phone users cannot see them anyway. It is better to use Java or HTML5 to add extra elements to your site. Another tip is to get rid of pop-ups. They are annoying and could compel visitors to abandon your site. If you remove pop-ups, it is guaranteed that your bounce rate will get lower and your rankings higher.

Find A Reliable Host

Every expert will stress the importance of hiring a reliable hosting service. Mobile users access the web as often as they like. This means you can bag a potential sale even at the wee hours of the night. If your site is constantly down, then you could lose this opportunity.

An assurance that your site will run 24/7 is also the certainty that anybody can make a purchase at any time. So if you are having problems with your previous provider, start searching for a better company with excellent hosting service.

Allow Users To Visit Your Full Site

Even if you have established a well-optimized site for mobile use, you must not forget that there are some people who will still likely want to view the information that you chose not to display. Even if you receive more smartphone visitors, having a full site option is also noteworthy.

Since most websites today are set for landscape viewing, redesigning them for smartphone users can be a challenge. However, sites that are optimized for mobile use can bring vast opportunities to your website and business. Follow the above rules, stay true to your brand and keep the user’s needs in mind, and you will surely get set for success.

Building A Career In Digital Marketing

I was asked to speak tonight at the Goodman School of Business at Brock University about how to succeed in business. It does not feel like long ago that I was a student at Brock attending a similar talk, with business professionals telling us how they built their career and what we would need to do to succeed after graduation.

I remember feeling overwhelmed at the time thinking of the long road ahead to find a career that inspired and fulfilled me. I remember that I wanted it to just start now! I now reflect on how lucky I was to have carved out a career that truly excites me and inspires me every day, and what I might tell this group tonight about my story that will help them.

I was asked to outline what I do (sometimes still figuring that out), and how it was that I got this point with my business.

Digital marketing has evolved since I graduated University in 1998, in fact, “digital” was not even part of the marketing mix according to my textbooks. All of my training in marketing online has been on the job, and real world trial and error. Online usage has exploded over the past decade, and access to WIFI and mobile devices have completely changed consumer buying behaviour.

I wonder now how the world will change over the next decade for the group I am speaking to tonight?

My experience in building websites and marketing online began when I was hired as a Marketing assistant for the Marriott Fallsview Hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I worked for the ownership group, and became the Director of Marketing Communications over an 8-year time period. I was empowered throughout my time there to try new things, and so I did.

Hotel chains did not want us developing our own websites, and at the time hotels were relying heavily on the brands and the intermediaries to sell rooms online for them. Direct to consumer digital marketing through tactics such as paid search and organic search engine distribution was so new and foreign, and quite frankly there was no place to get formal training.

My experience in digital marketing began in understanding search engines, and how to ensure that a website could be found by target consumers. Equally important was to understand how a website would lead to online conversions as consumer usage of the internet, as a means to research and buy online.

Marketers must now understand concepts such as; Social media marketing, mobile marketing, web analytics and measurement, consumer user behaviour – as well as search engine optimization, and web usability in researching and buying online.

The marketing mix has never been as complicated and more fragmented.

We have always been known for our focus on education and training for marketers both senior and junior, who need to understand this new and complex media mix. Our conference, Online Revealed now in its 8th year, has become the leading conference in the Canadian tourism industry for travel and tourism professionals to learn about digital marketing trends and best practices bringing together industry professionals from leading Canadian hotels, hotel groups, destinations, attractions and other travel suppliers, along with experts from industry giants such as Facebook, Google, Tripadvisor and Expedia to bring marketing professionals hands on knowledge and training.

How did I get here?

Throughout my career I have continuously learned about my industry, engaged in debate and conversation with my colleagues, attended conferences, and read about digital marketing and people doing innovative things. Today we have access to learning all around us with social media channels like LinkedIn and Twitter, and Blogs written by real people with real experiences.

The key is to understand consumers, keep a few steps ahead of consumer trends, understand why they buy, and most importantly what makes them buy. That is one thing that has never changed for marketers.

In addition, learn from the experiences of others. This is key.

What is also key is people. Especially in this age of texting, emailing and social media. I am one of the most digitally connected person there is, and yet I still pick up the phone, go to lunch, and travel to visit clients and colleagues. Face to face communication and relationships are more important than ever.

I think that I might focus my advice tonight around a few things in particular that have helped me get here.

1. Hard work and commitment.

Sounds passé, but the hard work and commitment continues throughout your career.

2. Relationships are key.

It is all about the people you work with and do business with.

3. Continuous learning.

You are never really done learning, and if you think you are, then you are wrong. Read, talk to colleagues, attend seminars and talks that inspire you. It is not all about degrees, diplomas or certifications (although these don’t hurt either), it’s about a commitment to continued learning.

and finally….

It’s not about finding “the next big thing” it’s about finding “your thing.”

5 Best Tools For SEO Content Writing

Without a doubt, SEO content writing is an essential part of your marketing strategy. If not, you need to get started as soon as possible.

As google has declared they want to show the most relevant to their users, you must pay attention to the quality of the content on your website.

But producing articles for online consumption may not come easily for everyone. Furthermore, there is a chance that a brilliant idea may not become as appreciated by the audience as the writer had hoped to.

You may write and publish the most excellent content, but if no one sees your post, they’re not much use for it. Luckily, there are some tools that amateur writers can use to create SEO-friendly articles and develop their content marketing without the need for grueling writing lessons.

Portent’s Content Idea Generator – Title or Headline Generator

Even the most artistic people can get stuck in front of a white page. Sometimes, thinking about catchy titles and headlines becomes difficult. If you have no idea how to word your title, you can use a headline generator.

Portent’s Content Idea Generator can generate simple topics for you. All it needs is a few terms from you. You can also update the search results as frequently as you can until you find the perfect title for your next idea.

Grammarly – Spelling and Grammar Check

If you are not a natural-born writer, Grammarly is the next best tool you should get. It is probably the best spelling and grammar checker in the internet today. Aside from its special features of spelling error detection, it also corrects your grammar. Grammarly also provides alternative words that you can use to make your articles more readable for your audience.

The only issue here is that it not all features are free. Although you can still use it without shelling out some cash, the monthly premium payments are definitely worth it, especially if you are serious about your content marketing strategies.

Keyword Density Checker – Reveals Repeated Keywords

When it comes to article writing for SEO, there are some key points you need to follow. One of them is avoiding the use of excessive keywords in your text. Search engines like Google react negatively to articles with too many rehashed keywords, as this violates the rules they have imposed. Once detected, they consider them as spammy.

To avoid receiving sanctions, make sure to use keywords sparingly. Place them naturally within the content and remember that less is more. Keyword Density Tool can scan your page to check how many times you have used your keywords. Using this will save you the time wasted in trying to spot them on your own.

Copyscape – Plagiarism Checker

Duplicate content and plagiarism are bad for your rankings. Ones detected by the search engines bots, your stats and authority can dramatically drop and go back to zero in a snap of a finger. On top of this, it will be difficult for websites to get back on their feet if this happens.

Copyscape is a great tool to prevent a duplicate content from being published. By entering your site’s URL or the article itself, you can immediately see if your work is an original piece. It will also let you know which lines or phrases you need to edit to come up with a content free of plagiarism. The site may look outdated, but it remains to be one of the go-to tools of many webmasters today.

Read-Able – Assesses Content Readability

Connecting with your audience is important. Therefore, it is critical that you understand what they can and cannot understand. If your target market is teens, you should avoid sounding too formal. A fun and lively tone is better suited for this audience.

Using Read-Able will help you achieve this target. It can assess your content and offer you a readability number. This number tells you which age group your content identifies with and what writing style is best suited for your audience.

Content writing requires both skills and knowledge.

If you want to reach the highest SEO results and land a spot on the first page of the search engine results, you need to work hard to produce quality articles. Write your post, proofread and edit. After reading it again, run your article on the tools listed above and see how they can improve the overall quality of your work.

Social Media Strategist vs Social Media Enthusiast

Social Media Strategist
I am an enthusiast of many things. Although I can appreciate a fine wine, and perhaps even describe the ‘nose’ of a good chardonnay – I dare say that I could lead a wine tasting session, or describe the process of oak aging or barrel fermenting.

I would say however that I am both an “enthusiast” and a “strategist” of Social Media. (and perhaps an evangelist and even a connoisseur of a good tweet).

Social media is as most would agree the new ‘medium’ in digital marketing. There are many out there trying to decipher how to…how much…and where to start in creating a social media “strategy” to attract a target consumer to engage and transact.

There lies the difference between a social media ‘Enthusiast” and a social media “Strategist” – it’s in the strategy (not just in the enthusiasm!) Wow – so that’s not rocket science!

Allow me to explain.

We must begin with what constitutes a good Social Media strategy.

1. Develop a good plan.

Sounds simple enough right? Start with who you are trying to reach and what social media channels they are likely frequenting. Decide what you are trying to achieve (ie. traffic back to a website, building an email database, an increase in brand awareness etc), chose the correct channels to populate (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr or all of the above), populate with content and build a community of followers.

Once you have decided on what social channels to include in your campaign, develop a plan to build a community – with an editorial or content strategy to support your goals.

For example: If you are primarily going to use viral video’s with the goal of driving traffic to a transaction – make sure that the YouTube channel you create has many points of reference and links back to your website.

Make sure that you have optimized your video’s properly to be found in search engines – and have populated other places with the video (like your website and Facebook page) and that you have added social media sharing tools to encourage more pass along distribution.

Also – ensure that all of your campaign elements are integrated and talk to each other.

2. Ensure that you have enough of a budget…

…and resources (time, expertise, dollars) to not only plan, but execute the strategy.

This is the tricky part. How do I know what resources I will need after the campaign ‘shelf life’ is up?

Social Media channels like a Twitter account for example typically do not exist in isolation. Typically, a Tweeter is representing a brand voice, or has a Blog associated with it – or a transactional website in which to drive traffic to.

If you are going to engage in social media marketing, you should plan for it to be part of your long term marketing strategy.

3. Measure and assign key performance measurables

Use social monitoring tools (there are many) as well as website tracking tools like Google Analytics to see how the campaign has impacted your campaign goals. Is Facebook now a top referrer of traffic to your website after launching an aggressive Facebook brand page?

How has the time and resources spent on Twitter affected the traffic increases in traffic to your company Blog?

4. Learn and Continue Building

This is a key point as many social media ‘enthusiasts’ may not pay enough attention to the fact that the foundation built in the beginning stages has a big impact on future social media successes. An isolated brand Twitter page with no integration into any other parts of a company’s marketing mix – no matter how many followers it has – will not result in long term success.

In addition, those who live in the social communities such as Facebook, Twiiter and beyond expect transparency, commitment, and for you to add value to the social media ecosystem.

A one off viral video campaign will most likely not work to create any spectacular results without a long-term plan about how to leverage the traffic it has generated, or to engage that audience enough to act.

Social media enthusiasts are passionate about what social media can do – and they make excellent community manager’s and community developers. Just because an enthusiast has a large list of followers on Twitter does not necessarily mean that they can map out a good long-term strategy and help guide the set up and execution of a successful social media marketing campaign.

Always engage with a true Social Media Strategist – one that has proven case studies and speaks to the points above if you are looking for a long term or even short term results…it will pay off in achieving brand ‘mavens’ and not just ‘followers’ who you may never see again.

If you are a connoisseur of a good discussion about social media marketing…I invite you to RT (Re-Tweet) this blog post and share your idea’s of what it takes to be a true strategist.

Advertising is Based on Happiness

happy clients
You have settled into 2018 and gearing up to implement the marketing plan you completed in 2017. But hold on! The Internet has changed again!

This is a fast paced digital world we live in – but perhaps we need to take a queue from Don Draper, our favorite MadMen Ad exec when he says “Advertising is based on one thing: Happiness.”

Why is this relevant now in the age of an exploding online medium?

Let’s just take a breath, re-group and bring it back to basics. There is content coming at us fast and furious – whether its Mobile Apps and Tablet Marketing, or Viral Video’s, or Facebook, Twitter – and what about YouTube and Foursquare? How do we really make consumers happy now? Is it still as simple as delivering on a promise and providing a product or service that makes your customers happy?

If so – how do we engage with consumers who are changing their online user behavior as quickly as Facebook changes its profile layouts? I have had numerous conversations with clients who are second-guessing where they allocated their marketing dollars because of the following:

  • FEAR of missing the next big thing.
  • RESOURCES – both financial and human.
  • CONFUSION about what tactics to focus on as the online world shifts again – and again – and again.

My advice? Bring it Back to Basics:

1. Know Your Customer (and make them Happy)

  • Check your website analytics for top referral traffic and focus on building on them and building more target referral traffic.
  • Use a social media monitoring tool like Radian 6 , Revinate or free tools like Google Alerts, Twitter Advanced Search or others to listen to your customers and understand how to make them happy.
  • Allocate time and resources to understand changes in how your target audiences are researching and transacting online. Read and educate yourself about digital marketing tactics that work.
  • Most importantly, if you’re taking the time to ‘listen’ to your customer’s online behavior – be sure you act on that information. Simply monitoring the conversation without adjusting your strategy will not help you understand how your consumer wants to receive your messages now and in the future.
  • 2. Keep Your Eye on the Prize. Understand Your Objectives

    • Are you looking to increase sales? To build a new audience? Launch a new brand? Increase brand engagement?
    • With all of the new tactics available to marketers today, it is more important than ever to set specific and measurable objectives for campaigns. (It makes me nostalgic for the Mad Men days really)

    3. Stick With What Works

  • If you have already developed an active Twitter following and you’re seeing ROI (in sales and or website traffic etc) keep going!
  • Roll it out across your other brands, build a team of Tweeters to help in building and engaging your audience further – think about what would take a successful campaign to the next level.
  • If Google AdWords campaigns worked well last year to drive targeted traffic during need times, or to sell specific packages or products – build on it and do it again with a new twist, or put more dollars towards it perhaps instead of a tactic that did not perform as well.

4. Don’t Forget About Search

  • Although Facebook has surpassed Google in user time spent online, the World Wide Web is a complex Ecosystem that is constantly growing and changing.
  • Focus on making sure you have a strong web presence across all online channels that help to guide your consumers to transact.
  • Ensure you have taken care of the basics like search engine optimization, good creative and content, Google Places optimization, a good mobile version of your website etc. and then you can focus on other channels to build your traffic.

5. Integrate. Integrate. Integrate.

  • Make sure you integrate your campaigns online and offline.
  • Your brand’s digital footprint should have a consistent tone, creative brand message, and should always drive your target consumers to transact.
  • A Facebook page with 2,000 followers is only successful if it allows you to drive transactions and build engaged followers. Consider a contest through a customized tab, or a strong call to action or offer for your Facebook community only.

6. Measure + Measure + Measure and then Adjust

  • Measure against successes from 2017. Make sure you have defined Key Measurables in place (such as increases in unique visitors, increases in time on site and pages visited or increased sales.)
  • Did you launch a new Blog that has increased traffic by 20%? How do you grow it from here or how do you encourage more transactions on the website as a result of the Blog traffic?
  • Have your efforts on LinkedIn increased leads to your sales department?
  • What can you do to ensure you grow these successful marketing channels?
  • Do the tactics outlined in your Marketing Plan work to build on what you have already started? (Perhaps you have allocated budget to building a linkedIn Company page or display advertising campaign to further grow and engage your base of followers, or you have allocated more resources to Blog more frequently.)

Keep it simple – stick to the tactics that will help you achieve your objectives and don’t worry about all the noise.

It can get overwhelming to look at all the marketing tools and tactics that are available to us today. If you execute marketing programs efficiently, with the proper focus on measurement of ROI, (very do-able in the age of digital marketing) you may have the confidence and extra resources to be able to adjust and try new things.

To take a lesson from Mad Man, Don Draper – Budget + target demographic + medium = time for a scotch. Just make them Happy!