By Samuel J. Scott

Note: This is the first part in an ongoing series. Part two and three.

If you are using a social-media marketing strategy without a corresponding content-marketing one, you are most likely wasting your time. As different parts of the Internet increasingly affect and influence each other in marketing terms, it is also increasingly important to use an integrated strategy that incorporates these numerous factors.  Read more...

By Josh Cline

The end of the year is a time when many companies review their performances, analyze their numbers, and strategize for the future. Since we often write about the latest trends in marketing, public relations, and communications, we wanted to see which of our articles have been the most popular over the past year – and discuss how they may hint at possible strategies in the future as well.

So, without further ado, here were our most-popular marketing blog-posts of 2011 (in descending order based on the number of external page-views):  Read more...

By Josh Cline

You might already know that companies that blog generally have more-consistent sales. But did you know that start-ups that blog and use related public-relations effectively have a better chance of attracting angel investors as well?

In today’s financial climate, it can be extremely difficult to obtain seed investment – so every available and relevant resource needs to be directed, at least in part, towards that end. Inc.com writer Matthew DeLuca understands this point well:

Edward Williams, partner at Brook Venture Partners, says that he looks at all the standard data when considering an investment, but treats blogs a little differently.  Read more...

By Josh Cline

Much as been written of the ROI of social media. While the value of strategic marketing should already be known, the ROI of online marketing should be recognized. Ultimately, with some still scared of technology, the ROI of social media might be as simple as “Will you be around in 5 years?”

What is the ROI of a marketing campaign? Unfortunately, there are some that still do not ask that question. However, in order to answer that question, one must first talk about marketing strategy.  Read more...

As mentioned in the previous blog post about inbound marketing, one of the core tasks of inbound marketing is content creation.

The central component of inbound marketing is content creation. This could mean anything from writing a blog post, having posts and conversation on Twitter or another microblogging service, interacting on groups and pages on Facebook, or creating and administering a page on Facebook. Perhaps it’s creating a video cast or podcast. Content creation can be further narrowed down into two more categories:  Read more...

Blogging is an essential part of any content creation strategy. Yet, there is still a minority of people who still have not read blogs or do not know what a blog is. To address that audience, as well as to discuss more advanced topics of what are some ways to host a blog, I created the following presentation. For some people, this may be too simple and for others it is too advanced.

If it is too advanced, or there are things you do not understand, I am curious to know what you think.