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

Social media is a tool. It is a channel, like a newspaper or radio; a media channel and a communication channel. What does this mean for public relations practitioners?

One of the main reasons to hire a public relations agency is because they have the connections with the media, industry-knowledge and know how to communicate a message. They aren’t just relying on a media database, but have real relations or the know-how to build others. PR practitioners gain these relationships primarily through networking, whether it’s a cocktail party, industry event, or trade show. Public relations agencies succeed because of their personal relationships with journalists, other influencers and new relationships they know how to cultivate.  Read more...

What is digital marketing? Is it just social media marketing? NO! When looking at marketing today, a better way to look at things is to look at the old way of doing things — outbound marketing — and compare that with the new way: inbound marketing.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing is NOT social media. Social media is one component of Inbound Marketing

How does inbound marketing differ from outbound marketing?

Outbound marketing is “traditional, old-style” marketing. It is:  Read more...

• Flyers
• Sales calls (cold calling — you know, those annoying sales calls that always come at dinnertime!)

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.