Blog Archives

Don’t Believe the Hype: Social Media’s Just a Type of PR

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Josh Cline — 2 Comments ↓

Over the past five years, many public-relations professionals (some have called them publicists) became “social-media gurus” overnight, writing books and helping to spin what social-media marketing and SEO allegedly really are. Then, they became “digital-marketing specialists” or gave themselves other titles. Eventually, many woke up and realized again that, in the end, they are still marketing and communication specialists. Several have written three or more books since 2007 to regain their places as true marketing professionals. Read more...

Tagged with: digital marketing, Facebook, inbound marketing, marketing strategy, public relations, SEO, social media, Strategic Marketing, strategic planning
Posted in Blog

PPC is Dead. Long-Live… Cost-Per-Action Ads

Posted on November 28, 2012 by The Cline Group — 1 Comment ↓

By Jacob DeChant

If you want to understand why pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has become a less and less viable option for small businesses and start-up companies, ask Tom Telford.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, he had founded a vacation rental-management firm named Blue Creek Cabins and had been paying Google roughly $0.60 per click in paid-advertising campaigns since 2001 in return for many leads and sales.

However, his success did not last: Read more...

Tagged with: analytics, digital marketing, inbound marketing, online advertising, ppc, web analytics
Posted in Blog

Test Early and Test Often: Capture Rates and Conversion Optimization

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Samuel Scott — No Comments ↓

By Samuel Scott

At one point in my career, I was hired to manage the digital marketing for a particular Israeli start-up, which would ultimately end up folding over two months later due to a lack of successful fundraising. During this period of time, the CEO had asked me to create an Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint for promising investors on the potential for market penetration.

Supposedly, the start-up had had a way to convert speech to text in some new, exciting manner (the product would automatically transcribe voicemail and then send it to you over e-mail or text message), and the goal, I was told, was to exit by selling to Google. First, however, they needed to obtain investment and subsequently show successful sales and usage within various test markets. Read more...

Tagged with: digital marketing, inbound marketing, marketing strategy, web analytics
Posted in Blog

How to Build an Online Community for Marketing (Part One)

Posted on November 6, 2012 by The Cline Group — No Comments ↓

Note: This is the first part in a series.

By Allison Seifert

In 2008, Forrester Vice Presidents Carlene Li and Josh Bernoff published “Groundswell,” a revolutionary book about business and marketing in what was then the beginning of the mainstreaming of social media. Four years later, their thoughts have not only become predicative of the growing trend of social media but have become essential for understanding the greater context in marketing and public relations.

The nutshell: For practically any product or service, there are thousands, if not millions, of Internet users who would love nothing more than to become unknowing brand ambassadors and help to spread the digital word. You just need to locate and then inspire them. Read more...

Tagged with: brand strategy, demographics, digital marketing, inbound marketing, marketing strategy
Posted in Blog