Category: social media

HubSpot’s 100 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts and Graphs

HubSpot has posted its newest collection of 100 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts and Graphs.

It’s based on original research and data from a bunch of sources, including analysis of 4,500 HubSpot customers, surveys with hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, and dozens of publications such as MarketingSherpa, eMarketer, Pew Research and McKinsey.

I flipped through the 134 slides (it goes fast). Following are a few morsels to whet your appetite.

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

  • B2B marketers are shifting more of their dollars to inbound marketing.
  • The average budget spent on company blogs and social media has nearly doubled in the last two years.

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10 Ways to Give Your Business Blog Some Zing

I saw this a week or so ago at MarketingProfs Daily Fix in a post by Michael Rubin. Rubin picked it up from Kami Huyse’s blog. It’s worth sharing.

Business blogs can be difficult to sustain. These 10 approaches can help give your blog a purpose (or several purposes). They also can be a starting point for developing meaningful content.

1. The Insider
An insider’s look at your company or industry.

2. The Culture
Highlight employee experiences and share culture with those outside company walls.

3. The Customer
Focus on customers, including their blogs. Let them write guest posts.

4. The Link
Link to other blogs and build relationships.

5. The Comment
Comment on what’s being said elsewhere.

6. The Trend
Cover trends worth noting.

7. The Crisis
Address crises, or explain why you can’t.

8. The Practical Use
A case study approach. How are folks using your products and services?

9. The Solution
Real solutions for tenacious problems.

10. The Community
Build community with your customers and business partners by participating in social networks.

Next time you’re stuck — whether for a purpose or a solid post — this list can help give your blog some new zing.

My Blogging Success Story: ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG

Today I’m featured at Handshake 2.0.

Entrepreneur and editor Anne Clelland asked me to contribute a piece on how I created one of the top independent golf blogs on the Web. Her guidelines included keeping it to 300 words.

Not that I’m long-winded, but writing it short was a challenge, especially when I recalled my three-year journey and all the fun surprises along the way.

Short can be sweet, though, and something I myself advocate as an advertising copywriter.

Sucked Into the Technology Abyss

I don’t Twitter. Maybe I should, but with two blogs, email, LinkedIn and ongoing writing projects, I don’t know how I would do it. I really don’t.

And, if I’m truthful, I wonder if sanity doesn’t dictate that one can’t embrace every new tool that comes along. There’s always a next new thing. I know — I’m in marketing.

I thought of this as I was reading Ann Handley’s post at Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix. She begins:

Don’t get me wrong: I love Twitter with all my heart and soul. But this week, it started to get in the way.

You see, Ann is at the New Media Summit, a live event. Um, that means people actually conversing with people. You know, using their voices. At least that’s what I would think …

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