December 22, 2023

This Week's Top Marketing News

Today's newsletter is the final one for the year. The Neon Goldfish team is off next week celebrating the holidays with our family and friends.

We want to wish each of you a Happy Holiday and a prosperous New Year.

Be on the lookout for the next edition of Fishbowl Friday on January 5th, 2024.

Now, here's the best marketing news we found for you this week!

7 Formulas for Writing Introductions That Convert Scanners Into Readers

Content Marketing Checklist for 2024: 24 Steps to Online Success

It doesn't matter if you have never done content marketing before or are considering introducing it into your marketing mix; you need a solid plan to make it successful.

However, the content marketing landscape becomes more competitive and complex each year. To stay ahead in 2024, you need a well-defined plan and a checklist to guide your content marketing efforts.

Before you go all-in on creating content, take a moment to figure out what you want to achieve.

Your content goals should be aligned with your overall business objectives.

Here are a few steps the infographic covers:

Content Goals Defined?
Target Audience Researched?
Content Gap Analyzed?
Content Calendar Created?
Content Themes and Topics Developed?
Keyword Research Done?

Fish Food: Each step is vital in driving online success, from defining clear content goals to conducting thorough keyword research. Remember that content marketing is an ongoing process, not a set-and-forget. You’ll want to regularly review and adapt your strategy, which is key to staying competitive in the ever-changing digital landscape.

40 Best New Websites, 2023 - Get some inspiration from the best website designs for 2023. Movement, color, and design are all at the forefront of these websites that stood out this year.

Nostalgia Marketing is Powerful. 'Nowstalgia' Might Be Even More Compelling. - Now we’ve got a term for all the throwback marketing that’s been popping up. Nostalgia – a longing or yearning for the past – has power over consumers. Brands are seizing the rose-colored memories to move products off shelves by leaning into ‘Nowstalgia’.

10 Content Promotion Strategies That Work in 2024 - Chances are, your audience isn’t checking your website for new blog posts regularly, so to get your content in front of eyeballs, you’re going to have to put it where the people are. Sound overwhelming? It isn’t with a plan. Here are 10 content promotion strategies you can try like guest posting, paid ads, influencer marketing, and more.

How Customer Ratings Impact Purchase Decisions

How to Make a Survey with a QR Code

Ever wondered what your customer was thinking but you were too shy to ask?

Enter the QR code. Passive in nature, some people can’t help but want to know what it leads to. For business owners, it can help uncover key insights about your customers and sales process.

In this article from HubSpot, learn some key data points and examples obtained by QR codes, how to create a QR code, and then additional data on top of responses in a survey you can use to understand your customers.

Users can get all kinds of great information from QR codes such as:

Paperless menus at restaurants.
Directions that pop right into your phone’s GPS.
Movie trailers from a QR code in the corner of a film’s poster.
History and adoption info about shelter animals in a photo.
Quickly make payments/donations via a business’s Venmo account, PayPal, etc.

Fish Food: Using a QR code survey can boost completion rates and allow your organization to gain more information without having to ask for it directly. Plus, QR codes have tracking abilities to enrich the data you collect.

Read the Article

Google Confirms 'Openness' As Local Search Ranking Factor - Google will now be using “openness” as a ranking factor on SERPs. Google says navigational searches - ie branded with a business name will not be affected. It’s more “non-navigational” searches such as pizza near me. After users pointed out that businesses were disappearing from the local 3-pack when they closed, Google said it would consider their feedback. SIGH. We are not advocating to open your business to “24/7” to rank #1. However, you’ll want to monitor your current hours and make sure they are up to date as this update rolls out.

10 Best Web Design Trends of 2023 - Check out some top design trends for ads and websites in 2023. Things like serif typography, card elements with curved edges, text and motion, vertical photos or videos, and more

Apple earns 36% of Google search ad revenue through Safari

Top 5 AI Tools for Marketing in 2024

AI has been huge in 2023 and will continue to be part of many future marketing conversations. But, it’s how you decide to use AI in your process that makes all the difference.

We don’t advocate copying and pasting exactly what these AI tools do... that is borderline wreckless. However, with the right prompts and some tweaking, AI can be a handy tool to save you time and money in 2024.

Here is a list of the top 5 AI tools that will help you with your marketing in 2024.