June 14, 2024

This Week's Top Marketing News

Image of people sitting in chairs in an audience environment.

Google To Struggling Sites: Focus On Your Audience, Content Quality

If your website is struggling to get organic traffic from Google Search – there are three core areas you should focus on, according to Google’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan:

Continue creating high-quality content – do what you think is best for your readers.
Diversify your traffic sources and promote your content across multiple channels.
Build an engaged audience that comes to you directly or via email and social media.

He says, “…developing multiple ways to reach an audience is good. It’s not difficult or expensive to have email lists or social accounts. It’s a long-standing marketing practice.”

Everyone seems to have their “SEO hacks,” but those who use helpful content as their touchstone when creating their website will always do better than those who are trying just to feed the Google Machine.

Fish Food:
People continue to be frustrated with Google’s direction, which is their default advice to “create helpful content.” If you are still creating content for search engines, you’re headed in the wrong direction. Focus on creating content that is helpful to site visitors in the various stages of the buyer's journey. There is one thing for certain… Google is never going to spill the beans about exactly how to rank… even through various document leaks.

Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Champ Joey Chestnut Out Over Vegan Sponsorship
Two things you can count on for the 4th of July, your crazy neighbor lighting off fireworks well past midnight because #Merica, and Joey Chestnut eating an insane amount of Nathan’s Hot Dogs.

Unfortunately, Nathan’s is saying hold the mustard and not allowing Joey to compete this year because of a sponsorship Joey has with the meatless Impossible Foods brand. Major League Eating, yeah that’s a thing, says he’s not banned, just not invited until he gives up that deal.

4 Types of Emails That Get the Most Engagement According to Marketers [+4 Emails That Fail]
Email is the holy grail of marketing tactics but not all emails are created equal. So, which email types should you invest your precious time into creating? According to a HubSpot study, the 4 email types that perform the best are multimedia emails, basic emails, discount emails, and article emails. The 4 email types with the lowest engagement rate are product announcements, industry content, contest/competition promotions, and event announcements.

Introducing Apple Intelligence for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Apple announced their AI-powered tool called Apple Intelligence this week at their worldwide developers conference. This massive update to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia promises to combine the “power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant”. Specifics include assisting with writing text, prioritizing emails in your inbox to present the most pressing information, and transcribing audio notes.

Top 15 Digital Marketing Examples: Tactics to Inspire Your Strategy

Even the best marketing strategies can get a little stale after a while, but you don’t want to make changes just to mix it up. Finding new tactics that mesh with your existing strategy can be challenging. It’s like adding a new ingredient to a dish you already know is fantastic. Will that dash of cumin make it so much better or destroy a good thing?

The good news is there’s a lot we can learn from watching what others do. Case studies on how big brands use various marketing tactics can spark those creative juices generating ideas you can use to rejuvenate your marketing strategy.

American Express created a library of helpful content covering all matters related to its core solutions. This helpful content created trust and authority by helping potential and existing customers solve problems they were facing.

Lyft rewarded current customers with discounts on future rides when they referred their friends and family to sign up and begin using the app.

Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign showed amazing videos created by users using nothing but their iPhone to show the clarity and versatility of their phone’s video functionality.

Be sure to check out these and several other big brand case studies to get those gears turning.

Fish Food:
There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel. Look at where other brands succeed and “borrow” what you can to reshape your marketing strategy. Don’t let the large budgets of these big brands intimidate you. Be creative and find ways to implement these ideas using the resources you have.

Study Shows Young Consumers Are Increasingly Turning to Social for Discovery
There’s no denying that AI is changing everything. A recent study shows Gen Z buyers are increasingly using social media platforms to search for fashion, beauty, food, and craft-related trends over traditional search engines. Fear not, they still prefer Google when it comes to bigger purchases and professional services.

On Writing a Tagline (and Pitching It, Too)
Do you know the difference between a tagline and a slogan? Don’t worry, most people don’t either. A tagline supports the goals of the business and a slogan supports the goals of a particular campaign. Pretty simple, eh? If you’re thinking about creating a tagline for your business, HubSpot put together a guide to help you navigate the process. Some of their tips include making it clear, making it beneficial, and making it amusing (if you can). Now it’s time to “Just Do It”.

Image of a desktop with a coffee cup and notepad with the words checklist on it.

The Website Editing Checklist: Everything You Need to Consider

Two rules to follow when going to the grocery store. First, never go hungry. You’ll buy twice as much as you need. The second rule is to make a list before you go because even though you’re going to walk down every aisle of the store, there’s a good chance you’ll forget that butter.

Checklists are used in everything from getting ready for a big camping trip to surgeons in the operating room making sure their procedures go exactly as planned.

Updating your website should be the same. A website editing checklist is an essential tool for every website update, published blog post, or launch a new landing page. It helps:

Keep you organized
Simplifies teamwork
Catch problems early
Create a better experience for site visitors

If you do not have a website editing checklist, you’re in luck. This article from Ruttl is going to help you put together a checklist that will save you time and improve your efficiency.

Their website checklist focuses on the following website components:

Content - Be sure your content is accurate, relevant, clear, has proper grammar, and includes calls-to-action (CTAs)
Visuals - The visual elements of your website should be quality, optimized for SEO, relevant to the content, properly placed, and in line with your brand.
Functionality - Your website should work exactly how the visitor expects it to work. Make sure you check the functionality of all links, forms, the search bar, mobile responsiveness, and browser compatibility.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Make sure you are covering the basics when it comes to SEO. This includes proper keyword density, use of header tags, page title and description, alt tags on images, and site structure.
Accessibility - Key items to consider when publishing content to keep it accessible for ADA standards are color contrast, alternative text, keyboard navigation, screen-ready compatibility, and use of captions.
Additional Items - Don’t forget about speed testing, security, and legal compliance too.

Fish Food:
No one wants a phone call from a customer pointing out an error on their website. Even the most skilled designers and developers use checklists to make sure they don’t miss anything. Create your own website editing checklist and keep it handy when you’re posting updates.