September 6, 2024
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This Week's Top Marketing News

Customer Journey Maps: How to Create Really Good Ones

Many people might be familiar with the buyer's journey but don’t have a customer’s journey mapped out for their business.

A customer journey is your brand’s interaction with a potential customer once they know their pain point and after interacting with you. Each touch point with your customers would be considered a part of the customer journey.

HubSpot defines its customer journey as Purchase/Sales, Onboarding/Migration, and Normal use/Renewal. Once someone purchases the HubSpot platform, these three stages are defined as the customer journey.

This information can then be used to improve customer service and increase customer retention. HubSpot outlines creating a customer journey map and has templates to map out your customer journey.

• What is the customer journey?
• Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping
• Customer Journey Stages
• Types of Customer Journey Maps
• Customer Journey Mapping Best Practices

Fish Food

Customer journey maps can help you gain insight into additional touchpoint opportunities or any friction in your process. Decreasing friction for your customers is the main goal of mapping out their journey. Visualizing this information can help all your teams, sales, marketing, and account management identify any potential barriers in your process. Analyzing the results will show you where customer needs aren’t being met. Make it clear that your customers can find solutions to their problems with your company’s help.

Yelp Sues Google For Antitrust Violations

The recent DOJ win found Google guilty in its antitrust case about the company’s allegedly exclusionary practices around the distribution of search services produced a crack in the armor. It appears Yelp is next in line to strike a blow. Yelp claims Google has held a monopoly on local search, which “harmed competition and reduced the quality of local search services”. Google notes that Yelp's claims are not new and similar to those of others that the FTC and even the judge in the antitrust suit, has thrown out.

Move Over SEO, GEO Is the New Kid in Town

​Generative Experience Optimization (GEO) differs from traditional SEO by focusing on optimizing content for AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s AI overviews. Embracing GEO can boost visibility by up to 40%, helping your content get in front of your audience. It also enhances engagement by providing quick, reliable answers, positioning your brand as a trusted source. Adopting GEO offers an advantage in a crowded field and future-proofs your content as AI continues to shape search behavior. Prioritizing authoritative, well-cited content is key to success.

19 Do’s and Don’ts to Improve Email Marketing

Content Marketing Institute put together a list of 19 Do's and Don'ts that are sure to help you improve your open and click rates. Here are some of our favorites.

• Do the upfront work first
• Do familiarize yourself with your audience
• Do test your emails
• Do forego the hard sales pitch (isn't that a reverse don't?)
• Don't tempt unsubscribes
• Don't forget what's most important
• Don't rely on subject lines alone

​Check out the full article to read the entire list​

Ten Ways to Spot Gen Z, According to ChatGPT

Want to start marketing to Gen Z? You need to know who they are first. Prompted by “Tell me ten ways I might spot someone from Generation Z…” ChatGPT responded with surprising accuracy. Key identifiers include fashion choices, slang, social media use, entertainment preferences, political and social views, and health trends. While interactive and visual content resonates, media consumption and technology use vary. Attitudes toward work and careers depend on the individual, making them more nuanced than other traits.

Why the Algorithmic Rat Race is Messing With Your Mind

Feeling stuck in the algorithm trap? It’s easy to freeze up, unsure of what to do next. The smart move? Focus on what you can control: high-quality content, strong relationships, and authentic branding.

Build a business that doesn’t rely on (or fear) algorithms by spreading your efforts across channels and creating value that resonates. Attract an audience that sticks with you because they care, not just because an algorithm showed them your post.
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