Avoid ‘All-or-Nothing’ Advice to Get Smarter about Your Business and Marketing

Most sites that teach digital business and marketing have absolutist prescriptions. “You must do this.” “You must never do that.” But the web is a complicated place. And rigid, black-and-white advice will only take you so far. This week, we talked about three ways to navigate the subtleties of conducting business online. On Monday, Stefanie Read More…
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Writing Facebook Ads in a Sensitive Topic? Try These 4 ‘Tricks’ that Work … and Get Approved

If you’ve spent any time in marketing discussion groups, you’ve probably heard how difficult it can be to get Facebook to approve your ads … depending on which industry you’re in. You may have thought: “Zuckerberg sure seems like a tyrant who hates marketers.” But when you look at ads from Facebook’s point of view, Read More…
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Marketing Doesn’t Have to Be Sleazy: 5 Real-World Examples

In my youth, a former co-worker once told me, “I’d never date anyone who works in marketing.” When I inquired about his reasoning, he replied: “It’s just so sleazy. Choosing that line of work says a lot about a person.” Since I was young and impressionable, that sentiment stayed with me. So I was naturally Read More…
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Your No-Nonsense Guide to Getting Started with Social Media Ads

The first time I rode a motorcycle, I fell in love. Between the power, the speed, and the freedom, I knew it was something I wanted to keep doing for a long time. But I also knew I had a lot to learn.
Learning to ride a motorcycle requires several new skills. You have to learn how to maneuver and balance a heavy, two-wheeled vehicle, how to change gears, how to let the clutch out smoothly and at the right time, and how to work the hand and foot brakes.
And that’s before you leave the parking lot.
Learning to advertise on social media is a similar experience: there’s a lot to be excited about, but all the options, features, and adjustments can leave you dazed.
Start with the fundamentals
After that first ride, I spent a couple months brooding. I knew I wanted to ride, but I didn’t feel ready for a full-sized motorcycle.
Then, one day, I decided to check out the local Vespa dealership, just to see … A week later, I bought myself a scooter.
On my scooter, I learned the fundamentals of riding — how to balance, how to maneuver on two wheels, and how to stay safe on the road — without having to worry about the full weight of a motorcycle or shifting gears.
By the time I bought my first full-sized bike a year later, all I needed was 45 minutes in a parking lot and I was ready to roll.
If you’ve always wanted

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Why Podcast Advertising Works (and How to Get Started), with Glenn Rubenstein

Up until today, we’ve exhaustively covered the topic of podcast sponsorships and monetization. But each time we’ve covered it from only one perspective — the perspective we know as showrunners.
Today, we are talking to an absolute expert in podcast advertising.
In fact, our guest spent years selling podcast ads for TWiT. As the Director of Marketing, he ran strategy and implementation responsible for selling ad spots across 20+ podcasts with more than 70 million annual downloads and streams.
Our guest today is Glenn Rubenstein of Adopter Media, a full-service podcast advertising agency, and in this episode we discuss:

Why podcast advertising works
What you can do to make your ads more effective
How to package and present your show to maximize advertising revenue

Listen to this Episode Now
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Content Marketing and Advertising Meet in a Dark Alley: Who Wins, and Why?

Traditional advertising pretty much had its way with the 20th century.
Big campaigns with big budgets from big companies influenced the things we did, said, and thought. And it’s safe to say that influence continues into the 21st century.
But content marketing is starting to make some noise of its own. In fact, interest in content marketing has risen rapidly in the last five years.
What are the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of both? When should you use advertising, and when should you use content marketing?
And which method is better?
We’ll answer those questions and more in this article.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a direct form of marketing communication where companies, political parties, religious institutions, government agencies, and interest groups build awareness of their products, services, events, and ideas.
To accomplish this task, advertisers run campaigns with a limited, but focused, use of media that may include:

Billboards
Banner ads
Radio spots
Television commercials
Print magazine ads
Pay-per-click ads
Infomercials
Pop-ups
Skywriting
Product placements
Email

The job of advertising media is to convince people that a product, service, or idea will solve their problems or satisfy their wants.
Here are four ways you could look at advertising:

A company runs a six-month advertising campaign announcing the launch of a new product through a series of television commercials, banner ads, and staged product demonstrations in select cities.
A political party launches a tour of lectures, public service announcements, and emails to inform voters about where their candidate stands on the issues.
A city government purchases newspaper ads and mails out flyers to announce a new recycling program.
A

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3 Resources to Help You Pinpoint and Thrive in Your Niche

“Drive-thru bakery.”
That is the ad copy on a billboard for McDonald’s on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.
Did you know the fast-food chain also serves baked goods? Now you do.
If you’re a busy Angeleno, why spend time parking and going in to a coffee shop to get a muffin or croissant when you can visit the convenient drive-thru bakery?
Since McDonald’s knows how to serve its customers in new ways consistently, the business thrives in the fast-food niche.
This week’s Copyblogger Collection is a series of three handpicked articles that will show you:

How to determine if you’ve found the right niche
How to express yourself with your content and get more business
How to create the ultimate message for your clients and customers

Bonus tip: before you study the following lessons about pinpointing your niche, create a brand statement to clearly define what you do and whom you serve.

How to Know if You’re Entering a Viable Niche

Without peering into a crystal ball or making any claim about having psychic abilities, Sean D’Souza reveals How to Know if You’re Entering a Viable Niche.
You’ll learn how to perform proper research and take practical steps when you need to determine if your business idea is worth pursuing or if it might be a waste of time, energy, and resources.

Steal This Trick: What Confident Content Marketers All Have in Common

You may be concerned that you’ll never be able to stand out in a crowded niche.
In Steal This Trick: What Confident Content Marketers All

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