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Sep 03

meshmarketing Q&A: Peep Laja

By mesh conference meshmarketing

For all the talk about inbound marketing, social media and content marketing, a company’s digital success hinges on how well its Website performs. Whether it’s product sales, downloads, Webinar signups or registration, the biggest challenge is converting visitors into customers or users.

Given the importance of Website conversion, we’re excited to have ConversionXL’s Peep Laja, one of the leading digital optimization experts.

Peep, who writes a top-notch blog, will deliver a meshmarketing keynote presentation on Nov. 7 that will give you valuable the insight and information to turn your Website into a conversion engine.

To get a small taste of Peep’s presentation, here’s a mini-Q&A:

1. Content marketing is the belle of the ball while social media is rumbling along. Do you think brands are not spending enough time on driving conversions to leverage their content and social efforts?

That’s absolutely true. When I usually analyze landing pages for different Websites – and look where social media or search traffic lands, those pages are pretty bad at conversion. Poor attempts at email capture, no value proposition, no dedicated landing pages for social media, or asking for the sale too soon. Blog posts can do a lot for email capture. Companies should carefully see where their inbound traffic is landing on, and how well those pages are performing.

2. What are your thoughts on inbound marketing, which seems to be getting more and more traction?

Inbound marketing can be extremely effective if done well (and it depends on the business as well). Barrier of entry is low which is why there’s so much crap content out there and people saying ‘it’s not worth it’, but there are few that do it well. If you take it seriously and put effort in it (do it well and consistently over a long period of time), it is highly effective

3. What are some of the keys to boost Website conversion rates? (A loaded question, no doubt!)

Conversion optimization is a process, not a one-time checklist. What needs to be done is specific to each case, and you have to be data-driven: analyze what’s going on, how users are using the site and so on. Three common things that help most sites are:

1. State a compelling, unique value proposition on all key landing pages, including your home page. If I’m your ideal customer, why should I buy from you?

2. Aim to be clear about what you sell and what they get out of it. Avoid jargon and buzzwords. Clarity beats all other tactics.

3. Offer proof that your stuff works – independent studies, third-party reviews, testimonials etc.

4. Any new or favourite digital services in your toolbox these days?

I’m not sure about new, but three type of services every company should use (I do for each client):

▪ Mouse tracking services like SessionCam and Clicktale

▪ Testing software like Visual Website Optimize, Optimizelt and Convert.com

▪ Remote usability testing service like Usertesting.com and OpenHallway

Tickets for meshmarketing are $199, which is a sweet deal for a great day of content and networking.

Sep 03

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meshmarketing Q&A: Jay Baer

By mesh conference mesh13

No one could accuse Jay Baer, who will present the closing keynote at meshmarketing on Nov. 7 at the Toronto Reference Library, of being uni-dimensional.

One of the leading content marketing and social media consultants, Jay is the author of the best-selling Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype. He’s also an angel investor, startup advisor and popular speaker.

Given Jay’s busy schedule, we were lucky to pin him down for a quick Q&A:

1. What’s your take on the social media landscape? Now that monitoring is table stakes, what should be brands be focused on – e.g. analytics, ROI, sales?

There’s a very interesting battle brewing in larger companies around proactive (marketing) vs. reactive (customer service) social media. The tools and venues are the same, the rationale and expectations are much different. Of course, the other big move is away from text and toward multi-media content of all types.

2. If content is king again, where should brands start with content marketing? How do they create a sustainable content marketing program?

Making content just to make content is no better (and perhaps worse) than being on Twitter just to be on Twitter. The missing ingredient in most content programs is a strategic rationale for content. I would, of course, say the best-case rationale is to be truly, inherently useful. To create Youtility – marketing so valuable, people would pay for it.

3. How is the intersection of social media and content marketing evolving? What are the best approaches to drive synergies?

I firmly believe – and I’ll talk about this at meshmarketing – that content is fire, and social media is gasoline.

4. Any favorite tools these days?

I’m a big fan of Addvocate (and a board member), which we use to help manage decentralized employee social media activation. I’m currently also in love with GroupHigh for blogger outreach, LittleBird (#investor) for influence ID, and Rival IQ for competitive social intelligence. Also just started playing with Splashpost, which is a very interesting way to do direct response within Facebook posts.

May 20

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Five Reasons You Should Have Come to mesh13

By mesh conference mesh13, meshmarketing

Another year, another mesh under our belts. In many respects, it was probably one of the most successful events we’ve done since launching mesh in 2006.

Before mesh started, we listed five reasons why you needed to come. In the aftermath of mesh13, here are five reasons you should have attended.

1. Great content: At the core of what makes mesh unique is the focus on attracting great speakers who explore a variety of topics; everything from work, money and brand journalism to brain fitness, startups, how to find top talent and content marketing. mesh is an opportunity to expose yourself to new ideas and people, which makes it different from other digital conferences.

2. The opportunity to meet and talk with speakers. At mesh, our speakers tend to stick around rather than run back to their jobs. It lets attendees engage with our speakers, ask them questions, build relationships and explore how they might be able to work together.

3. The networking: We build healthy breaks between sessions to give people the chance to meet new people from different sectors. At mesh, people are open to sparking up a conversation with the person sitting next to them at lunch and having a drink during the day one reception (Thanks, Mailchimp for sponsoring it!). One start-up entrepreneur told me he made a bunch of new contacts to drive the growth of his business.

4. Feeding off the energy of start-up entrepreneurs: We invited 50 entrepreneurs to attend mesh for free, as well as asking 20 to show off their products in a demo alley. Having their enthusiasm played a key role in giving mesh an extra buzz and level of excitement.

5. Inspiration. After two days of top-notch content and networking, it’s impossible not to be excited about the Web’s potential to impact our personal and professional lives.

So, what’s next for mesh?

Well, we’ve got meshmarketing happening on Nov. 7 at the Toronto Reference Library. We’ve already lined up great speakers such as Jay Baer, Danny Brown and Peep Laja. And we’ve got early-bird tickets available for $149 for the next week.