12 Questions to Ask a Marketing Professional
... And what to look for in the answers! 1. What area of marketing do you specialize in? Anyone who claims to be a generalist anymore is probably pretty new to the field. Most marketing professionals have an affinity for one type of marketing over another, even if...
Managing Your LinkedIn Profile Privacy Controls
As LinkedIn has become increasingly important as a way for professionals to connect with each other, discuss topics of interest and share information, it is critical to review your account settings to control what you share. Using LinkedIn’s Privacy and Settings...
What LinkedIn Contact and Other Information Should You Share?
How much of your information should you make public on LinkedIn? What should you hide? Some users lock down their accounts that few can view them. Others are an open book. For most, it’s somewhere in between. It doesn’t help that LinkedIn’s privacy settings appear in...
4 Reasons You Need a LinkedIn Premium Account
Even if you’re not a recruiter or sales person, upgrading to the LinkedIn Premium plan for business professionals may still be worth the investment. LinkedIn offers four types of plans: LinkedIn Premium, recruiters, job seekers and sales professionals. LinkedIn...
5 Steps to Keeping Your Marketing Database Clean
With more than 4,500 entries, my personal address book has gotten out of control. It’s all because of one Gmail feature that’s both a blessing and a curse: its ability to retain all email addresses. Although I could turn it off, it stays on because it has come in...
How Social Media Affects the Customer Decision Journey
Marketing’s main goal is to reach customers at the right time when they’re ready to receive the specific message. For years, they have relied on the traditional purchasing funnel that begins with the wide end of the funnel where customers search for brands that offer...
Advanced LinkedIn Search Tips and Tricks
Many companies, B2B in particular, depend on LinkedIn for lead generation. According to Hubspot’s “The 2013 State of Inbound Marketing” data, 43% of all marketers have found a customer through LinkedIn. According to LinkedIn’s blog, there were 5.7 billion (yes,...
Social Media Tools for Financial Advisors
Many financial advisors remain understandably leery about using social media especially in the face of regulatory compliance. However, they may be losing out on opportunities. According to the Cogent’s research report, “Social Media’s Impact on Personal Finance and...
6 Excuses to Stay in Touch with LinkedIn Contacts
Many people struggle with small talk or feel awkward when simply checking in with someone. It gets old to send a note that says, “Hope this finds you well. Just wanted to check in with you. How are you?” LinkedIn Contacts is trying to help. LinkedIn has added some new...
Use Content Curation to Connect with Clients and Prospects
According to B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends, roughly 93 percent of your organizations do content marketing. Although you probably already use content marketing, it’s important to define it as you’ll see why in about six seconds. Content...
8 Tips to Write a Compelling LinkedIn Profile Summary
What do you want people to do when they check your LinkedIn profile? Hire you? Connect with you? Of course. Yet most LinkedIn profiles read like “Here’s what I’ve done and why I’m awesome.” It leaves your target audience thinking: Well, yippee for you, but what can...
Startup Marketing: How to get your first customers fast
The first thing a tech startup needs to do in finding customers is to describe its ideal clients. Nail down the characteristics of this target audience. Many marketers create personas that go as far as identifying the client’s gender, age, lifestyle, challenges and so...