Jeanne Grunert

Print Media in Content Marketing

I admit that when I chose the topic of The Use of Print Media in Content Marketing, I did so because I love printed media. When I first entered the marketing profession, print media was still the way to go. Catalogs, direct mail postcards, brochures for checkout line racks, you name it, I produced it. Heck, even ad a print advertisement I created that was published in the New York Times generated such a response that a customer wrote a note to the owner of the garden center where I worked and dropped off the ad for him to see!

But if you Google the phrase “is print dead” you’ll return over 189,000,000 results, far over and above what Joe Pulizzi returned when he searched this phrase back in 2019. In his article, Print Magazines Dead? Bite Your Tongue, Joe states emphatically that print is most certainly not dead. It’s just changing. 

I’m with Joe. Print marketing, whether it’s a custom-created magazine, a flyer, or a rack insert, offers an outstanding opportunity for many companies to promote ideas, the heart of content marketing. Don’t forget that content marketing started with print -- the John Deere magazine, The Furrow, which offered a magazine filled with ideas for mechanizing the farm. And it just happened that John Deere sold those products from tractors to combines that mechanized the farm. 

Print Media Statistics

From Marketing Profs: print-a-tangible-way-to-invigorate-your-marketing-strategy-infographic

• In a crowded marketplace, print gives you an edge.
• 92% of 18-32 year olds state that print is easier to read
• When making purchasing decisions, consumers trust print 34% more than search engines
• Postcards have a 4.25% response rate compared to .1% for email marketing
• 70% of people recall more from reading a print ad than a digital ad
• Print is better for perceived value, memory and recall of an ad, and emotional response

Up Close and Personal: An Interview with Content Marketer Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi is the Amazon bestselling author of Killing Marketing, Content Inc. and Epic Content Marketing, which was named a “Must-Read Business Book” by Fortune Magazine. His latest book is The Will to Die, his debut novel.

He has founded three companies, including the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), and has launched dozens of events, including Content Marketing World. In 2014, he received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Content Council. His podcast series, This Old Marketing with CMI's Robert Rose, has generated millions of downloads from over 150 countries. He is also the author of The Random Newsletter, delivered to thousands every two weeks. His Foundation, The Orange Effect, delivers speech therapy and technology services to children in over 30 states.

My Take on Joe’s Book, Content, Inc.

If you haven’t heard of Joe, I invite you to get to know him through his outstanding book, Content, Inc., which was recently revised and reissued. I purchased my own company from Amazon and devoured it over vacation. It helped me rethink many aspects of content marketing. It’s a great book because it doesn’t just explain what content marketing is, but what a content-first business model looks like and how to create one -- and then, how to leverage it as a business model.

Joe is honest throughout the book that content marketing isn’t a fast route to sales, and he’s right. It takes time, sometimes too long for our clients’ comfort levels, to generate the kind of impact they need to make. That’s okay. Not every marketing tactic is right for every client, and I get that. 

But like Joe, I’ve seen content marketing produce outstanding results. When it works, it works exceptionally well to build brand loyalty, elicit and emotional response, and create a memorable impression on customers that no amount of hype creates.

Joe took time out of his busy schedule to respond to my questions. Thank you, Joe.

The Use of Print Media in Content Marketing

Seven Oaks Consulting (7Oaks): What is your experience using content marketing for your company or your clients?

Joe Pulizzi (JP) I've been in the content marketing industry for over 20 years. Originally, I worked at Penton Media's Custom Media Division working on print magazines for companies like HP, Autodesk, and American Red Cross. I left Penton in 2007 to start Content Marketing Institute, the leading educational organization for content marketing.

7Oaks: Do you use print media, such as niche-focused magazines or other printed materials, as part of your content marketing program?

JP: Not presently. While at CMI, we launched Chief Content Officer magazine in 2011 targeted to 30,000 senior-level marketing executives (I left CMI in 2018).

7Oaks:  How many do you send? How is it distributed and to whom?

JP: Quarterly

7Oaks: What was your ROI?

JP: It was generally break even (subsidized with partner advertising)…but expenses approximately $30,000 per issue. For ROI, we found that those highest-yielding customers of CMI were also subscribers to the magazine. 

7Oaks: Why do you think print is effective?

JP: There are many  reasons why print is effective. First, it grabs attention. Because so few brands are doing it these days, it stands out. Next, if you already have an audience, such as a customer list, you’ve got a good chunk of the work out of the way -- you have an audience who might like to hear from you and who may respond positively to your print piece. Third, and this may be a little out there, but I do think print is ready for a Renaissance. Everyone talks about it being dead, but TV didn’t die when cable and on-demand movies came out, and radio thrives even though we have more choices than ever. There’s still room for print in a media manager’s marketing mix if it fits the strategy.

7Oaks:  Do you think print media is effective for specific industries or all industries? 

JP: I believe print can be effective in any industry.

7Oaks:  Is it better for acquisition or retention marketing?

JP: I think it’s better for retention and building loyalty, but yet, it can work for acquisition marketing. It’s just harder to measure when usingi it for acquisition. 

7Oaks:  Do you think printed materials have a place in the future of content marketing? Why or why not?

JP:  Absolutely. With limited competition it's very easy for a high-quality publication to stand out. Also, people are much more willing to voluntarily give data information for a quality magazine.

Thank you, Joe. You can find his books on Amazon or check out his blog at joepulizzi.com

by Jeanne Grunert

How Brand Storytelling Increased ROI by 2,700%

Brand storytelling or content marketing engages the imagination, encourages buyer curiosity, and brings customers into your brand story like no other marketing technique I know.

Case in point: the right story increases ROI by 2,700%.

And no, that’s not a typo.

Here’s the story behind this dramatic increase in ROI and how you can grab your own share of that incredible profit potential.

 

A Tale of Two Brand Stories
Ancient Quartz Crystal Unearthed

 

Do you see this crystal?

 

It was unearthed during an excavation in Virginia. As dawn’s rosy fingers touched the sky, a ray of sunlight fell upon the earth, illuminating the crystal with inner fire. Legend has it that the land where the crystal was found was once a sacred hunting ground. Many flint and stone arrowheads have been found nearby, and evidence of old forests of oak and poplar, inhabited by abundant herds of deer, point to a time long gone when Indians roamed the quiet mossy woods. Perhaps Mother Earth, hearing the cries of her children, gave this healing crystal from her generous supply to restore harmony to the finder. Who knows?

 

My New Paperweight

 

Do you see this chunk of quartz crystal?

 

One morning as I walked my dog across the lawn, I stubbed my toe on a rock. I kicked at the point of muddy rock a bit more until I realized it was part of a bigger rock. My dog started digging and soon handed me what at first looked like a chunk of mud. But I saw a little glimmer so I rinsed it off under the garden hose. It was a beautiful hunk of almost pure quartz. I liked it so I kept it on my desk as a paperweight.

Stories That Sell – The Power of Brand Stories

Both stories are true. I just spun them differently. Which one did you find more appealing?

The second story is, of course, the true story. I stubbed my toe on what I thought was a plain old rock sticking out of the ground while I was walking my dog one morning. I noticed a little glimmer, though, and washed off the rock. Much to my delight, I had a huge chunk of almost perfect quartz. It seems as if my house is actually built on a large quartz deposit. We continually find the most beautiful quartz under the lawn, pure, white, and rose.

But some people who love using crystals for healing might be more attracted to the story of the ancient ground expelling a quartz with healing properties. I wrote this story with a lot of flamboyance and hyperbole, which isn’t my typical style, and not something I might find appealing.

Many copywriters have used such a style to successfully sell products. The most famous example is an advertisement written by the legendary John Caples. “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano” is a long form ad, or advertorial, used to sell an online course. And it is famous for good reason: not only is it immediately compelling, but it uses the story of an imaginary customer, one who purchased and used the course successfully, to sell the home study music course. It engages the imagination, the emotions, and weaves a net of desire in the prospect’s mind to encourage them to buy the course.

Good content marketing does the same. It uses brand storytelling to sell, and engages the emotions before engaging logic to encourage customers to take the desired action. It builds awareness, interest, desire, and action (AIDA), the proven formula for increasing sales.

 

The Significant Object Project

Stories sell. Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn conducted an anthropological experiment that has had significant ramifications for marketing professionals. Walker and Glenn’s experiment “demonstrated that the effect of narrative on any given object’s subjective value can be measured objectively.”

To conduct their experiment, the duo purchased $129 worth of tchotchkes, or low value objects from dollar stores. (You know what I mean. C’mon, your house is probably full of them. Mine is.) They hired creative writers to weave compelling narratives around the objects. Then, they placed each object on eBay and measured the final sales value of objects enhanced with stories.

The results: $129 worth of objects generated $3.6 million in net profits, an increase of 2,700%.

This experiment, dubbed the Significant Objects Social Experiment, illustrated what many in marketing had known all along – stories sell more products and enhance their perceived value.

 

Why Do Stories Increase Perceived Value?

Humans evolved with both logic and emotion. In fact, our emotional brains tend to overrule our logical brains. This is why many marketing and sales techniques play on feelings of scarcity, love, hunger, and desire. Sex sells. So does inadequacy, comfort, longing, status, and a hundred other emotional nuances inherent in the human condition.

Stories tap into the emotional aspect of the buying process and serve as a shortcut directly into the customers’ minds.

Many companies bombard their customers with logic; facts, figures, and features galore. But it is the stories about the products that actually help them sell; the case studies, success stories, and benefits to the end customer. These are what harnesses the emotions of customers and transforms browsers into buyers, looky-lous into loyal fans.

 

The Bottom Line: Key Takeaways for Marketers

The bottom line is that stories sell. Brand stories are especially powerful as they engage customers in the overall company narrative like nothing else can. But product stories, service stories, and success stories are also powerful motivators.

 

 

Your Digital Marketing Action Steps

 

• Don’t flood your audience with facts and figures. Even if you sell a highly technical product, start with the story first and support it with facts and figures.
• Use plain, creative, and natural language in your written materials. Avoid corporate and industry jargon. I always have a tough time convincing my clients in engineering and manufacturing that this is so because they love their jargon (marketers do, too). But at the end of the day, engineers and manufacturers are people, with brains hardwired to love stories. Their stories may resonate with numbers but they still love a good story!
• Show, show, and show – then tell. Demonstrate the value of your products. Paint colorful pictures about your products with words, photos, and videos. Collect testimonials and success stories among your customers and get their permission to share them. But above all, show – don’t tell – your customers what value they’ll receive from your brand, your business, your products and services.

You may also want to read on Seven Oaks Consulting: What You Can Learn About Marketing from a Lucky Lobster.

 

---

Would you like to explore how stories can increase your ROI? Your next step: Call Seven Oaks Consulting for a consultation. We helped a local photographer increase her annual revenues by 50%. We have launched multi-million brands through compelling storytelling. It’s content marketing with digital rocket fuel. Call (434) 574-6253 for a consultation or contact us for a free no-obligation consultation.

 

by Jeanne Grunert

Cause Marketing Considerations

You may not be familiar with the term cause marketing, but you're probably familiar with brands of all sorts touting the Black Lives Matter hashtag or a similar cause they believe in. Brand have participated in cause marketing since 1974 when 7-11 convenience stores issued collectible cups to commemorate the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Since then, many brands seem compelled to align themselves with a cause.

When the cause is chosen with care and aligns with the company's brand positioning, mission, and vision, it can be a great boost for the company.

However, just because a cause is popular doesn't mean it's right for every brand. Before you append that hashtag, add a frame to your company's profile picture, or drape your website in blue/pink/green/black/or rainbow colors, think carefully. There are many considerations to weigh to ensure that cause marketing supports rather than detracts from your brand.

What Is Cause Marketing?

The original meaning of cause marketing was to align a for-profit brand with a non-profit to support the missions of both. The purpose of cause marketing is to showcase a brand's corporate social responsibility while simultaneously generating positive feelings in the general public.

There are several benefits that brands receive when they participate in cause-related marketing campaigns.

What Are the Benefits of Cause-Related Marketing?

• Positive public relations. Consider the Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk, which almost always generates lots of positive publicity for brand. Photos of women of all sizes, shapes, colors and ages walking in solidarity to raise money for their sisters suffering from breast cancer is a powerful image and seen throughout October as walks continue across the nation. This form of cause marketing raises over $115 million annually for breast cancer research.
• Increased visibility. Along with the positive public relations comes increased visibility, which also boosts the company's brand awareness among their target consumers.
• Additional marketing opportunities. How many companies participate in awareness campaigns? Supermarkets are "pink washed" in October as breast cancer awareness month and the subsequent alignment of brands ranging from yogurt to frozen meals takes front and center. Affixing the cause's pink ribbon, special color, or other visual identifier to a company's public advertising and marketing helps it stand out and may lead to additional marketing opportunities.
• Increased sales. Some people prefer doing business with companies that align themselves with specific causes. Goya Foods voices its support for President Trump, and while liberals predicted a slump in sales, the brand experienced a temporary boost as supporters poured into markets and bought canned Goya foods. PetSmart gives local animal shelters space to show pictures (or the actual pets, as in the case of cats) in their stores. If people adopt the pet, they certainly need food, toys, and other equipment for their new family members. Supporting the cause ends up supporting the brand and increasing sales.

Drawbacks to Cause-Focused Marketing Campaigns

There are also several drawbacks to cause-based campaigns.

• Skepticism: Given how many brands rushed to declare themselves woke, equitable, and fair to all colors/creeds/sexual preferences in 2020 in the wake of the riots and other racial unrest in the United States, it's no wonder that the public can be skeptical. If a brand's values and attitudes do not align with the cause, consumers can spot it a mile away. A line of inexpensive clothing produced in Pakistan that suddenly declares itself against the exploitation of workers may get hoots of laughter instead of support because clearly, to produce a $5 t-shirt they aren't coddling their workers. Similarly, a company known for its antipathy to female workers that suddenly calls itself equitable or voices support for more women on boards of directors is also opening itself to criticism.
• Money: Consumers also want to know exactly how much money a company does indeed give to support a cause. If they choose a more expensive brand because it supports a cause they believe in, how much of their purchase goes towards the charity?
• Oversaturation: Too many brands leaping into cause marketing has led to consumers feeling jaded by all the colorful ribbons, slogans, and hashtags. They are overly saturated with messages about problems and how brands support, solve, or stand strong with whatever. It leads to message numbness in the marketplace.

hey marketing superstar! Sign up for our email newsletter and never miss new info to rocket fuel your marketing career!

Subscribe

* indicates required

Email Address *

 

 

Choose Your Cause Carefully

Given the pros and cons of cause marketing, brand would be wise to choose their causes carefully.

When I worked for Martin Viette Nurseries, one of the top nursery and garden centers in the nation, their specific 'cause' was the local Mental Health Association. The company donated the beautiful location on Long Island to host an annual gala.

Now, there is nothing wrong with supporting this charity or another health-related charity if you're a garden center. It certainly was a great cause. But it did absolutely nothing to support the brand. A charity gala is just one step. To successfully convert the event into a cause marketing campaign, other relationships could have been developed.

• The garden center may have hosted workshops on how gardening improves mental health, with speakers from the mental health association
• They may have donated gardening tools, supplies, or landscape design to the local mental health hospital
• They may have put signs around the nursery during mental health months etc.

Just hosting the gala was one way to align with a cause but not an effective form of brand marketing.

Should You Jump on the Latest Social Cause?

As I mentioned before, many companies leaped before they looked at the cause marketing scene in 2020. They pinned hashtags to their posts, demanded that their employees forswear allegiance to organizations, and promoted their own version of social justice warriorhood to their employees and customers.

There are several problems with this (lack of) strategy, however:

• Before trumpeting support for any cause through your corporate communications channels and aligning your brand with a cause directly or indirectly, make sure you are completely aware of all of the connotations and denotations of the cause.
• Ask yourself: Is this cause something that my avatar or target customer would support? You'll lessen the risk of brand/cause mismatch by taking the time to understand who your target customers are and what they care about (hint: it's not what YOU care about that matters).
• Does this cause align with my brand's mission and vision? If you don't have a stated brand mission and vision, work on that first before declaring your undying love of a cause.

Alignment Is the Key to Cause Marketing Success

Cause marketing is a powerful way to boost both a for-profit and a non-profit by aligning both together to share a value-driven message. It goes awry when there's a mismatch and it thrives when both resonate with the target customer. Consider carefully this alignment before jumping on the cause campaign train.

by Jeanne Grunert

How to Write a Business Email - Watch Your Tone

You may think you don't need to learn how to write a business email (or Slack message, or Skype). After all, you've probably been sending business emails for years, perhaps since you began working.

During this unusual time in history in which everyone is working virtually, learning how to write a business email is essential. Not just any email, but one that considers emotion and tone.

How to Write a Business Email

I'm older than most of you reading this, and I didn't begin my career writing emails. In fact, email didn't exist when I started my first full-time job.

Instead, when necessary, communications were typed in a specific format called a memo. These formal communications followed a very traditional format and tone; and, because they were typed (on an IBM Selectric, no less), each one was crafted with diligence and precision.

Emails, on the other hand, can be dashed off as quickly as one can type. Skype and Slack messages pose even great problems because they are often typed as part of the ebb and flow of a conversation.

These conversations taking place in cyberspace using pixels and emojis often lack the nuances of actual in-person conversations. Lacking physical expressions, gestures, and the subtle cues people give each other during the give-and-take of conversations, arguments, and meetings, they can be misunderstood.

Mind Your Tone! Emotional Mistakes Made in Writing

Have you ever been in an email war of words? It usually starts when one person mistakenly "reads" into the tone of the initial email. What began as an innocent attempt at communication ends up in a string of ever-increasing angry emails that may end up as a phone call or virtual meeting to straighten things out.

What leads to such email wars? Emotional mistakes in tone.

What is tone in writing?

Tone, according to the literary definition, is the attitude of the writer towards his or her subject.

Word choice conveys a great deal of the tone in any piece of literature, including instant messages, emails, and other communications.

Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist of the rock band Deep Purple, said something in a documentary on the making of their (awesome) album Machine Head (yes huge Purple fan here) that underscores the importance of tone.

"When things are positive, the management always says 'we' as in 'We're going up the charts!' But if something is negative, it's you: 'You're going down the charts.'"

Ritchie is sensitive to tone. The choice of management's words -- we verus you -- is a perfect illustration of tone. Sensitivity to tone enables him to read instantly into the situation. He knows that if the record company sends a message such as "Can you talk?" it's probably something unpleasant whereas "We would like to talk to you" it may be positive.

Words Matter

Your choice of words matters a great deal when crafting email messages. As you're writing your emails, your brain chooses words seemingly on its own. But your intuitive understanding of the connotation of each words - it's unspoken bias or meaning - helps you choose the "right" words to convey what you truly feel.

Learning How to Write a Business Email - 5 Steps to Avoid Miscommunication

Without the nuance of spoken language, emails can be construed as passive-aggressive. "Let's talk" can start an email war of words. "I'm not clear about the direction of the program - can we speak at 1 o'clock and go over the details?" is a much better way of asking for the same conversation.

Let's avoid those war of words and look at 5 steps to avoid miscommunication when you write a business email.

1. Pause before you hit send, especially when angry or upset. Your brain is merrily tootling along choosing words as your fingers fly across the keyboard. You may think that your message is neutral when you want to reach through the monitor and throttle a coworker, but your brain's circumventing your common sense and selects a few choice hot button words sure to begin the dreaded war or words. Pausing before you hit send, rereading messages, and changing hot button phrases can defuse problems before they start.
2. Watch out for typos. A typo may be simply that - a typo - or it can convey that you are so angry your fingers are flying over the keyboard. It can also make your communications appear rushed and unprofessional. While typos are common in instant messages and text, often due to the smaller keyboards and quick nature of the responses, eliminate typos from emails to avoid sending unintended messages about your urgency or tone. A program such as Grammarly, which can check all types of written communications including social media messages, instant messages, and emails, can highlight typos for correction on screen.
3. Walk away from the computer. Did something set you off? Walk away from the computer and let the message cool. We're all working in a strange environment now with kids screaming in the background, dogs barking, and the stress-relieving afternoon Starbucks run a thing of the past. As we learn how to navigate the new work from home environment in which kids need the computer, spouses need quiet to close a deal, and you need the video for a conference call, it's no wonder that little things trigger emotions. Walking away and pausing before answering can save a world of hurt.
4. Don't use emoticons. The Harvard Business Review (of all places) accepts the inevitable use of emoticons. I don't mind them in Skype or Slack messages - I was famous for using my "Queen" emoticon when making editorial pronouncements at one job - but using too many in a formal email looks amateurish and unprofessional. It's a smart idea to avoid emoticons, especially in an email.
5. Use email appropriately. Email is best for conveying lengthier thoughts. Use instant messenger for quick questions. In other words, don't hit "Respond All" and say "Thank you" or "Yes."

Better Emails, Easier Communications

If you're struggling with how to write a business email, and you're uncomfortable writing longer emails, think about how you can overcome your discomfort. What's holding you back?

Right now, we're all struggling to work virtually, juggling Slack, Skype, text, and email messages. But let's face it: email is also an important aspect of all workplace communications, pandemic or no pandemic. Learning how to write effective business emails is an important skill everyone should master.

(c) by Jeanne Grunert - "the Marketing Writer" at Seven Oaks Consulting, a content marketing writing agency in Prospect, Virginia.

by Jeanne Grunert

B2B Content Marketing Writing - Sell the Story First

When it comes to B2B content marketing writing, you must sell the story first. Here's what that means to your business and brand.

B2B Content Marketing Writing

Tell the Story First

Everyone loves a good story. From the time we're able to understand the world around us, the words "once upon a time" transport us to new worlds.

This is the power that we tap into when we tell brand stories. Unlike product descriptions or sales copy, brand stories shape perception by engaging the imagination.

Scientists tell us that information flows in different directions in the brain depending on whether we engage our imagination or reality. Sales copy which focuses on product descriptions engages the reality centers. Stories, on the other hand, engage the imaginative centers of the brain.

Despite the difference in how the information flows through the brain, imagination is perceived as reality by our minds. What this means to content marketers is that encouraging consumers to imagine themselves using a product (videos or stories) or facing a similar problem in which the product solves (case studies) brings people one step closer to actually owning the product. Engaging the imagination feels real; the next step is to make it real by owning the product.

Content Marketing Writing Storytelling Basics

Like all good writing, good B2B content marketing writing includes the basics of strong narration:

• A hero
• A villain
• A challenge to overcome
• A beginning, middle, and end

Let's look at an example: manufacturing ERP software. ERP, or enterprise resource planning software, is a business process management software. It integrates many areas of business knowledge, including accounting, finances, manufacturing, supply chain, inventory, and more.

Companies researching ERP software have a problem. Perhaps that problem is siloed information, a common problem faced by manufacturing firms that add software piecemeal over time and find that it's no longer working well for their needs.

Our hero, in this case, is the software. Let's name it Software X. Software X challenges a villain. The villain is the proliferation of software across the company. The challenge to overcome is how to synchronize information across multiple departments and plant locations.

One Narrative, Multiple Formats and Channels

I love writing B2B content marketing writing stories because one story can turn into multiple formats for a variety of channels.

Once I have the gist of the story and a hero, villain, and challenge in mind, I can then spin the story in many ways for different audiences.

I might:

• Write a series of blog posts about the "villain" or problem of older software not communicating with one another. The bad guy in this scenario is lost profits and time.
• Narrate it as a story using illustrations of a child's game of telephone where messages get lost as they are passed along. Removing steps in the transfer of information maintain data integrity and accuracy.
• Choose a different angle on the problem, such as how much time is wasted by gathering raw data and inputting it into spreadsheets in order to make it usable by the organization.

Once the basic story format is known, you can spin so many narratives and formats from it that it starts to fill an editorial calendar by itself!

In every case, the B2B content marketing writing begins with figuring out the story angle.

Every brand tells a story. The implicit promise, the problem solved, the villain conquered. Figure out the characters in your story and you'll engage the imagination of your customers, motivating them to take action.

by Jeanne Grunert

SEO Expert Reveals 3 Secret Optimization Tips

As an SEO expert, especially in the realm of marketing writing, I have my 'secret optimization' tips that I use to really grab Google's attention in the SERPs.

These are my three most powerful SEO tips.

SEO Expert Tips

These secrets aren't some arcane knowledge available only to a powerful few. They aren't really secrets, either -- just search engine optimization techniques that the average site owner or blogger doesn't bother with using.

1. Optimize your images
2. Use plenty of internal links
3. Write in a natural, conversational style

1. Optimize Your Images

Images are the unsung heroes of search engine optimization. Many people use Google Images to find out more about a topic of interest. Just the other day, I used Google's Image search to identify a bug, check on a rash on my cat, and find a map of a city I used to live in. Okay, weird searches to be sure, but a Cooperative Extension website, veterinary hospital site, and a town website each received search engine traffic from those images.

When optimizing images, be sure to incorporate several best practices:

• License images properly and be sure to follow use and attribution requirements or take your own pictures
• Resize images from your camera to minimize the file size! This is super important. Big images slow down your website and Google hates slow sites. Resize as JPGs to the proper size for your site.
• Use a compression tool such as the Smush WordPress plugin to further shrink image file size and make them load faster.
• Rename the file with your keyword phrase.
• Add an alt tag that accurately describes the image and utilizes a keyword phrase or synonym if appropriate

SEO experts agree that optimizing images may help boost your posts!

2. Use plenty of internal links

I love internal links for SEO for a variety of reasons. Not only do they link to other content on your site as a helpful resource to readers but they give Google's crawls more pathways to follow to find and index additional pages.

Use plenty of internal links but be sure to link from a keyword phrase or at least a useful phrase. Avoid "click here" and "learn more." Yes, I know, this SEP expert has indeed done that on this website, but I do so only when it is a simple call to action. Blog posts like this one are linked from within to juicy keyword phrases.

3. Write in a natural, conversational style

Have you heard of BERT? BERT is Google's new natural language processing code and it is driving an enormous change throughout many industries. It's an open-source code, which means that Google has shared it with other companies, too.

BERT processes language in context. It can read the words both before and after a phrase to understand a search query better. Unlike other artificial intelligence language processors that look at words in sequence, BERT can understand everything in context...so it knows when you mean the past or present tense of the verb "read" for example.

More people search using voice-activated tools than ever before and that trend is likely to continue in the future. The more natural your online content sounds, the better.

Avoid stilted, outdated SEO writing that uses rigid rules to infuse keyword phrases into the content. The days of writing X keywords Y number of times into the content and calling it a day are over and have been since 2012.

Natural writing, conversational writing, and writing that matches a user's query exactly carry more weight with Google than ever before.

Revise, Refresh, Keep Writing

Revise and refresh old blog posts. Keep writing new ones.

One of the beautiful things about the internet and search engine optimization is that it's never-ending. I used to think of it as "once and done" but it's really an ongoing, evolutionary process.

As you learn more about SEO, use what you have learned to improve old posts..

If you need help, we're running a Winter Blogging Special to help you produce SEO blog writing that gets your blog noticed.

by Jeanne Grunert

Should You Start a Blog?

Did you know that February 7 is international Start a Blog day? Plan now to begin the blog that's been on your to-do list forever!

It may seem crazy to encourage people to start a blog. After all, there's a ton of blogs out there covering almost every topic you can imagine. Mom blogs, cooking blogs, business blogs, gardening blogs, you name it, there is a blog for it.

Even though the internet seems saturated with blog content, there's still room for more blogs. If you have an original idea and are willing to invest the time and energy into creating unique content, blogging may be a good way to generate site traffic and content for your digital advertising programs.

5 Reasons to Start a Blog

1. Search visibility - blogs enable site owners to post multiple pages with keywords associated with their site. Think of each blog post like a page and you'll see what I mean. Each post acts as a potential entry point into your website, adding plenty of places for Google to find, index, and serve your site to searchers.
2. Branding - a blog provides your company with a unique opportunity to share your perspective on business issues. A well-constructed blog filled with content that supports your brand style offers another excellent branding opportunity.
3. Social shares - blogging provides fresh content links to share across multiple social media platforms. Such links may reach new audiences, people who may not otherwise have found your site.
4. Expertise - sharing your expertise on a topic helps boost your digital persona. A digital persona is an online impression people receive from all of your online interactions. Blogging around a topic of interest provides a focus to find experts on such a topic, and others may seek you out based on your posts.
5. Profit - yes, blogging can be profitable. A good blog can earn money through advertising, affiliate programs, product sales, and more. Some bloggers do earn their living solely from their blogging work and related products, such as books and courses, they sell from their blogs. How profitable a blog can be depends upon the skill of the blogger, the audience, and the topic, of course, but I do know two people who make their living solely through blogging. It can be done.

Two Popular Free Blogging Platforms to Try

Today on this "start a blog day" check out the two most popular blogging platforms.

WordPress: WordPress remains the most popular blogging platform despite a steeper learning curve than its competitor, Blogger. A free WordPress blog offers an excellent starting point for any content and can be upgraded to a paid site. (We recommend Web Design of Palm Beach if you want to upgrade. They host our sites and do a great job.)

Blogger: I started most of my blogs on Blogger. It used to be independent but is now owned by Google. It's difficult to create pretty blogs using their outdated templates but it is an easy, intuitive way to start a blog. Plus because it is owned by Google it is easy to incorporate Google AdSense and track your posts.

Now is the time to start a blog. If you'd like help starting a blog or creating unique content for your blog, please contact Seven Oaks Consulting. We provide consultation and writing services with an emphasis on SEO writing, including blogging.

by Jeanne Grunert

Marketing Case Study: Mailing List Fail

Direct mail continues to produce strong results with an average response rate of 9% for house lists. A house list is a list of a business' customers or people with whom the business has a connection.

Prospect lists also do well these days with an average 4.9% response rate. Prospect lists can be sourced from other companies, compiled from public directories, gathered from subscribers of magazines, or rented from sweepstakes and coupon companies. The results of a mailing using either a house or prospect lists depend, of course, not just on the list, but on three additional factors: the offer, timing, creative.

This marketing case study looks at how a company got everything right...except for the mailing list.

It's a company you may have heard about: Chewy.com.

Marketing Case Study: Pet Product Company Mailing List Fail

Chewy.com is an online retailer of pet products selling everything from dog training equipment to goldfish food. They are known for great customer service, fast shipping, and competitive pricing.

A few months ago, we received an offer of $15 off of our first order. With seven cats and a new puppy on the way, we gladly used our coupon and were delighted with the entire ordering experience. We purchased cat food and continued to hope for more offers from the company via email, but the offers we received were for specialty products and gourmet foods, which our rescued cats don't get. (Sorry, fellas, but y'all just showed up here...you get what you get, and that's Friskies and Meow Mix.)

Marketing Case Study: Direct Mailing List Failure

Then in July, we received another mailer from Chewy.com. This mailer touted $15 off again. We held onto it knowing our new puppy, Zeke, would arrive in August and need some items.

We tried to utilize the coupon this week only to find we could not - it was for first-time customers only, and of course, we were returning customers now.

It was supposed to be our second order. We did not place the order.

Always Suppress Current Customers from a Mailing to New Customers

Chewy offers excellent customer service, but somehow, their marketing department neglected to update their mailing list against their customer list.

An offer for a new or first time customer should NEVER be sent to current customers.

Mailing lists can be compared using specialized software so that any potential duplicates are flagged and removed. If Chewy purchased a list of pet owners or people who own pets, for example, they could then send this list to a mailing list company or data provider and have any potential duplicates suppressed from the final list.

Why bother spending the money to suppress duplicates?

Because customers like us, eager to order again, left disappointed and annoyed at the fine print on an offer that we thought we qualified for but didn't.

If a company mails us a coupon, we assume we can use it. It should never be incumbent on the customer to get out a magnifying glass and check the fine print on the offer. And it is deadly to your e-commerce business to have customers get all the way to the checkout and as a last step, enter a coupon code only to be told the offer isn't valid.

We abandoned our shopping cart and bought the cat food and dog harness from Amazon. No, we didn't get $15 off, but we got free shipping and didn't feel cheated by the offer.

Key Takeaways: Direct Mail Basics

DO...

• Create a compelling offer. The Chewy offer was great. So was their timing and their creative execution.

• Be 100% sure that offers for new or first-time customers ONLY get sent ONLY to new and first-time customers. You can do this by sending your list data to a mailing house who runs it through a computer program and compares the prospect list to your customer file and suppresses any duplicates.

• Provide a way to honor the coupon if you make a mistake. Don't just turn customers away.

If Chewy woos us back with a great offer, we may consider shopping from them again. But with Amazon so convenient and accessible, and no feeling of being screwed over by them as we did when we were disappointed at finding our coupon didn't work, we may not.

by Jeanne Grunert